Sweet Bird of Youth (1962)
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75% of critics liked it
(16 reviews) -
71% of users liked it
(1,198 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
- Directed By
- Richard Brooks (VI), Richard Brooks I
- Genres
- Drama, Classics
R,
- In Theaters
- Mar 21, 1962 Wide
- On DVD
- May 2, 2006
- Studio
- MGM Home Entertainment
Critic Reviews
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Variety Staff, Variety
It's a glossy, engrossing hunk of motion picture entertainment, slickly produced by Berman.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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, Empire Magazine
Page and Newman are fantastic.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
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Cast
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Paul Newman
as Chance Wayne
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Geraldine Page
as Alexandra Del Lago Princess Cosmonopolou...
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Shirley Knight
as Heavenly Finley
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Ed Begley Sr.
as "Boss" Finley
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Rip Torn
as Thomas J. Finley Jr.
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Mildred Dunnock
as Aunt Nonnie
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Madeleine Sherwood
as Miss Lucy
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Philip Abbott
as Dr. George Scudder
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Corey Allen
as Scotty
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Barry Cahill
as Bud
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Dub Taylor
as Dan Hatcher
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James Douglas
as Leroy
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Barry Atwater
as Ben Jackson
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Charles Arnt
as Mayor Henricks
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Dorothy Konrad
as Mrs. Maribelle Norris
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James Chandler
as Prof. Brutus Haven Smith
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Robert Burton
as Director
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William Forrest
as Benny Taubman
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Roy E. Glenn Sr.
as Charles
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Kelly Thordsen
as Sheriff Clark
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Davis Roberts
as Fly
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Mike Steen
as Deputy
- Ed Begley
- James B. Douglas
