Michael Curtiz was a genius director, don't you agree? Masterpieces like "Casablanca" "The Adventures Of Robin Hood" "The Charge Of The Light Brigade" "Mildred Pierce" and over 150 other titles including the musical "Romance on the High Seas" which introduced Doris Day to the world. In "Young Man with a Horn" Doris Day is the luminous center, the ideal. She is photographed and framed like a reachable dream. Kirk Douglas plays the trumpet player in love with the wrong woman and Lauren Bacall here is the personification of the wrong woman, she knows it, she tells him but he goes for it like a lamb to the slaughter. "Young Man with a Horn" has some extra pluses, Hoagy Carmichel for instance and Juano Hernandez but what the film reminded me of was, Michael Curtiz's brilliance and that Doris Day was, is and always will be one of the great film actresses of all time. Regardless of the film she appeared in, she displayed an extraordinary talent to be, to be totally and if you think I'm just waxing lyrical, "Young Man with a Horn" presents indisputable evidence of her extraordinary talent.
71 Reviews
Music and life
Petey-1027 May 2017
Rick Martin is a young boy who finds the love for music after his mother dies. The trumpet becomes his instrument, and he learns to play it from an old master called Art Hazzard. Young Man with a Horn from 1950 is directed by Michael Curtiz. Rick Martin is first played by Orley Lindgren, then by Kirk Douglas. Lauren Bacall plays his troubled wife Amy North. Doris Day is the singer friend Jo Jordan. Hoagy Carmichael is the pianist friend Willie 'Smoke' Willoughby. Juano Hernandez portrays Art Hazzard. The cast is quite superb. Douglas does excellent job in the lead. Especially when Rick starts having problems with the alcohol, then Kirk really has to act. And that he does really well! I think the movie becomes more interesting when it portrays all those problems this young man starts having. Problems with marriage, drinking. When it's not just about music and how good he is at it. Bacall's performance is very film noir, which works fairly good in this movie. Day is very touching in the caring she has for her friend. And she can really sing, which we all knew! If you're a fan of the main trio, if you like good music, if you like drama you should see this movie.
This trumpet is part of me, the best part!
hitchcockthelegend25 August 2008
Young Man With A Horn is inspired by the sad life of jazz musician Bix Beiderbecke, a sad life because Bix would succumb to alcoholism and pass away at the age of 28.
Rick Martin (Kirk Douglas) is the fictional character of the piece, the film is told in flashbacks of Martin's life through the nostalgic reminiscence of pianist Smoke Willoughby (Hoagy Carmichael).
Young Man With A Horn is very much a film of three parts, the first half firmly establishes Rick's love of music from an early age, his tutelage under mentor Art Hazzard (Juan Hernandez) is fully formed and completely fleshes out Rick's character. We are then privy to the middle part of his life as he forms a bond with Smoke and band singer Jo Jordon (an ebullient and charming Doris Day), Rick is happy, his love of music taking priority over outside interests, but then Amy North (a swishing Lauren Bacall) enters his life, and here the film switches firmly into a melodramatic piece, it's a switch that pays off as the end credit looms large.
The directing from Michael Curtiz is as you would expect very tight to the drama, and the photography from Ted McCord captures the smoke filled nature of jazz clubs perfectly. The acting from the cast principals is never less than above average. Some may find it hard to accept Kirk Douglas in the leading role, and certainly at first glance he looks oddly out of place with a trumpet at his lips, but he studied under trumpeter Larry Sullivan and convinces as a viable trumpet player (the actual music is dubbed by Harry James). The music of course is excellent, and as long as one is prepared for the melodramatic turn of events, this is a very rewarding piece. The proviso though is that you remember that this is far from being a true biographical story of the tragic Bix Beiderbecke. 8/10
Rick Martin (Kirk Douglas) is the fictional character of the piece, the film is told in flashbacks of Martin's life through the nostalgic reminiscence of pianist Smoke Willoughby (Hoagy Carmichael).
Young Man With A Horn is very much a film of three parts, the first half firmly establishes Rick's love of music from an early age, his tutelage under mentor Art Hazzard (Juan Hernandez) is fully formed and completely fleshes out Rick's character. We are then privy to the middle part of his life as he forms a bond with Smoke and band singer Jo Jordon (an ebullient and charming Doris Day), Rick is happy, his love of music taking priority over outside interests, but then Amy North (a swishing Lauren Bacall) enters his life, and here the film switches firmly into a melodramatic piece, it's a switch that pays off as the end credit looms large.
