Customer Reviews

Sweet Bird of Youth [VHS]

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Based on the hit Tennessee Williams play, this exciting drama stars Paul Newman as a slick young opportunist who returns to his home town with an ageing movie queen(Geraldine Page), but runs head-on into trouble with the town's corrupt boss(Ed Begley in an Oscar-winning performance). As is the case with his 1958 film version of Tennessee Williams' CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, director Richard Brooks was forced to clean up this Williams play for the movies. But those blasted censors didn't hurt anything. Like CAT, SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH is still a gritty, powerful, and brilliant film. Every one of the performers delivers a top-notch portrayal. But the film ultimately belongs to Geraldine Page whose funny and touching portrayal of the fading star is, quite simply, one of the greatest performances ever captured on film.

Paul Newman as the good lookin', blue eyed, lustful and lascivious opportunist, Chance Wayne and a specacular Geraldine Page as the aging Alexandra Del Lago (Princess Cosmonopolous) stir up some trouble in Chance's homecoming to the South. Both Alexandra and Chance are the very epitome of selfishness. Only thinking of their futures and dreams without thinking of consequences to the other human beings in their lives.

Chance has left his hometown and the love of his life, Heavenly Finley, played by Shirley Knight, to seek fame and fortune in New York and Hollywood. Not so lucky is Chance, however, as he picks Alexandra up in Palm Beach while playing BEACH BOY and sex slave to the stars.

Once returning home, however, Heavenly's father and brother, played aptly by Ed Begley (Oscar Winner 1962) as Tom 'Boss' Finley, and Rip Torn (who was married to Geraldine page at the time) as Thomas 'Tom' J. Finley, Jr. are trying like hell to get rid of Chance and his aging drunk of a has-been hollywood screen star.

Mildred Dunnock (Whatever Happened To Aunt Alice & The Corn Is Green)is the kind, Aunt Nonnie who secretly arranges for Chance and Heavenly to meet on the sly while Chance is in town.

Madeleine Sherwood (Mae from Cat On A Hot tin Roof) is Boss Finley's mistress, Miss Lucy and has a great bit part and a pivotal role in the film.

Alexandra comes to realize that she actually has feelings for someone other than herself in Chance and tells him. But of course, Chance runs off to his Heavenly. Many a fight ensues with a sort of happy ending, given that this is Williams!

Tennessee Williams plays have ALWAYS and A DAY, been toned down given the year in which the films were adapted but you still get the jist of the dirty deeds that go on and in Sweet Bird Of Youth. The following are exhibited: Infidelity, Pornography, Aging, Pride, Greed, Lust, Revenge, Prostitution, Abortion, Assult, Domestic Violence, Drunkeness, Drug Use, Incest, Impotence, Syphillis and Racism. All classic touchstones of Tennessee's plays minus the homosexuality. ( View "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" or "Suddenly Last Summer" for examples)

Great performances by the whole cast! Tennessee Williams continues to be my favorite playwright of all time and with good reason!

Highly Recommended and Happy Watching!

As in her portrayal of Alma in Tennessee Williams' "Summer and Smoke," Geraldine Page is electrifying, recreating the role she originated on Broadway. This time, however, she has a leading man worthy of her talents. Paul Newman proves he has more than his looks to rely on; it is to his credit that Page never overshadows him in their extended scenes together. The rest of the cast is excellent as well. The film itself strays from Williams' stage version (which included such topics as venereal disease and castration) in several respects, but also has some intriguing additions, especially the scene between Ed Begley and Madeleine Sherwood. But the real reason to watch this film is for Geraldine Page -- what an actress. She is missed.

THE STUDIO MAY HAVE CLEANED UP AND SANITIZED THIS FILM LIKE THEY DID WITH ALL OF TENNESSEE'S WORK BUT IT IS STILL A WONDERFUL FILM. PAUL NEWMAN AND ED BEGLEY ARE JUST GREAT AND SHIRLEY KNIGHT AND MADELINE SHERWOOD ARE TOP NOTCH BUT ONCE AGAIN THE DIVINE GERALDINE PAGE COMMANDS THE FILM! WHAT A SPECTACULAR ACTRESS THIS WOMAN WAS!!!

I am thrilled that this film will finally be released on DVD in May, 2006. I'm among the greatest of Geraldine Page's fans, and the only better news I could get would be that "Summer & Smoke" will be out soon. Indeed, Williams' play was toned down for the studio sensibilities of the 60's. Newman was very fine, as was Shirley Knight, Madeline Sherwood, Ed Begley & Rip Torn. But it's Page who carries this amazing film about depravity, disappointment and hopelessness. Page did the role many times on stage, and Paul Newman was an excellent choice for Chance Wayne. Page, Knight & Begley were all nominated for Oscars (Begley a winner); Knight was nominated 2 years earlier for "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs", another brilliant film adaptation of a play by the great American playwright, William Inge. I hope Warner Bros. has the sense to release that soon. A wonderful film. So much drivel is being released on DVD. It's unfortunate that the quality stuff has been put on the back shelf. Will they ever realize that there is a public out here, waiting for real quality?

UPDATE: Summer and Smoke is available now, and it's wonderful; Page at her absolute finest.

