Sweet Bird of Youth (1962)

Director:

Richard Brooks

Writers:

Tennessee Williams (play)
Richard Brooks (screenplay)

Release Date:

21 March 1962 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Provocative Adult Entertainment

Plot:

Drifter Chance Wayne returns to his hometown after many years of trying to make it in the movies. With...

Plot Keywords:

Florida | Aging | Walter Winchell | Melodrama | Family Relationship

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 2 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Paul Newman	...	Chance Wayne
Geraldine Page	...	Alexandra Del Lago
Shirley Knight	...	Heavenly Finley
Ed Begley	...	Tom 'Boss' Finley
Rip Torn	...	Thomas 'Tom' J. Finley, Jr.
Mildred Dunnock	...	Aunt Nonnie
Madeleine Sherwood	...	Miss Lucy
Philip Abbott	...	Dr. George Scudder
Corey Allen	...	Scotty
Barry Cahill	...	Bud
Dub Taylor	...	Dan Hatcher
James B. Douglas	...	Leroy (as James Douglas)
Barry Atwater	...	Ben Jackson
Charles Arnt	...	Mayor Henricks
Dorothy Konrad	...	Mrs. Maribelle Norris

Runtime:

120 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

UK:X (original rating) | UK:15 (re-rating) (1996) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-18 | Sweden:15

Company:

Roxbury Productions Inc.

Trivia:

Average Shot Length = ~7.5 seconds. Median Shot Length = ~7.1 seconds.

Quotes:

Chance Wayne: Oh, man. Don't you know only squares drink gin martinis with olives?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Death Becomes Her (1992)

Soundtrack:

It's a Big, Wide, Wonderful World

Heavily Bowdlerised, but still retains some fire

All the movie versions of Tennessee Williams' plays are bowdlerised to some extent, but for some reason this one particularly grates. Perhaps it is because I am a spoiled brat who was lucky enough to see the famous stage version with Lauren Bacall directed by Harold Pinter. You were left in no doubt in the stage version that Chance did not stand a "snowballs chance in hell" (forgive the pun on balls and chance) when he sent the Princess on her way.

Still, the movie version has pace and charm. The thugs are heavy enough. Geraldine Page and Paul Newman are both superb. I have not yet seen Summer and Smoke but shall seek it out now having seen Page in this one. I think Paul Newman is better in this movie than he was in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, although overall I rate "Cat" higher than this one.

The rally and the chaos arising from it all seems to happen a little too quickly in the film - of course it is incidental (offstage) in the play but it all seems to go haywire in the blink of an eye somehow.

Nevertheless this is ultimately a chamber play and the movie version, bowdlerised though it might be, is a good proxy, especially for those unable to see a good production on the stage.