OSCARS '62: Days of Wine and Roses

“I got hold of something that kept me from going under, and I'm not going to let go of it. Not for you. Not for anyone.”

CONTENT WARNING: Discussion of alcoholism, child neglect, substance abuse, addiction.

Every year at the Oscars there’s a movie that stands out as the film that should be the Best Picture, just for the sheer raw power of its storytelling. This is that movie. Jack Lemmon is giving a performance for the ages, the supporting cast is rock solid, and the always contrarian Blake Edwards goes for broke. This could have easily been a melodrama, but you get the sense very quickly that everyone making this movie got the impact of what they were doing here. And that’s incredible, considering there’s movies that come out in 2025 that can’t capture the truth of addiction like this movie. We continue Oscars ‘62 with Days of Wine and Roses on Macintosh & Maud Haven’t Seen What?!

You can email us with feedback at macintoshandmaud@gmail.com, or you can connect with us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

If you like the podcast, make sure to subscribe and review on iTunes, Spotify, or your favorite podcatcher, and tell your friends.

Intro music taken from the Second Movement of Ludwig von Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Hong Kong (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 HK) license. To hear the full performance or get more information, visit the song page at the Internet Archive.

Excerpts taken from the main title to the film Days of Wine and Roses, composed and conducted by Henry Mancini with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. Copyright 1962 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpt taken from the main title to the film To Kill A Mockingbird, written and composed by Elmer Bernstein. Copyright 1962 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.