You won't be disappointed!

Highly Overrated But Still Good

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Blistering performances.

This well-acted screen version of the Tennessee Williams play makes for entertaining viewing, but it's hopelessly marred by an overly-censored ending that dilutes the story of much of its power.I've never seen or read the original stage version, and I didn't know how the film's ending differed from the original until after I'd watched it (I only knew that it had a happier ending imposed on it), but even I could tell that the film didn't end the way Williams had originally intended. Paul Newman plays Chance Wayne (how's that for a subtle choice of name?), a small-time loser who has dreams of making it big in Hollywood. He's returned to his home town with a zonked out famous actress in tow (played by Geraldine Page). His plan is to blackmail the actress into giving him a movie contract, and then take off for Hollywood with his long-lost love, Heavenly (more subtlety), played by Shirley Knight. Heavenly's father, however, the monstrous political boss Tom Finley (Ed Begley, repulsive), wants better things for his daughter and will stop at nothing to prevent Chance from having his way. This is Tennessee Williams, not exactly the go-to playwright for happy endings, so we know all of these personalities have to be heading toward some sort of tragic conclusion, with a few skeletons jumping out of closets along the way, except that in this version, nothing really all that bad happens: Chance gets to run off with Heavenly, and Begley is told off in the film's final scene by one of the film's minor characters.Oh well....I shouldn't have been surprised. Other than Elia Kazan's "A Streetcar Named Desire," I haven't yet seen a filmed version of a Tennessee Williams play made at the time Williams was actually writing that comes close to doing his work justice, making me wonder why Hollywood wanted to make movies out of his plays at all.This film's not a total wash though. To compensate for its cowardice, it does offer a number of superb performances, many of the actors recreating the roles they originated on stage. Page is probably the standout, no surprise given the juiciness of her role. Her turnaround near the film's end, when this helpless, wasted actress transforms into a more than capable beast of the Hollywood jungle, is one of the movie's highlights. Newman is very good too as Chance. I always respected Newman for his willingness to play unflattering characters and not take the easy route of the glamorous pretty boy. Shirley Knight and Ed Begley are serviceable. Begley, as usual, is nearly unwatchable, but that's appropriate for such a gross character. Rip Torn, Madeleine Sherwood and Mildred Dunnock appear in smaller roles.Richard Brooks provides the capable if undistinguished direction.Grade: A-

While setting about Sweet Bird of Youth, be fond of the good fragments before the sum total. There are charming notions in which to take pleasure here: The superior pages of a screenplay modified from Tennessee Williams's play, Ed Begley's crooked village official, and above all Geraldine Page's boozy, embittered, failed movie star. Nonetheless, other than those, the film is a damp melodrama. Richard Brooks tailored and directed this pulpy adaptation of Tennessee Williams's dystopian sensationalist script that's told by and large in sporadic flashbacks that fill the mysterious blanks of the present-day battle of molds.Williams's story, and this is essentially Williams's movie, has the central character, a blonde, blue-eyed, hunky ladies' man played by Paul Newman, in a hotel room in a sweaty, humid, miserable town in Florida, while aging actress Geraldine Page sleeps in the bed. She settles on giving the manly man a leg up for a career in acting. Later on, we determine that he has returned to patch things up with a girlfriend whom he gave a venereal disease, much to the passionate fury and embarrassment of Boss Finley, her father and a commanding political official.This decent but forgettable filmed reading inelegantly adjoins Williams's reflections on the potentially unbearable certainty of our past with affected and glaringly scripted dialogue that is meant for stage and not screen. Williams's lyrical tinges and involvedness are stabilized, and the damaged characters firmed to caricatured fonts, however eloquent and articulate ones.Via alterations and amendments, Knight's dilemma is unquestionably implied as an abortion, the sensational shock of Newman and Page's "contract" are minimized, and when Rip Torn's character alerts powerless Newman that he's about to take away "lover boy's meal ticket," what ensues is nearly laughably construed as misleading.Then again, each person we see visibly acting all the way through the words does a pleasant chore of it. Newman's stage-sharpened buoyancy in the role is subdued but by no means staggers. Begley's hamming does intensify the vigor in a gloomy exercise whose gloom could have been stronger. Additionally of note are Madeleine Sherwood as Boss' vindictive mistress.