The directing from Michael Curtiz is as you would expect very tight to the drama, and the photography from Ted McCord captures the smoke filled nature of jazz clubs perfectly. The acting from the cast principals is never less than above average. Some may find it hard to accept Kirk Douglas in the leading role, and certainly at first glance he looks oddly out of place with a trumpet at his lips, but he studied under trumpeter Larry Sullivan and convinces as a viable trumpet player (the actual music is dubbed by Harry James). The music of course is excellent, and as long as one is prepared for the melodramatic turn of events, this is a very rewarding piece. The proviso though is that you remember that this is far from being a true biographical story of the tragic Bix Beiderbecke. 8/10
The haunting, melodic sounds of jazz music. Smoky clubs. Beautiful women. A musician's tragic life. And lots and lots of pathos. All the makings of a great film!
musicallowb3 August 2004
This is a great film with three great actors; Kirk Douglas as Rick Martin, Lauren Bacall as Amy North, AND Doris Day as Jo Jordan. Even though the movie was loosely based on the short and sad life of jazz trumpeter Bix Beiderbecke, the ending was written in a more positive light than Bix's tragic real life story. Yet the movie still manages to capture the essence of a tormented musician's existence, the dangers of alcoholism, the deceptions of false love, and the effect Rick Martin's choices have on those around him who love...and hate...him. There's Lauren Bacall and Doris Day...bad girl and good girl...who will he choose? Slinky, seductive, and cat-like Lauren? Or loving, beautiful and wholesome Doris? It's a visual feast with two of Hollywood's most alluring women! And it's an acting tour de force from all involved, including Juano Hernandez as young Rick Martin's African American trumpet mentor, Art Hazzard. It's also a great pathos film, only with an added light-at-the end-of-the-tunnel type of ending. Not necessarily a true to life ending, but it makes for a great story...and an even greater movie. This should definitely be on DVD!
A very good film that after a while seemed to go on too long.
planktonrules1 September 2007
Kirk Douglas played a very eager musician who just adored music--particularly when he was able to cut loose from convention and just put his heart into the music. Throughout much of the film, his one abiding love was his trumpet and only towards the end of the film is this love shaken.
I really enjoyed this film, as it was quite a departure for Kirk Douglas to play a jazz-loving trumpet player. The supporting performances were very good (particularly the performances by Hoagy Charmichael and Juano Hernandez) I also found myself enjoying the music quite a bit even though I have never liked jazz.
Yet despite my liking this movie very much, there was a problem with the film and that was that the film lasted a bit too long. The last 2 minutes of the film could easily been condensed, as the long "I'm depressed and feel sorry for myself" routine just seemed to drag and was so atypical of the rest of the film.
By the way, for 1950 this was an amazing film in the way it handles race. Unlike other films of the time, Whites and Blacks interact more or less as equals and there is friendship between Douglas and Hernandez--something you take for granted in films nowadays, but for 1950 it was a amazing and very much appreciated.
By the way, though it often goes by without mention, but the cinematography in this black & white film was amazing--very, very artistic and just beautiful. It reminded me a lot of Film Noir combined with the sensibilities of Ansel Adams.
I really enjoyed this film, as it was quite a departure for Kirk Douglas to play a jazz-loving trumpet player. The supporting performances were very good (particularly the performances by Hoagy Charmichael and Juano Hernandez) I also found myself enjoying the music quite a bit even though I have never liked jazz.
Yet despite my liking this movie very much, there was a problem with the film and that was that the film lasted a bit too long. The last 2 minutes of the film could easily been condensed, as the long "I'm depressed and feel sorry for myself" routine just seemed to drag and was so atypical of the rest of the film.
By the way, for 1950 this was an amazing film in the way it handles race. Unlike other films of the time, Whites and Blacks interact more or less as equals and there is friendship between Douglas and Hernandez--something you take for granted in films nowadays, but for 1950 it was a amazing and very much appreciated.
By the way, though it often goes by without mention, but the cinematography in this black & white film was amazing--very, very artistic and just beautiful. It reminded me a lot of Film Noir combined with the sensibilities of Ansel Adams.
Fascinating, reverent jazz film
Joel-6131 August 1999
A film that treats jazz as the star. Wonderful music, with great playing by Harry James. Even the theme of art versus commercialism is handled sensitively. Hoagy Carmichael is great, and Doris Day shows her big band roots with some beautiful numbers. Throw in a totally off-beat, dark performance by Lauren Bacall, and you have a unique film experience. While some might argue with the upbeat ending -- the film is loosely based on the tragic life of Bix Beiderbeck -- I found it to be a moving appreciation of the quest of jazz musicians for truth in music, and the underlying sadness that gives some of the greatest jazz its depth.
Love Of Jazz
Lechuguilla30 October 2014
More or less fictional, this film tells the story of a lonely but musically inclined kid who grows up to be an ace trumpet player. Kirk Douglas plays Rick Martin, a guy with a one-track mind ... music. But whereas he could make a steady income playing in routine dance bands with their sing-a-long songs, Martin prefers the more free-form sounds of jazz.
