It is 1936, and on the East Side of Manhattan, a would-be writer named Don Birnam decides to have a drink. And then another, and then another, until he's in the midst of what becomes a five-day binge.
The Lost Weekend moves with unstoppable speed, propelled by a heartbreaking but unflinching truth. It catapulted Charles Jackson to fame, and endures as an acute study of the ravages of alcoholism, as well as an unforgettable parable of the condition of the modern man.
Charles Jackson (1903-1968) is best known as the author of The Lost Weekend (1945), his first novel, which was filmed by director Billy Wilder in 1945 with Ray Milland as the central character, Don Birnam. The novel documents the five-day binge of an alcoholic, and is obviously semi-autobiographical. What is missing from the screen version is the strong implication that Don Birnam is a latent homosexual, whose alcoholism directly relates to his inability to accept his sexual identity. This is emphasized in The Lost Weekend when, at one point, a gay orderly in the alcoholic ward, Bim, whispers that he “knows” Don.
