It may have looked good on paper, but mounting a remake of the Tennessee Williams play (and previous feature film with Geraldine Page and Paul Newman) starring Taylor turned out to be a fairly poor idea. She plays a famous movie star who runs screaming from the premiere of her first film in seven years when she catches a glimpse of her aging face in close-up. Retreating to Florida, she picks up the ambitious, but rather slimy Harmon who seduces her and winds up as her chauffeur as she aimlessly rides wherever he takes her, trying to forget her film. He goes back to his home town in order to pick up his ex-girlfriend Paris so that he can persuade Taylor to make the two of them movie stars. Unfortunately, Paris's father Torn is infuriated with Harmon over the way he left town and the condition in which he left his daughter. Harmon ignores Torn's threats to leave town while Taylor languishes in self-pity until everything comes to a head one fateful night. Taylor is heavy and blowzy, yet still very beautiful here. Her performance varies from acceptable to lazy to hammy, depending on the scene. Even when she's bad, she's watchable. (Taylor had much to draw upon here. In fact, she once abruptly left a screening of "Cleopatra" after seeing herself act, barley making it to the ladies room before vomiting!) Harmon tries hard, but is a little too old for his role and cannot master his distractingly bad accent. Interestingly, he sometimes resembles Taylor's great pal Montgomery Clift when lit a certain way or when facing a certain angle. Torn is adequate in a role that he could play in his sleep. His part has been trimmed down from the source material. So has Edwards, who plays Paris's sympathetic aunt. A major character in the play and first film, she's reduced to barely an extra here. Paris isn't dynamic enough or appealing enough to warrant all the interest from Harmon. Perrine does an excellent job as one of Torn's floozies. Her performance, brief as it is, is one of the highlights of the movie. Lee appears as a Hedda Hopper-esquire crony of Taylor's, while Cassel has a small role as the hotel manager. The story has been stripped down to its bare bones, sometimes causing some confusion about what's occurring. Beyond that, it's a shallow, uninspired rendition of the work with precious little period flavor. It's a gauzy, chintzy-looking production, epitomizing that which makes something a TV movie, a condition that ought to have been remedied a bit better by a director of Roeg's caliber. Nolan Miller (his work cut out for him in shielding the star's girth) did all of Taylor's clothes including a fur hat that she only wears for a few seconds and not up close. Scenes must have been added/changed for video or overseas airing because Paris appears topless and Harmon shows his rear end and pubic hair, not something that would typically have been aired on network TV in 1989!
Review of Sweet Bird of Youth
