Sweet Bird of Youth | | Cast : | Paul Newman, Geraldine Page | | Director : | Richard Brooks | | Studio : | | | Format : | | | Released Date : | March 21, 1962 | | DVD Released Date : | November 19, 2002 | | Language : | | | Audience Rating : | NR (Not Rated) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | September 24, 2004 | | Summary | Love, Greed and Revenge Served Up William's Southern Style! | Content
 | 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!
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| Rating | | | Date | October 03, 2001 | | Summary | Censorship didn't stop anything. | Content
| 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. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 15, 2001 | | Summary | GERALDINE! BRILLIANT GERALDINE! | Content
| 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!!! |
| Rating | | | Date | January 06, 2000 | | Summary | "Easter? How appropriate. I feel positively resurrected!'' | Content
| 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!" |
| Rating | | | Date | August 03, 1999 | | Summary | a must see. | Content
| 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. |
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