89% (2)  Days of Wine and Roses  117 min,  Approved,  [Drama]  [Blake Edwards]  [04 Feb 1963]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 79%,   Rotten Tomatoes: 100%,   External Reviews
Awards:  Won 1 Oscar. Another 8 wins & 13 nominations.
Actors:  Charles Bickford, Jack Klugman, Jack Lemmon, Lee Remick
Writer:  J.P. Miller
External Links:  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  English    Country:  USA
Plot:  Joe Clay is a top-notch public relations man. Anything a client wants Joe can arrange for them, whether it be dancing girls or an article in a prominent magazine. Part of the job however is drinking and Joe's ability to consume alcohol seems boundless. When he meets the very pretty Kirsten Arnasen, she prefers chocolate to alcohol but Joe has a solution to that in the form of a Brandy Alexander (made up of brandy and creme de cocoa). They eventually marry but their love is insufficient to prevent them from the downward spiral that alcohol brings to them. They try desperately to break the habit but continually relapse until only one of them manages to break free.
Rotten Tomatoes:   This thoroughly depressing drama concerns the battles of a young couple against the insidiousness of alcohol addiction. Joe (Jack Lemmon) and Kirsten (Lee Remick) are young newlyweds with a seemingly bright future. Joe is an up and coming public relations worker with a promising career. When the pressures of the job become too much, he takes solace inside a bottle of booze. Kirsten joins the party in order to relate to her husband, and the two get down to some brain cell killing, liver damaging drinking that would make F. Scott Fitzgerald and W. C. Fields blush. Joe's career takes a decidedly downward turn, losing his job as the couple continues to tip more than a few. They move in Kirsten's father, who owns a greenhouse. After a night of drinking, Kirsten reveals she hid a bottle hidden under one of the greenhouse plants. In a terrifying scene, Joe tears up all the plants trying to unearth the hidden bottle, ruining his father-in-law's budding plants. Joe also goes through withdrawals in a mental hospital in yet another disturbing scene of horrible alcohol addiction. He seeks help from a 12 step group, but Kirsten can't shake the grip of demon alcohol. By now, the couple has a young daughter, and a sober Joe realizes he may have to leave the woman he loves when she becomes hopelessly addicted. The title song by Johnny Mercer and Henry Mancini won an Academy Award. while Lemmon and Remick received well deserved nominations for their gripping portrayals of the tortured couple whose lives are ruined by booze.
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82% (2)  Goodbye, Columbus  102 min,  R,  [Comedy, Drama, Romance]  [Larry Peerce]  [21 May 1969]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 65%,   Rotten Tomatoes: 100%,   External Reviews
Awards:  Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 4 wins & 8 nominations.
Actors:  Ali MacGraw, Jack Klugman, Nan Martin, Richard Benjamin
Writer:  Philip Roth (novel), Arnold Schulman
External Links:  Wikipedia  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  English    Country:  USA
Plot:  A Jewish man and a Jewish woman meet and while attracted to each other, find that their worlds are very different. She is the archtypical Jewish American Princess, very emotionally involved with her parents' world, and the world they have created for her, while he is much less dependent on his family. They begin an affair, which brings more differences to the surface.
Rotten Tomatoes:   This romantic comedy finds ex-Army veteran Neil working as a poor librarian. He falls for Brenda, a spoiled Jewish princess from a wealthy family. When Brenda invites Neil to spend two weeks at her parents estate, her father is constantly after Neil to make something of his life and career.
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73% (1)  The Yellow Canary  93 min,  [Drama]  [Buzz Kulik]  [09 Aug 1963]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 73%,   External Reviews
Actors:  Barbara Eden, Jack Klugman, Pat Boone, Steve Forrest
Writer:  Whit Masterson (novel), Rod Serling
External Links:  Wikipedia  IMDb     Language:  English    Country:  USA
Plot:  Andy (Pat Boone) is an arrogant pop singer about to be divorced by his wife (Barbara Eden) who treats his staff badly. On the same night he starts a job at a theater in Los Angeles his infant son is kidnapped. Despite requests from the lead police officer on the case, Lieutenant Bonner (Jack Klugman), Paxton plays along with the kidnappers as they string him along even though they are willing to kill.
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70% (1)  I Could Go on Singing  100 min,  [Drama, Musical]  [Ronald Neame]  [11 Oct 1963]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 70%,   External Reviews
Actors:  Aline MacMahon, Dirk Bogarde, Jack Klugman, Judy Garland
Writer:  Robert Dozier (story), Mayo Simon (screenplay)
External Links:  Wikipedia  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  English    Country:  UK, USA
Plot:  Jenny Bowman is a successful singer who, while on an engagement at the London Palladium, visits David Donne to see her son Matt again, spending a few glorious days with him while his father is away in Rome in an attempt to attain the family that she never had. When David returns, Matt is torn between his loyalty to his father and his affection for Jenny.
Rotten Tomatoes:   This is a standard yet uneven drama featuring Judy Garland as Jenny Bowman, a powerful singer who obviously has a passion for the stage and performing. At the same time, she once had a passion for a certain British doctor, David Donne (Dirk Bogarde), that resulted in the birth of a baby boy. Unwilling to be a mom at this point in her career, Jenny gives the boy over to David, and he raises him as though he were an adopted son. David marries, and he and Jenny go their separate ways until many years have passed and, finding herself in London again, Jenny decides to visit her son. David is now a widower, and romantic sparks fly once he and Jenny get together -- raising the question of whether her passion for the stage is still stronger than her passion for David. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
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65% (1)  The Detective  114 min,  APPROVED,  [Crime, Drama, Thriller]  [Gordon Douglas]  [28 May 1968]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 65%,   External Reviews
Actors:  Frank Sinatra, Jack Klugman, Lee Remick, Ralph Meeker
Writer:  Abby Mann (screenplay), Roderick Thorp (novel)
External Links:  Wikipedia  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  English    Country:  USA
Plot:  Police detective Joe Leland investigates the murder of a homosexual man. While investigating, he discovers links to official corruption in New York City in this drama that delves into a world of sex and drugs.
Rotten Tomatoes:   Frank Sinatra gives a gritty performance in the crime thriller The Detective. When Teddy Leikman, the homosexual son of a politically connected department-store magnate, is murdered, detective Joe Leland (Frank Sinatra) is sent in to investigate. Leland drags in Teddy's psychotic former roommate Felix Tesla (Tony Musante) and forces a confession out of him; for his work on the case Leland gets a promotion, which troubles him. Afterwards, Norma MacIver (Jacqueline Bisset), the widow of a well-heeled accountant, comes to see Leland. Her husband was killed after falling off the grandstand at a racetrack -- but Norma thinks he was pushed. She asks Leland to investigate her husband's death. Reopening the case, Leland discovers that the police are opposed to him scratching around any further, and after an attempt on his life, he uncovers some startling evidence that may connect the two deaths. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
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