Another of Tennessee Williams great plays skillfully adapted for the screen. Geraldine Paige is simply brilliant as the faded star, and Paul Newman gives a powerful performance as her companion. Ed Begley is wonderfully sinister, and Mildred Dunnock has the best line:"You? You can go straight to hell!"

Sweet Bird of Youth is initially a hard movie to get into, the first ten minutes are talky and oblique and it's sort of hard to figure out what the movie is going to be about. But once Geraldine Page's boozy, bitter, has-been movie star Alexandra Del Lago comes onto the screen and clashes with Paul Newman's naively ambitious gigolo Chance Wayne, viewers know they're in for a real treat.

Controversial for it's time, Sweet Bird of Youth is all about the price one pays for fame and beauty, cleverly exposing the greed and hypocrisy of Hollywood and the South. The action centers on the small squalid Florida town of St. Cloud, currently mired in corruption and sleaze.

Years ago the nasty misogynist Boss Finley - who runs the town with a fierce demagoguery - ran Chance out of town with a one-way ticket and the temptations of the American Dream. In fact, Chance - with his startling good looks - hoped to score it big in Hollywood as a matinee idol.

When Finely finds out that Chance has returned accompanied by a whorey, drunken Hollywood actress, he's not happy at all. Chance was having an affair with Finley's beautiful daughter Heavenly (Shirley Knight) much to the chagrin of Finely and her evil brother Thomas (Rip Torn). Finley's spinsterish sister, aunt Nonnie (Mildred Dunnock), a victimized, frightened browbeaten woman, is the only person who still likes Chance, cherishing his love to Heavenly.

Chance desperately wants to reconnect with Heavenly, but her father constantly surrounds her with the law and won't let her out of his sight. Chance is also unaware of the terrible secret - an illegal abortion - that shamed the family and almost bought the dynasty down. Flashbacks to their "sweet bird" time reveal that Chance once had the potential for a real relationship and a life better than a two-bit hustler.

Now he spends much of his time with Alexandra, negotiating sex with her and desperately trying to get her to sign a contract and promote him Hollywood. He pops Benzedrine while she sinks back bottles of vodka, getting rolling drunk, and they think nothing of smoking pot when the mood takes them. There's a quiet anxiety to them both - she sees it as a relationship of convenience and he sees her as his one chance to make it big.

The scenes between Chance and Alexandra are indeed the best parts of the movie, as a formidably beautiful bared-chested Newman struts around the hotel room, waxing lyrical to Alexandra how great he is, whilst she is so shattered at what she thinks is the bad reception of her latest film. After all, she's an aging starlet who has banked much of her career on her looks and she comes apart when she can't face those close-ups anymore.

Transferring Tennessee Williams' material from the stage to the screen is always a risky endeavor. Sweet Bird of Youth incorporates a lot of flashbacks to keep the plot moving and to explain the various characters' pasts. But oftentimes the narrative comes across as clunky and awkward, the text is mannered and stagy and sometimes I wonder whether director Richard Brooks could have streamlined it a bit better from the stage to the screen.

Still, the acting is mostly spectacular from the leads down to the supporting - you just never see performances like this on screen today. With Newman, Page and Begley getting the lions share of the hysterical scenes. Page is an absolute standout as Alexandra the aging, fading movie star; and Paul Newman is of course totally sexy as Chance, the selfish, self-involved stud. Mike Leonard May 06.

It's always a joy to see a film which has been cast with such perfection, and this film is exactly that. While the story is its own hearty blend of sleaze, deceit and lust, the actors make it an experience you'll never forget.
My favorite character is Geraldine Page, playing Alexandra Del Lago, the flop-actress on-the-run. I have never seen anyone who can act this way, mixing panache, vulgarity and cheapness in the most delightful blend. There's a certain sweetness about her, combined with a lovable, goofy flakiness. She seems to sing most of her lines, in a brash falsetto just oozing with camp humor. She doesn't chew the scenery; she just nibbles at it in the most tantalizing way. What an actress!!!

If you are interested in great acting and a great movie, watch this one. Geraldine Page, Madeline Sherwood, Ed Begley and Paul Newman are all first rate. The story was sanitized a bit so as not to shock an early 1960s audience (or lose Southern box office receipts), but it is still ripe with sleaze. If you miss Sweet Bird of Youth, don't profess to be a film buff.

Tennessee Williams's usual den of vipers, and a lesser success than some of his other filmed plays. Paul Newman is the man (Chance Wayne)looking for success and Geraldine Page is the down-and-out actress (Alexandra Del Lago) he tries to blackmail to get it. Shirley Knight (as Heaveny Finley) is the girl he's left behind in his redneck hometown who he's now come back to claim. (Who else but Williams would name his characters Chance and Heavenly?)

Dirty politics, selfishness and greed, an abortion, drugs and booze are just a few of the ingredients that get mixed together in this array of sleazebag characters. Too long and excessively talky (even for a filmed play), the movie also has a false happy ending and a hard to believe turn-around for Page (thanks to demands made by the Hays Office). Despite the flaws with the script, however, all the actors are at their best, which for Newman and Page, is pretty good.