74%Tomatometer 19 Reviews 73%Audience Score 1,000+ Ratings After unsuccessfully trying his luck in Hollywood, charming gigolo Chance Wayne (Paul Newman) wanders back to his hometown, accompanied by Alexandra Del Lago (Geraldine Page), a movie star on the wane. Chance quickly falls back into his old rut -- he's still smitten with his former sweetheart, Heavenly Finley (Shirley Knight), but her thuggish brother (Rip Torn) and her crooked politician father (Ed Begley) both hate him. When Alexandra leaves town, Chance is left with little more than trouble. Read MoreRead LessWatch on Fandango at Home Buy Now
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Sweet Bird of Youth
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Critics Reviews
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Empire Magazine Page and Newman are fantastic. Apr 8, 2008 Full Review Variety Staff Variety It's a glossy, engrossing hunk of motion picture entertainment, slickly produced by Berman. Apr 8, 2008 Full Review Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader Offers little indication of what made the original play interesting (especially in Elia Kazan's stage production), despite the fact that Paul Newman and Geraldine Page are called on to reprise their original roles. Apr 8, 2008 Full Review Janet Graves Photoplay Here are Paul and Shirley playing true love gone wrong (in the shape of two pretty stupid types), while Geraldine portrays fallen grandeur with superb dash. Dec 15, 2020 Full Review Otis Stuart OutWeek The play is all broad strokes, and even worse, the film does its damndest to sanitize them. May 20, 2020 Full Review Matt Brunson Film Frenzy Once again, Hollywood proved to be more constrictive than Broadway -- a shocking castration gets replaced by a savage beating -- but the Southern discomfort of its characters keeps this torrid melodrama humming. Rated: 3/4 May 16, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews
Audience Reviews
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Jeff S Covers some profound themes and yet is hilarious at times. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars02/21/24 Full Review CodyZamboni Movie was not what I thought it would be.Set in Florida in the early 60s, it's a tale of gettting old, missing your big chance in life, trying to regain lost fame and love, and political corruption.Terrific performances by Paul Newman, Shirley Knight, and Geraldine Page as a faded movie star.I liked how the story points were emphasized through the visual themes of birds and a lighthouse. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars07/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Very dramatic, the story is ok. The aesthetics are peak WASP so I love it. Great background movie. Rated 4/5 Stars •Rated 4 out of 5 stars02/25/23 Full Review Audience Member Tennessee Williams goodness! Rated 3.5/5 Stars •Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars04/28/21 Full Review Audience Member this is easily one of Paul Newman's Best Performances EVER! he honestly should've won The Oscar here! such a Dramatically-Entertaining yet Emtionally-Draining film! i'd LOVE To see what they could do with a remake! Rated 5/5 Stars •Rated 5 out of 5 stars01/24/23 Full Review steve d An uncomfortable story but the acting is great. Rated 3/5 Stars •Rated 3 out of 5 stars03/30/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Sweet Bird of Youth
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Cast & Crew
Richard Brooks Director Paul Newman Chance Wayne Geraldine Page Alexandra Del Lago (Princess Cosmonopolous) Ed Begley Tom 'Boss' Finley Rip Torn Thomas 'Tom' J. Finley, Jr. Shirley Knight Heavenly Finley
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Sweet Bird of Youth
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Movie Info
SynopsisAfter unsuccessfully trying his luck in Hollywood, charming gigolo Chance Wayne (Paul Newman) wanders back to his hometown, accompanied by Alexandra Del Lago (Geraldine Page), a movie star on the wane. Chance quickly falls back into his old rut -- he's still smitten with his former sweetheart, Heavenly Finley (Shirley Knight), but her thuggish brother (Rip Torn) and her crooked politician father (Ed Begley) both hate him. When Alexandra leaves town, Chance is left with little more than trouble.
Chance returns to his hometown, St. Cloud, to attempt a reconciliation with Heavenly, but in the end he is unable to recapture the love that they shared. He is abandoned by Princess when her career takes a better turn, and in the end he submits to castration in retribution for his corruption of Heavenly.
Consider Tenneessee Williams one of the greats when it comes to play writing. 'Sweet Bird of Youth' is not quite 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof', 'A Streetcar Named Desire' and 'The Glass Menagerie', but it is nonetheless classic Williams and one of his best.
The original title of the play was "The Enemy, Time," which essentially means the same thing as "Sweet Bird of Youth." "Sweet bird" suggests that, almost before we know it, youth flies away. Youth is sweet and has a buoyant quality, while the enemy, time, is what makes the sweet bird fly.
It's official; the coveted and much admired couple Hye-Jeong (or Jun-ha) has split. If you listen closely enough, you'll hear the million little shards of my shattered heart come loose and fall tinkling to the ground.
With his youth gone, Chance does not know how to move on with his life. Although she will not recommend him for a job in Hollywood, del Lago urges him to continue as her escort, but he decides to stay and accept his punishment in St. Cloud.
In Sweet Bird of Youth, the inevitability of aging wears on characters who have come to depend on a superficial kind of beauty. Chance, an aspiring actor, has no true talent as a performer. Nonetheless, he has spent his life chasing the minor success he enjoyed as a young man, always believing himself worthy of fame.
Sweet Bird of Youth is a drama set at the time the play was written in the late 1950s. All the action takes place in two settings over the course of one day, an Easter Sunday, in the Gulf Coast city of St.Cloud, Florida. A majority of the action occurs in the Royal Palms Hotel.
Sweet Bird of Youth is a 1962 American drama film starring Paul Newman and Geraldine Page, with Shirley Knight, Madeleine Sherwood, Ed Begley, Rip Torn and Mildred Dunnock in support.
Cloud, Mississippi. St. Cloud is the fictional small town on the Gulf Coast Tennessee Williams used as a setting for “Sweet Bird of Youth.” In the play, Chance Wayne, a flashily dressed man originally from St.
Sweet Bird of Youth, drama in three acts by Tennessee Williams, published and produced in 1959 as an expanded version of Williams's one-act play The Enemy: Time (1959).
(idiomatic) An attractive young woman. I just know he's off spending the night with some sweet young thing he picked up in a bar. (idiomatic) A sweet-tempered young woman.
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