Sweet Bird of Youth
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Movie Reviews of Sweet Bird of Youth
Movie Review: Performances Elevate Film To Greatness
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm not a big Tennessee Williams fan but this film grabbed me. For sure it's a potboiler but what a sizzler. Foremost are the performances here most notably by Oscar winner Ed Begley and Geraldine Page. Begley's role, though a supporting one, as a corrupt politico is one of those rare turns that envelope the whole movie much like Marlon Brando in "The Godfather" and Anthony Hopkins in "The Silence of the Lambs". Calling everybody laddie through a cynical smile wielding a cane Begley's malevolence leaves an indelible stench that permeates your nervous system. Page's alcoholic fading movie star could have been cliched but she gives her character great empathy and humanity. The film's ostensible star, Paul Newman, as an aging gigolo wisely defers to his co-stars. Also good are Rip Torn as Begley's sadistic son and Shirley Knight as Begley's tormented daughter. An excellent film all around.Movie Review: Possibly Geraldine Page's finest performance
Summary: 5 Stars
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!!!
Movie Review: You haven't seen anything yet...
Summary: 5 Stars
What performances, what a cast, what a movie! And what a play!
A truly sadistic interwoven story about "owners" and "owned" people, with a pinch of good old prejudice and bigotry in all the right places.
This is a long awaited DVD with as said, powerful performances throughout. The image is crisp, colors are vivid and the sound couldn't be more polished than this.
This is no action movie, but the story flows so smoothly that it will grip you nevertheless.
Highly recommended for all those who love a good transliteration of a master play into an explosive movie.
Movie Review: Sweet Bird of Youth
Summary: 5 Stars
Dealing with faded looks and broken dreams, all of it stewing in a cauldron of ugly family conflict, "Bird" is as much about the cruel rotisserie of Hollywood fame as it is a dark observation of damaged relationships. Newman is virile and intense as loner-loser Chance, while Oscar-winner Begley and Torn each turn in solid performances as Knight's menacing, vengeful male kin. The other true star of the film is Page, a real-life fading beauty whose boozy, down-and-out Alexandra epitomizes the kind of exaggerated egomania Williams set out to skewer. Don't let this "Sweet Bird" fly away.Movie Review: "This is America. Today you're nobody, tomorrow you're somebody."
Summary: 4 Stars
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.