But jazz doesn't sell records, so Martin hops from one boring band to another, never finding satisfaction except when he's engaged with other like-minded jazz musicians. It's the old conflict of commercialization vs. art. Along the way Rick meets his true love, Jo (Doris Day), but gets sidetracked by a sultry academic named Amy (Lauren Bacall). And therein lies the main problem with this film.
Amy is an annoying character. Since she relates not at all to music, every time she's on screen, we have to listen to her whine. She detracts both from Rick Martin and from the film's jazzy, moody style. These plot segments, which show up in the second half take us far away from jazz and into angst filled soap opera territory.
Ted McCord's terrific B&W cinematography adds a lot. The lighting and interesting camera angles amplify the moody, downbeat tone, consistent with a 1940s urban visual style, helped along by effective sets and realistic costume design. Casting is acceptable except for Lauren Bacall, who is too overbearing. Doris Day is quite good. And Hoagy Carmichael does a terrific job, both in acting and in narrating the story.
A satisfying film overall could have been rendered even better had the script kept the focus on Rick Martin and his love of jazz. That "Young Man With A Horn" didn't win any kind of award is unfortunate. It's a good film, especially for viewers who enjoy jazz and can appreciate the dreary, moody ambiance of 1940s urban America.
But jazz doesn't sell records, so Martin hops from one boring band to another, never finding satisfaction except when he's engaged with other like-minded jazz musicians. It's the old conflict of commercialization vs. art. Along the way Rick meets his true love, Jo (Doris Day), but gets sidetracked by a sultry academic named Amy (Lauren Bacall). And therein lies the main problem with this film.
Amy is an annoying character. Since she relates not at all to music, every time she's on screen, we have to listen to her whine. She detracts both from Rick Martin and from the film's jazzy, moody style. These plot segments, which show up in the second half take us far away from jazz and into angst filled soap opera territory.
Ted McCord's terrific B&W cinematography adds a lot. The lighting and interesting camera angles amplify the moody, downbeat tone, consistent with a 1940s urban visual style, helped along by effective sets and realistic costume design. Casting is acceptable except for Lauren Bacall, who is too overbearing. Doris Day is quite good. And Hoagy Carmichael does a terrific job, both in acting and in narrating the story.
A satisfying film overall could have been rendered even better had the script kept the focus on Rick Martin and his love of jazz. That "Young Man With A Horn" didn't win any kind of award is unfortunate. It's a good film, especially for viewers who enjoy jazz and can appreciate the dreary, moody ambiance of 1940s urban America.
Hitting That Elusive Note
bkoganbing22 November 2006
Warning: Spoilers
As I write this review we are fortunate to have all three stars from Young Man With a Horn still with us. All three of them give magnificent performances. Too bad the story was such a cop out.
The novel that this is based on has the character of Rick Martin die in the end just like Bix Beiderbecke on whom he was based does at the tender age of 28. It would have been so much more powerful and more effective had the film had that ending. It's such a let down after a great trio of players give their all.
Doris Day gets to sing three great standards, With A Song In My Heart, The Very Thought of You and Too Marvelous for Words. I believe this is the first film in which she shows real dramatic potential as the band vocalist in love with the cornetist who can't find inner peace.
Kirk Douglas is in a role that could have been written just for him on the screen. I can't imagine anyone doing it better. It's just his kind of part, all the rage inside him because of the lousy childhood and unable to articulate it except through his horn. His heights and his downfall are believable and real, but no one could have made the audience accept the tacked on happy ending.
Lauren Bacall was a friend of Kirk Douglas's from New York when they were both struggling drama students. She encouraged him to come to Hollywood after she made it big. This is their only film together.
It's also the first time she played a bad girl. She's a self indulgent heiress who looks at life as a series of kicks to be had. She makes Douglas fall for her big time and then treats him shabbily when they're married. This is one of the earliest examples of lesbianism portrayed on the screen. She leaves him to go off to Europe with a woman who she met in school and check out the glances Bacall gives her new flame.
I don't think Bacall is a lesbian however. To her an affair with a female is just another thing to indulge herself with. My guess is when the novelty wears off, this woman will get the Douglas treatment.
To give it a real jazz flavor Young Man With a Horn also features Hoagy Carmichael who knew Bix Beiderbecke in real life and it is he who narrates the story from his perspective. Look also for good performances by Jerome Cowan as a character based on Paul Whiteman and Juano Hernandez as the jazz cornetist who teaches young Rick Martin as played by Orley Lindgren to play. Hernandez's character is based on a lot of people, most probably King Oliver is the closest model.
Young Man in a Horn is a stand up double of a film. It would have been an exciting in the park home run if they had kept the ending as is.
The novel that this is based on has the character of Rick Martin die in the end just like Bix Beiderbecke on whom he was based does at the tender age of 28. It would have been so much more powerful and more effective had the film had that ending. It's such a let down after a great trio of players give their all.
