Sweet Bird of Youth

Plot synopsis:
Sweet Bird of Youth originated circa 1956 as two plays: a two-character version of the final play featuring only Chance and the Princess, and a one-act play titled The Pink Bedroom that was later developed into Act Two of the play, featuring Boss Finley and his family.
Failed St. Cloud, Mississippi native son Chance Wayne has fled his home town, seeking to profit from his beauty and youth in New York or Hollywood (whichever of the two). When he fails as an actor and then a personality in both cities he turns to the freelance career of gigolo (it is, at least, one step above male prostitute). And as the traveling escort of his current employer, Chance returns to his home town of St. Cloud, escorting an aging, depressed, semi-alcoholic film star: Alexandra del Lago. Ms. del Lago is running away from the negative criticism she believes is the public's and press critics' response to her attempt at a cinematic comeback in a recently released film. Del Lago herself had been running away and burying herself in sex, alcohol, and drugs, until Chance recognized her while hustling in a Florida resort. He saw in her a last chance to build a relationship (taking care of her, while on their drive her back to Hollywood, with him as her escort). Chance is using his perceived gallantry to entice del Lago to give him the imprimatur of stardom which he failed to achieve on his own. As he and del Lago were driving along the Sunset Route back to California, Chance hopes that he will reunite with his childhood sweetheart, Heavenly Finley, and bring her back to Hollywood, where - with del Lago's aid - they will both achieve stardom.
Unfortunately once returned to St. Cloud, Chance discovers Heavenly is only a shadow of the girl he knew. During his last visit to St. Cloud, he had unknowingly infected her with a disease he picked up as a result of his own promiscuity. When she discovered the problem, she had to have surgery to cut the disease out and which, because of an unskilled doctor's knife, resulted in a hysterectomy. Heavenly's corrupt father and brother are determined to make Chance pay for the injury done to Heavenly. Chance worries that he will receive the same fate as a black man who was recently attacked and castrated in the town.
Using Alexandra's car and funds, Chance tries to prove to the town that he is a success, but his old friends call his bluff and see him for the washed up and washed out man he has become. Meanwhile, Alexandra receives news that the criticism she's been running from is actually praise and that her comeback could not have been better. Chance believes that he will ride with her to the top, but Alexandra has no wish for a gigolo to besmirch her good name. His youth gone, Chance does not know how to move on with his life. Though she will not recommend him for a job in Hollywood, Alexandra urges him to continue as her escort, but Chance decides to stay and accept castration.

Tags: melodrama, revenge, flashback

Review:
Chance Wayne (Newman) has only one talentsexual prowessand he's been bumming around for several years, satisfying rich women in the hope that he can find fame in Hollywood He picks up a faded screen star, Alexandra Del Lago (magnificently played by Geraldine Page), who takes constant refuge in vodka, hashish, oxygen masks and young studs She promises to get him a movie contract, and they drive to his Southern hometown, where he plans to find his sweetheart, Heavenly Finley (Shirley Knight), and take her along to Hollywood He doesn't know that on his last visit he left her pregnant, that she had an abortion, and that her father, the corrupt and vigorous politician Boss Finley (Ed Begley), is out to get him Through a strong, powerful performance, Newman managed to be a celebritydropping names, giving large tips, arrogantly stating: "Just because a man's successful doesn't mean he has to forget his hometown."He's also extremely sneaky and gently tolerant, as he charms Alexandra while recording what she's saying for blackmail purposes But he's finally pathetic: a desperately insecure man, addicted to amphetamines, attending to Alexandra and performing as a lover at her whim His mask of swaggering bravura really disappears when he tries to see Heavenly He becomes confused and desperatewalking with regular steps, rubbing his hands together, pleading urgently over the phone.
This movie also features the quintessential "Heavenly" daughter/ big bad daddy performances by Knight and by Begley, who is frighteningly effective.Geraldine Page is perfectly imperfect and unattractive- remember she is this way for dramatic effect.
