The Lost Weekend (novel)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Lost Weekend is a novel by Charles R. Jackson that was published by Farrar & Rinehart in 1944. It was produced as a motion picture in 1945, directed by Billy Wilder and starring Ray Milland as the protagonist, Don Birnam.
The novel, set in a rundown neighborhood of Manhattan during the early 1930s, broke various taboos for its time by exploring a five-day alcoholic binge.
The book was a best seller and received rave reviews. Philip Wylie wrote in the New York Times Book Review that "Charles Jackson has made the most compelling gift to the literature of addiction since De Quincey. His character is a masterpiece of psychological precision."
Although the movie adaptation hews closely to the novel, the novel differed in one crucial respect: Birnam is described in the novel as being tormented by a homosexual incident in college. That is omitted from the film.
The film was nominted for seven Academy Awards and won four: Best Picture, Best Director (Billy Wilder), Best Actor (Ray Milland) and Best Screenplay (Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder).
