Product Details

• Actors: Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, Doris Day, Hoagy Carmichael, Juano Hernandez
• Directors: Michael Curtiz
• Writers: Carl Foreman, Dorothy Baker, Edmund H. North
• Producers: Jerry Wald
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• VHS Release Date: July 22, 1994
• Run Time: 112 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6300269434
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #207,296 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

The tragic life of jazz great Bix Beiderbecke, one of the few white musicians to florish in the mostly black jazz scene.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars All that jazz...and all that star power to boot!!, March 25, 2002

By 

Gregor von Kallahann - See all my reviews

This review is from: Young Man With a Horn [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The happy ending is clumsily tacked on and reeks "Hollywood" in the worst sense of the word. Otherwise this is another very good Michael Curtiz film with solid acting and great black and white cinematography. Kirk Douglas may surprise you as the obsessed jazzman, Rick Martin. Doris Day and Lauren Bacall are wonderful as the female leads (with Day being so definitively Day, and Bacall so quintessentially Bacall). Hoagy Carmichael is a remarkable screen presence as well. And the music is wonderful. So what's not to like?...well, the cornball ending and the (at times) stilted dialogue. Still well worth watching. And for jazz movie fans, fans of any or all of the stars or admirers of director Curtiz it remains a must have.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must See Movie Classic!, January 21, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Young Man With a Horn [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This movie is great! For anyone who loves jazz, or enjoys a good film, I would recommend purchasing this movie. The soundtrack to this movie is just phenomenal.(Played by trumpet ace Harry James) This movie will keep your foot tapping while the splendor of Kirk Douglas captures your attention. This movie is said to be based on the life of jazz cornetist Bix Biederbecke. You will find it to be a great performance that you can not turn away from while you are shown the life of a boy who grows up and makes it big as a remarkable trumpeter.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Young man with a cliche, October 15, 2005

By 

Bomojaz (South Central PA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Young Man With a Horn (DVD)

Yeah, it's pretty corny and about as cliche-ridden as they come, but the music is there and that's a very good thing. Kirk Douglas plays a young jazz trumpeter, based very loosly on the life of '20s cornetist and legend Bix Beiderbecke - a man in love with nothing but his horn (and booze) - until Doris Day turns him around. Lauren Bacall plays a vampire-type woman who takes out her own self-loathing on the world (and Douglas), but she does the only credible acting in the movie.

Hollywood has always simplified and cornballed the jazz world, rarely coming close to the reality of it, and this film is no exception. The happy ending is far-fetched and a real drag. Disappointing (but about as to be expected, everything considered). For jazz fans out there, Harry James was dubbed in playing the trumpet parts.