Here you get a good dose of the cynicism and fine acting of the 60's but without the annoying pretentiousness that was so prevalent in films of the era.Also, you don't have to be familiar with the stage play or Tennessee Williams in order to appreciate this movie-making effort by Richard Brooks..
What makes this Southern soap opera fascinating is the cast of tawdry characters, beginning with Chance Wayne (Paul Newman), a charming, ambitious gigolo who, despite his best efforts, can't quite make his worldly dreams come true.But this time he's got a real plan for success.
Chance returns to his hometown on the Gulf Coast, bringing with him a boozed-out, high-strung movie star named Alexandra Del Lago (Geraldine Page).
Complicating matters even more is Miss Lucy (Madeleine Sherwood), 'Boss' Finley's mistress whom Heavenly can't stand.Having originated as a stage play, the film takes place mostly indoors, and is very talky.
But the Tennessee Williams dialogue is predictably incisive, with commentary both on the whims of success and on the fleeting nature of youth.By far, my favorite element of the film is the deliciously overwrought performance of Geraldine Page.
Williams' tale of fading film actress and princess-by-marriage Alexandra Del Largo escaping Hollywood after a failed comeback attempt and being taken advantage of by aspiring actor/gigolo Chance Wayne is full of ripe drama, all of which is fully exploited by the 1962 film.
No matter what film you're watching, you can always depend on Paul Newman to deliver the goods (which is precisely why he remained a top box office drawl up through the mid-eighties), and he gives one of his absolute best performances SWEET BIRD.
Rip Torn and Mildred Dunnock are great in supporting bits, and Oscar-nominated Shirley Knight is hauntingly lovely as the appropriately named "Heavenly." Director Brooks also makes excellent use of the widescreen frame, composing many exceptional shots that are all but destroyed when the film is altered from its original Panavision format.Certainly some viewers will carp about the re-written ending (the studio demanded that things end "happily") as well as the removal of such hot-button topics as abortion and castration to appease the censors, yet none of these omissions dramatically affect the film.
Geraldine Page, Paul Newman, Madeline Sherwood and Rip Torn all recreate their Broadway roles for the film version of "Sweet Bird of Youth," a 1962 film based on Tennessee Williams' play and directed by Richard Brooks.
Again and as usual, some bite has been taken out of the original story in order to get past the censors.Geraldine Page is the drunk, drugged and over the hill movie star Alexandra del Lago, who has picked up with a Hollywood gigolo, Chance Wayne and promised him a film career.
And "Desperate Housewives" fans will be interested to see a slim, pretty Shirley Knight as Heavenly, a somewhat vapid role for such a strong actress.The DVD has a screen test for Chance by Rip Torn, who would later marry Page.
SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH may not rate with such Tennessee Williams masterpieces as A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE and CAT ON THE HOT TIN ROOF, but it's still a top flight piece of entertainment capturing A LOT of great acting.
The classy supporting cast includes Rip Torn as Boss Finley's degenerate son, Tom Jr., Mildred Dunnock as Newman's unlikely ally and Madeline Sherwood as a vindictive good-time girl..
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.
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.
Newman plays Chance Wayne, would be actor and now just kept boy toy of fading film star Alexandra Del Lago who is Geraldine Page.
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.
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.
Director Richard Brooks adapted this Tennessee Williams play about a small town ne'er-do-well who returns home on the arm of a boozing, faded movie star, which quickly stirs trouble with the town locals who are in the midst of a political upheaval.
Talky material goes mostly flat, yet does get a boost from the sterling cast (Paul Newman, Geraldine Page, Shirley Knight and Supporting Oscar winner Ed Begley).
This Tennessee Williams film stars Geraldine Page and Paul Newman as a faded movie star and a gigolo.
The content of his novels is only comparable to Theodor Dreiser's ones.This film is a good example of Williams sense, and probably Paul Newman in the role of young Chance Wayne did not disappoint neither the director Richard Brooks nor Tenessee Williams.
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..