Tennessee Williams wrote a terrific Paul Newman and Geraldine Page vehicle in this 1962 top-notch production.Newman is certainly Chance Wayne. He hits every emotional height in the role of a hustler trying to outfox an aging movie star, Alexandra Del Largo, played to the hilt by the fabulous Geraldine Page. This is another super performance for Page and Williams seemed to enjoy writing for her as addicted person in both this film as well as "Summer and Smoke" the year before.Ed Begley won the Oscar for his sensational portrayal of an extremely ruthless southern politician who has got it in for Newman for getting his daughter, Shirley Knight, into trouble. Begley knows how to handle that cane for more than just walking.Mildred Dunnock plays her usual soft-spoken but wise sister-in-law to Begley.Rip Torn, son of Begley in the film, is menacing due to his dominance by his outrageous father.Madeleine Sherwood, who costarred with Newman in 1958's "Cat on A Hot Tin Roof," is terrific as Begley's tormented mistress who manages to turn the tables on this vicious character at the end.

Even though this film version of Sweet Bird of Youth was compromised by Hollywood's Almighty Code in its last days, there's still enough of Tennessee Williams's drama to enjoy and savor.A lot of the cast like Paul Newman, Geraldine Page, Madeline Sherwood and Rip Torn came over from Broadway. That certainly helped, no doubt about it. They and the new cast members make extra base hits every time they're at the plate.One of the new cast members, Ed Begley who took the place of Sidney Blackmer as Boss Finley and won an Academy Award for playing Boss Finley. This is hardly new territory for Begley, playing the rapacious and lustful town boss, he's certainly done these kind of parts before. That experience is probably what got him the Oscar. Begley had some stiff competition that year with Telly Savalas from Birdman of Alcatraz, Victor Buono from Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, Terence Stamp for Billy Budd and Omar Sharif for Lawrence of Arabia. Finley is one evil dude, quite along the lines Sidney Greenstreet in Flamingo Road. It's a part I could see Greenstreet doing with relish. What he threatens to do to Paul Newman and what actually gets done is the letdown ending of the play.Richard Brooks directed and adapted Tennessee Williams's play for the screen. Brooks started out as a writer and later branched into directing. Into his hands came the changes described above. Another big compromise was exactly the nature of the disgrace Paul Newman left with the Finley family over daughter Shirley Knight. Newman plays Chance Wayne, would be actor and now just kept boy toy of fading film star Alexandra Del Lago who is Geraldine Page. Her character is remarkably similar to Vivien Leigh's from that other Tennessee Williams work, The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone. She turns out to have more character than originally thought.Newman arrives in his hometown in Florida where Ed Begley and his family reign supreme, presumably under the protection of Page. But he's got to see Knight and explain he's finally going to hit it big. The scheme involves a little blackmail on Page. That doesn't deter Ed Begley and his son Rip Torn. They will avenge the family no matter what.Even with the changes for the screen, Chance Wayne maybe the sleaziest character Paul Newman ever played or possibly Tennessee Williams ever wrote. Newman wants to be a film star and wants to do it the easy way. If he's got any acting talent that's besides the point. Tennessee Williams was not as far fetched in his character as you might suppose. One does wonder who among our Hollywood hunks might have taken the road Chance Wayne tries, even part of the way.Page and Knight were nominated for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, but both lost to the duo from The Miracle Worker another Broadway play, Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke respectively.Maybe at some point we'll see a faithful version of Sweet Bird of Youth and you can see the kind of compromises Brooks made. Until then, this one will do nicely.