The Lost Weekend

The Lost Weekend
Theatrical release poster
Directed byBilly Wilder
Screenplay by
Based onThe Lost Weekend
by Charles R. Jackson
Produced byCharles Brackett
Starring
CinematographyJohn F. Seitz
Edited byDoane Harrison
Music byMiklós Rózsa
Color processBlack and white
Production
company
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • November 29, 1945 (1945-11-29)
Running time
101 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1.25 million
Box office$11,000,000[2] plus $4.3 million (US rentals)[3]

The Lost Weekend is a 1945 American drama film noir directed by Billy Wilder, and starring Ray Milland and Jane Wyman. It was based on Charles R. Jackson's 1944 novel about an alcoholic writer. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won four: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It also shared the Grand Prix at the first Cannes Film Festival, making it one of only three films—the other two being Marty (1955) and Parasite (2019)—to win both the Academy Award for Best Picture and the highest award at Cannes.

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 97% based on 70 reviews, with an average rating of 8.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Director Billy Wilder's unflinchingly honest look at the effects of alcoholism may have had some of its impact blunted by time, but it remains a powerful and remarkably prescient film."[4] In 2011, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."[5][6]

  1. ^ "The Lost Weekend – Diary of a Dipsomaniac (PG)". British Board of Film Classification. 1945-08-23. Retrieved 2024-07-29.
  2. ^ Box Office Information for The Lost Weekend. The Numbers. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
  3. ^ "Variety (January 1947)". New York: Variety Publishing Company. December 3, 1947 – via Internet Archive.
  4. ^ "The Lost Weekend (1945)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved January 31, 2022.
  5. ^ "With "20,000 Leagues," the National Film Registry Reaches 700". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2020-11-24.
  6. ^ "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2020-11-24.