Don Birnam, a long-time alcoholic, has been sober for ten days and appears to be over the worst... but his craving has just become more insidious. Evading a country weekend planned by his brother and girlfriend, he begins a four-day bender that just might be his last - one way or another.
Under Wilder's imaginative direction, Milland has been able to convey just what an uncontrollable craving for liquor does to a man's mind, his body and soul.
– Kate Cameron,
New York Daily News,
23 Feb 2012
fresh:
It is intense, morbid -- and thrilling. Here is an intelligent dissection of one of society's most rampant evils.
– Variety Staff,
Variety,
20 Feb 2008
fresh:
Today it's less impressive but not without its virtues.
– Jonathan Rosenbaum,
Chicago Reader,
12 Dec 2006
fresh:
What makes the film so gripping is the brilliance with which Wilder uses John F Seitz's camerawork to range from an unvarnished portrait of New York brutally stripped of all glamour.
– Tom Milne,
Time Out,
9 Feb 2006
fresh:
A shatteringly realistic and morbidly fascinating film.