Clean and Sober
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Clean and Sober | |
|---|---|
 Promotional movie poster for the film |
|
| Directed by | Glenn Gordon Caron |
| Produced by | Ron Howard Jay Daniel |
| Written by | Tod Carroll |
| Starring | Michael Keaton Kathy Baker M. Emmet Walsh Morgan Freeman Tate Donovan |
| Music by | Gabriel Yared |
| Cinematography | Jan Kiesser |
| Editing by | Richard Chew |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Release date(s) |  August 10, 1988 August 17, 1989 April 25, 1990 May 4 May 18 June 29 |
| Running time | 124 min. |
| Country | U.S.A. |
| Language | English |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Clean and Sober is a 1988 dramatic movie directed by Glenn Gordon Caron "Moonlighting" Creator, and starring Michael Keaton as Daryl, a slick commercial real estate agent who goes into a rehabilitation clinic when his addiction to cocaine and alcohol spins out of control. This film was a departure from the zany comedies that Keaton had become known for. The cast also includes Kathy Baker as a fellow rehabilitation clinic patient; M. Emmet Walsh as an experienced ex-addict who helps Daryl; Morgan Freeman as the tough-as-nails counsellor; and Tate Donovan.
The film's tagline is Thirty remarkable days in the life of an ordinary man.
[edit] Characters
Daryl Poynter (Michael Keaton) is a hotshot Philadelphia real estate salesman who becomes addicted to cocaine. After he embezzles $92,000 from an escrow account to feed his addiction he then loses the money in the stock market. After waking up next to a girl who had died of a heart attack from too much cocaine use, he realizes that he is out of control. He enters a drug rehabilitation program, where he meets Craig (Morgan Freeman), a tough—yet caring and supportive—drug rehabilitation counselor. Craig helps Daryl to realize that his life is out of control. Daryl is paired up with the wise, older reformed alcoholic and addict Richard Dirks (M. Emmet Walsh), who will act as Daryl's sponsor.
Daryl becomes attracted to fellow patient Charlie Standers (Kathy Baker). She is a steel foundry worker who is addicted to booze and cocaine and to a cocaine-addicted boyfriend that she has lived with for ten years. Her boyfriend is unemployed, and he beats and verbally abuses Charlie, and then begs for her forgiveness and pleads with her to stay with him. Daryl falls in love with her, and urges her to leave her no-good boyfriend, but she cannot detach herself him, despite his abusive behavior.
After encouraging Charlie to leave her boyfriend and witnessing his pathetic attempts to get Charlie back, Daryl keeps trying to remain in her life by pestering her into remaining straight. After another fight with her boyfriend, Charlie leaves and is killed in a car accident.
Feeling the need to go back to drugs, Daryl visits Richard and manages to be talked out of using again. The film ends with Daryl accepting his 30 day chip at Alcoholics Anonymous.
