When I was growing up in the 60s in East Lansing, Michigan, I had a friend whose parents were alcoholics. My friend was a bit of a nerd. He loved movies (this era was pre-tapes and pre-DVDs) and he would rent full-length movies on reels. He would show them in his house for anyone who was interested. We ended up spending a lot of time at his place.
His parents were always “three sheets to the wind.” His mother once told me that she wished she had become a nun. His father, while I knew him, despite his drinking problem, was able to maintain a job with NCR. But I understand he was let go after I left East Lansing. Ultimately, I don’t know what happened to my friend’s parents, but the prognosis was obviously not good.
I was reminded of my friend’s parents when I recently watched the film Crazy Heart. For his efforts in the movie, Jeff Bridges recently won an Academy for portraying the role of an over-the-hill country singer with alcohol and drug issues. When the film opens, the main character is playing the bowling alley circuit. The movie has a subplot involving a May-to-December romance. Jeff probably didn’t deserve his Academy Award for this flic, but maybe he did for life-time achievement.
Anyway, I found the movie to be very derivative of an earlier movie: The Wrestler. The general plots of both movies are the same, just substitute a broken-down singer for a broken-down wrestler.
I didn’t like the ending of Crazy Heart. The “hero’s” rehab was way too easy and the ending was very facile and unsatisfying. The conclusion made logical sense (younger woman dumps older man), but lacked emotional punch. Life just isn’t as clear cut and clean as the movie’s ending. If movie goers want something that doesn’t pull punches, they should watch the classic movie The Days of Wine and Roses. I saw the latter movie with some high school buddies, including the one mentioned above. To this day, I wonder what impact the movie had on my high school pal. I know I never saw him consume alcohol.
Definition of “three sheets to the wind”:
To be “three sheets to the wind” is to be drunk. The sheet is the line that controls the sails on a ship. If the line is not secured, the sail flops in the wind, and the ship loses headway and control. If all three sails are loose, the ship is out of control.
The American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy
AARP awarded Jeff Bridges their award for “Best Actor 50+” with the following comment:
“As booze-soaked country singer Bad Blake, Bridges infuses his character with a weary humanity that has us rooting for his redemption long before Blake realizes he’s in need of it. Growling, whining, and cussing through his miserable life, Blake would be downright insufferable without Bridges’s good nature–and his surprisingly nifty way around a country tune.”
The music in this movie is enjoyable. And I’m not a C&W fan.