In Sweet Bird of Youth, Paul Newman reprises his stage role in Tennessee Williams's play.
Directed by Richard Brooks (Elmer Gantry (1960)), who also wrote the screenplay for this Tennessee Williams play, this above average drama with Paul Newman in the title role features Ed Begley's Academy Award winning Supporting Actor performance (on his only nomination).
Geraldine Page received a Best Actress nomination, and Shirley Knight (The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960)) received her second Best Supporting Actress nomination.Paul Newman plays a former young stud who returns to the Southern town of his youth after years of failing while attempting to make it as an actor in the movies.
Sweet Bird of Youth (1962)*** (out of 4)Years after running away to Hollywood to become a star, Chance Wayne (Paul Newman) returns home never hitting it big but he has the alcoholic, former star Alexandra Del Lago (Geraldine Page) with him in hopes that she will sign him to a contract.
Pretty soon he winds up getting involved with his former love (Shirley Knight) and her power crazed father (Ed Begley) who ripped them apart years earlier.Tennessee Williams' SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH is another good adaptation and thankfully the censors were a tad bit cooler than in the previous decade, which allowed some of the more frank and daring sexuality to be left in tact.
The film deals with a slut, an abortion and the use of sexuality to get what one wants so there's no question that Hollywood's gates were opening up a tad bit more.Newman was coming off the success of THE HUSTLER and he gives a very good performance here but he's actually out-shined by the entire cast.
Wannabe actor Chance Wayne (Paul Newman) returns to his hometown St. Cloud with drunken former film star Alexandra Del Lago (Geraldine Page).
A wonderful cast brings this dramatic Southern soap opera to a sublime level the lead role of Chance Wayne given a sizzling performance by Paul Newman, a conniving, charming gigolo who keeps trying - and failing - to succeed at his chosen profession.Chance returns to his hometown towing a has been drug addicted alcoholic movie star, Alexandra Del Lago (Geraldine Page).
Chance comes with the purpose of taking his old love, Heavenly (Shirley Knight) away from her obsessed father, 'Boss' Finley (Ed Begley) so the three of them can hit Hollywood together and Alexandra will help him get his first big break in the movies.Chance's homecoming goes off like nothing he has planned, he left a lot of damage when he took off before.
The part of Alexandra is made for her.There is a beautiful score and Paul Newman is stunning in the role.The only complaint I would have (and thus a lower rating of 7 out of 10) would be the significant change both to the story of what happened to Heavenly after Chance disappeared the first time and to the ending of the film, due to censorship rules.
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.
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.
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.
It is not very long when Chance returns from Hollywood with a burned out actress, Alexandra Del Lago, (Geraldine Page) who adds a great deal of comedy and romance in this film as well as, an outstanding performance.
The state police serve as his body servants.Years ago, love was growing between Newman's character, Wayne Chance, and Begley's daughter Heavenly, played by succulent blond Shirley Knight.
In particular, I felt that Ed Begley (who won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for this film) and Geraldine Page were standout performers.
The movie is a eulogy to the youth that physically left the glorious and decadent Alexandra Del Lago, Geraldine Page, or that killed the inner idealism of Chance Wayne, Paul Newman  two characters portrayed with such a natural authenticity that I wonder if those parts weren't self-reflexive ...
Newman as Chance Wayne, if that is his real name, is the wanna-be star, getting off his waiter condition to conquer the governor's daughter, Heavenly, to prove his value, influenced or corrupted by the very ideas of the governor, the Big Finley, played by Ed Begley, believable as the reminiscent of the bigot-minded juror #10, with his sneaky son, a young unrecognizable Rip Torn.In fact, the whole subplot is quite secondary when you consider the real heart of the film, where it's all about the indecent dichotomy between youth and success.
It's Hollywood ending, but the movie efficiently made the point that success or happiness can also be a matter of good or bad luck, and through Chance Wayne, Tennessee Williams gives us a self-approach of what he could've been if he wasn't successful or as a matter of fact, what Newman could've been  Thanks God, this is only a movie.
