The movie, My Name is Bill W. starring James Woods as Bill Wilson, JoBeth Williams as Lois Wilson, Gary Sinise as Ebby Thatcher and James Garner as Dr. Bob Smith, stays pretty much on script hitting the most of the events outlined in Bill’s Story from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous.
The film outlines Bill’s progressive battle with alcohol from his early years in the army to his marriage troubles with Lois, his rise and fall as a New York stockbroker to his final demise of losing everything as a hopeless alcoholic who cannot stop drinking.
As an alcoholic addict the first half of the movie is tough to watch reminding me of my own demise and all of my broken promises, embarrassing drunken episodes, failed attempts to remain sober where I would build up a bright outlook and hope of peaceful days ahead for my family only to tear it all down again by a senseless series of sprees.
When the film shifts from Bill’s hopeless state of mind and body and his visits to the sanitarium where little success seems possible, Bill has encounter with his old drinking buddy Ebby Thatcher who pays him a visit sober—fresh skinned and glowing he tells Bill that he’s found religion. Bill is aghast, but is taken by the fact that Ebby is sober and appears to have a solution for remaining that way.
Bill enters his third and final treatment at the Townes Hospital and using a very simple concept of one alcoholic helping another alcoholic, Bill attempts to work with other alcoholics failing miserably until that fateful day on a business trip to Akron Ohio where he’s tempted to start drinking again and to save himself he starts to makes calls to find a suffering alcoholic to help and is introduced to Dr. Bob. The two men understand one another and commence to start working with other alcoholics and A.A. is born on June 10, 1935.
The movie concludes with Bill’s last visit to Dr. Bob in 1950 who is very sick and dying. Bill and Lois take a trip to California where they both attend an A.A. meeting. Bill and Lois joke about Bill’s humility or lack of it and at the meeting, nobody recognizes Bill and THE BILL W. and Bill is visibly wounded by this lack of acknowledgement for all of his good works and no amount of hints given by Bill and his Lois’s admonishing glances that he dare not disclose who he really is, Bill surrenders and quietly listens to the proceedings of the A.A. meeting.
The final scene is the conclusion of the A.A. meeting and Bill is sitting beside Fred who tells Bill this is his first A.A. meeting and he only attending because his wife left him and took the kids won’t come back until he makes an effort to sober up. Bill senses Fred’s doubts about the program of A.A. offers Fred an opportunity to just meet with just him and Fred replies, “I just want my kids back.” Bill taking his chair and moving to face Fred says, “It’s like any journey Fred, it begins with the first step.” It an incredible theatrical performance of Bill letting go of his ego and need for recognition, to focusing his entire attention on help Fred get sober. What a tear ripping moment for anyone who has ver sponsored another alcoholic in the program—”pass the tissues please!” The final message as the movie fades out his a short epitaph of Bill’s death in 1971 and legacy of 75,000 A.A groups in 115 countries around the world.
Review by Cameron F., sober since November 21, 2003