Sweet Bird of Youth (1962)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Richard Brooks

Writers:

Tennessee Williams (play)
Richard Brooks (screenplay)

Release Date:

21 March 1962 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Provocative Adult Entertainment

Plot:

Drifter Chance Wayne returns to his hometown after many years of trying to make it in the movies. With...

Plot Keywords:

Film Star | Drifter | Florida | Actress | Easter

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 2 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Paul Newman	...	Chance Wayne
Geraldine Page	...	Alexandra Del Lago
Shirley Knight	...	Heavenly Finley
Ed Begley	...	Tom 'Boss' Finley
Rip Torn	...	Thomas 'Tom' J. Finley, Jr.
Mildred Dunnock	...	Aunt Nonnie
Madeleine Sherwood	...	Miss Lucy
Philip Abbott	...	Dr. George Scudder
Corey Allen	...	Scotty
Barry Cahill	...	Bud
Dub Taylor	...	Dan Hatcher
James B. Douglas	...	Leroy (as James Douglas)
Barry Atwater	...	Ben Jackson
Charles Arnt	...	Mayor Henricks
Dorothy Konrad	...	Mrs. Maribelle Norris

Runtime:

120 min | Australia:106 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

UK:15 (re-rating) (1996) | UK:X (original rating) | Australia:M | Finland:K-18 | Sweden:15

Company:

Roxbury Productions Inc.

Trivia:

Adapted from a Broadway play by Tennessee Williams that opened on Mar. 10, 1959 at the Martin Beck Theatre and ran for 375 performances. Elia Kazan directed, and Paul Newman, Geraldine Page, Madeleine Sherwood and Rip Torn recreated their roles from the play.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: The film depicts St. Cloud Florida on the Gulf of Mexico. In reality, St. Cloud is 80 miles inland.

Quotes:

Boss Finley: A lot of folks say they like what I did but they don't like the way I did it.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Death Becomes Her (1992)

Soundtrack:

Ebb Tide

Page is fantastic!

If you have seen a picture of Geraldine Page, then you know she was a plain looking woman. Yet in this film, through great acting, she manages to convince the audience that she is a glamour movie queen, and pulls it off! After seeing this film, quickly followed by The Trip To Bountiful, I now know why Meryl Streep herself once said, that "Geraldine Page set the standard by which all actresses try to compete with."