"Sweet Bird of Youth" came towards the end of Hollywood's Tennessee Williams cycle of the fifties and early sixties, being preceded by such films as "A Streetcar Named Desire", "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and "Suddenly Last Summer", and closely followed by "Period of Adjustment" and "Night of the Iguana".
("Sweet Bird..", for example, was not performed in London's West End until 1985, nearly 30 years after it was written).The main character is Chance Wayne, a drifter who returns to his Southern home town.
For me, however, the real stars of the film are not Newman but Geraldine Page as Alexandra and Ed Begley as Finley.
Begley certainly deserved his "Best Supporting Actor" award for his portrayal of the ranting demagogue Finley; the one nomination which rather surprised me was "Best Supporting Actress" for Shirley Knight (Heavenly), as she did not seem to have all that much to do."Sweet Bird of Youth" is not quite in the same class as some of the other entries in the Williams cycle, such as "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (which was also directed by Richard Brooks and also starred Newman) or "A Streetcar Named Desire" with its four towering performances in the leading roles.
But now back home, he runs up against his former girlfriend's's corrupt politician dad 'Boss Finley (Ed Begley in an award performance) and 'Junior (Rip Torn), who are out to send him along the road for having done Heavenly wrong.
Paul Newman stars as Chance Wayne, handsome, charming, lusty, and fame-hungry young gigolo who returns to his Southern home town after long stay in Florida and Hollywood where he tried to make a career as a movie star.
The film works thanks to the wonderful performances from Page, Begley, and breathtaking Paul Newman who looked like he was able to catch the sweet bird of youth and who gave an outstanding performance.
Finley.Her family wants to keep her far from Chance.Richard Brooks is the director of Sweet Bird of Youth (1962), a story that's based on Tennessee Williams' play.Paul Newman gives an outstanding performance in the lead.His character may not be the most lovable, but he acts the part so right.Same you could say about Geraldine Page in the part of Alexandra Del Lago, who has a severe drug addiction.Rip Torn, who became her husband the next year, is great as Thomas 'Tom' Finley Jr.Ed Begley is terrific as 'Boss' Finley.Shirley Knight is amazing as Heavenly.And so is Madeleine Sherwood as Miss Lucy, the mistress of Mr. Finley.Mildred Dunnock gives a great performance as Aunt Nonnie.Corey Allen plays Scotty.Dub Taylor plays the assistant manager of the Royal Palms Hotel in St. Cloud, Florida.They're both great.This is a movie about dreams and fantasies, about a man wanting to be something bigger, something greater.Wanting to be famous, that is true to this day also.But now many people seem to want fame without having to work for it.The movie has a few really great scenes.There's a lot of tension in the scene with Miss Lucy and 'Boss' in the hotel room.The ending is mighty impressing.Chance gets beaten up, and he loses his good looks, the one thing he needs to be an actor.But Heavenly doesn't mind.She realizes she loves him and gets in the car with him.They become drifters together..
Basically, Williams never missed a chance to address the tensions boiling beneath the veneer of the perfect lifestyle in the United States; anyone who's seen "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" can vouch for that.In addition to Paul Newman in the lead role and Geraldine Page as the drugged-out ex-actress, the rest of the cast includes Ed Begley Sr. in an Academy Award-winning role as a political kingpin and Madeline Sherwood (Reverend Mother on "The Flying Nun") as a discarded mistress..
Richard Brooks' "Sweet Bird of Youth" is an excellent movie based on Tennessee Williams's play of the same name.
The movie stars Paul Newman as a drifter named Chance Wayne (who is the central character to this movie) who is trying to get back into his relationship with a girl named Heavenly Finley (played by Shirley Knight in an Oscar nominated performance)but he knows that she wants the same thing to happen but both have a complication that won't let it happen which is Heavenly's father who is a corrupt politician named "Boss" Finley (played by Ed Begley in an Oscar winning performance).