Sweet Bird of Youth (1962)

75% of critics liked it
(16 reviews)
71% of users liked it
(1,147 ratings)

Paul Newman recreates his Broadway role in the 1962 film version of Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth. Newman plays handsome hustler Chance Wayne, who romances fading film star Alexandra Del Lago (Geraldine Page) in hopes of winning a movie contract for himself. The mercenary Wayne and the… More Paul Newman recreates his Broadway role in the 1962 film version of Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth. Newman plays handsome hustler Chance Wayne, who romances fading film star Alexandra Del Lago (Geraldine Page) in hopes of winning a movie contract for himself. The mercenary Wayne and the self-destructive Alexandra find themselves in Chance's home town, where corrupt politician Boss Finley (Oscar-winner Ed Begley) rules the roost. Finley's daughter Heavenly (Shirley Knight), impregnated by Chance during his last visit, dreams of a reunion with her old beau, but Finley and his brutish son Tom Jr. (Rip Torn) make certain that no such reunion occurs. Even the well-intentioned interventions of Heavenly's Aunt Nonny (Mildred Dunnock) fail to move the stubborn Finley. Warned to leave town or risk a broken skull, Chance is dumped by Alexandra, whose recent "comeback" film has proven a success and who thus no longer needs a gigolo to feed her ego. From this point on, Richard Brooks' screenplay departs so radically from the Tennessee Williams original that to elucidate the differences would require a book in itself. Suffice to say that the play's Chance Wayne is rendered "less than a man" by the vengeful Finley, whereas the film's Wayne emerges with all his working parts intact. A second version Sweet Bird of Youth (1989), purportedly based on Williams' own rewrite of his earlier material, was filmed for television in 1989, with Elizabeth Taylor and Mark Harmon in the leads, and with Rip Torn, Tom Finley Jr. in the original, stepping into the role of Boss Finley. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Play Trailer

Rating, Runtime: R, 2 hr.
Directed By: Richard Brooks (VI), Richard Brooks I
Genres: Drama, Classics

In Theaters: Mar 21, 1962 Wide
On DVD: May 2, 2006
Studio: MGM Home Entertainment

Critic Reviews

Variety Staff, Variety
It's a glossy, engrossing hunk of motion picture entertainment, slickly produced by Berman.
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Offers little indication of what made the original play interesting (especially in Elia Kazan's stage production), despite the fact that Paul Newman and Geraldine Page are called on to reprise their original roles.
Bosley Crowther, New York Times
This cynical, coruscating drama has a strong look of being contrived, and Mr. Brooks' happy ending for it is implausible and absurd.
, Empire Magazine
Page and Newman are fantastic.
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
All of Williams's Southern Gothic themes are intermingled here: violence, familial conflict, sexual neurosis, the mentality of the mob. Most of it comes across as overheated nonsense.
Steve Crum, Video-Reviewmaster.com
Strong cast (Newman, Page) in deeply dramatic Williams drama.
Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central
There is no clearer face for the conflict and despondency of the decade of the sixties than Newman's magnificent bastards.
Mark Bourne, DVDJournal.com
When approaching 1962's Sweet Bird of Youth, go for the parts rather than the whole.... [T]he film is a long drive through swampy melodrama.
Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com
The film gets a little bogged down in minutiae and irrelevant side plots, but on the whole it's solid and searing.
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
In 1962, the film was deemed audacious due to its handling of such taboo issues as drugs, abortion, and degeneracy, but it's a comromised work which deviates substantially from Tennessee Williams' play.
Carol Cling, Las Vegas Review-Journal
Newman and Page elevate Williams' melodramatic romance.
Tom Milne, Time Out
Brooks' direction seems a little too stolid for all the sleazy, flaming passions. These are, however, given full measure by an excellent cast.
, Film4
Newman began his splendid career on stage and returned triumphantly to Broadway to star in Williams' play about a gigolo with acting ambitions who attaches himself to an aging movie star.

Read all 13 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Jennifer X

Sweet Bird of Youth is structured like a resurrection tale. Chance Wayne is thrown into all types of abasement, dragged this way and that, beaten to a bloody pulpy (figuratively, of course), and finally rises from the ashes, a new man.
Conner R

Very underrated and a great story about vanity and the drawbacks of Hollywood. Paul Newman delivers his usual knockout performance, creating a very lovable and fun character that is also very realistic and heart felt. There's also a lot of other great performances thrown in,… More
Very underrated and a great story about vanity and the drawbacks of Hollywood. Paul Newman delivers his usual knockout performance, creating a very lovable and fun character that is also very realistic and heart felt. There's also a lot of other great performances thrown in, including Rip Torn as a deranged redneck out for blood. The story is so well put together by the greatest playwright to ever live, Tennessee Williams. I think the love story is so well done and put together in such a tragic way that the end result nearly drains you. The movie itself is really well put together and has some really beautiful sets and shots.
Saskia D

If you've been reading some of my reviews, you all know how much I like Paul Newman, but he failed to appease me this time. The whole story just wasn't that interesting. As a matter of fact, I don't think I have anything constructive to say about the movie. So I'll… More
If you've been reading some of my reviews, you all know how much I like Paul Newman, but he failed to appease me this time. The whole story just wasn't that interesting. As a matter of fact, I don't think I have anything constructive to say about the movie. So I'll leave it at that. <div style="width:254px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com/photos/sweet-bird-of-youth-1962-paul-newman-in-sweet-bird-of-youth-11372629"><img src="http://content7.flixster.com/photo/11/37/26/11372629_gal.jpg" border="0"/></a><div style="text-align:center;font-size:10px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com">