Doris Day gets to sing three great standards, With A Song In My Heart, The Very Thought of You and Too Marvelous for Words. I believe this is the first film in which she shows real dramatic potential as the band vocalist in love with the cornetist who can't find inner peace.
Kirk Douglas is in a role that could have been written just for him on the screen. I can't imagine anyone doing it better. It's just his kind of part, all the rage inside him because of the lousy childhood and unable to articulate it except through his horn. His heights and his downfall are believable and real, but no one could have made the audience accept the tacked on happy ending.
Lauren Bacall was a friend of Kirk Douglas's from New York when they were both struggling drama students. She encouraged him to come to Hollywood after she made it big. This is their only film together.
It's also the first time she played a bad girl. She's a self indulgent heiress who looks at life as a series of kicks to be had. She makes Douglas fall for her big time and then treats him shabbily when they're married. This is one of the earliest examples of lesbianism portrayed on the screen. She leaves him to go off to Europe with a woman who she met in school and check out the glances Bacall gives her new flame.
I don't think Bacall is a lesbian however. To her an affair with a female is just another thing to indulge herself with. My guess is when the novelty wears off, this woman will get the Douglas treatment.
To give it a real jazz flavor Young Man With a Horn also features Hoagy Carmichael who knew Bix Beiderbecke in real life and it is he who narrates the story from his perspective. Look also for good performances by Jerome Cowan as a character based on Paul Whiteman and Juano Hernandez as the jazz cornetist who teaches young Rick Martin as played by Orley Lindgren to play. Hernandez's character is based on a lot of people, most probably King Oliver is the closest model.
Young Man in a Horn is a stand up double of a film. It would have been an exciting in the park home run if they had kept the ending as is.
Two different movies
byoolives10 August 2005
This movie is pre Bacall and during and after Bacall. The pre part is much better. It's not Bacall's fault. The best part of this film comes near the end. If you recall, shortly after Art's death and his breakup with Amy, Rick embarrasses himself on the bandstand one night, and the bandleader follows him to the dressing room to give him a severe reprimand. He tells Rick that the boys in his band don't drink while their working. Rick replies that he has to drink to listen to his kind of music or he'd go nuts. The leader retorts, that Rick has done pretty well with his kind of music, and who ever heard of him before he gave him a break. Then, the leader says "what do you think this is a spasm band like Art Hazzard's". Then Rick replies with what every real musician has wanted to say to every leader, fan, critic, mother in-law, well, basically anyone who just doesn't have a clue about music. Any music, not just jazz.(Symphonic musicians want to say the same thing to some idiot conductor for example). Rick says: "Why you stupid....if that tin ear of yours could really hear the kind of music that Art Hazzard was playing, you'd go out and shoot yourself". That's what the story, the characters of Rick and Smoke, and Beetoven for that matter, is really all about. Smoke sums it up later when he says something like "you know who buys records, 14 year old girls, to learn the words. The only guys who care about the music are the guys who are doing it". Only a dedicated musician (and that's the tragedy) understands what's going on up there. That's the frustration. Of course it used to be a little different back when this film was made, because at least then, people put a priority on at least learning an instrument. It was considered important to a person's growth and education. Shari Lewis, the late puppetteer, creater of lamb chop, once said that "Music is not secondary. It is as important as the three r's" (reading, writing and rithmatic). To further illustrate, I recall viewing one of the local news stations in New York . On their own, the stars and crew of the broadcast decided to make up their own top ten list of the greatest songs ever. There was not one song on that list that pre dated 1965. Imagine, totally ignored were the songs of Gershwin, Kern, Rodgers and Hart/Hammerstein, Vernon Duke, Cole Porter ,etc. By the completion of the list I was so disgusted, I wanted to say the same thing to them that Rick said. "Why you stupid.... One reviewer on this site expressed that he guessed you have to be a musician to really understand this movie. He is probably right, but maybe you don't have to be a professsional, some first hand knowledge might at least be helpful. I have known many horror stories like Rick's . Not only Bix died young, but Fats Navarro and Bunny Berigan were also great trumpet players who died young of alcoholism. Let's not forget Mozart as well. A very young friend of mine, Wes Norris (piano player) died at the age of 28 from the same affliction. I could go on. But you are probably glad that I won't. Musicians while on the bandstand have amusing ways of dealing with the ignorance of leaders, fans, etc. The musicians have substitute names for some of the songs they hate. When for instance the leader would call out "Memories" it is referred to as Mammaries. "Feelings" is known as Ceilings. Of course nicknames are also given to songs that they like. "I only have eyes for you" is I only have ICE for you and "Cry me a river" is FRY me a LIVER. And I can't tell you how many collective groans went up when ever "In the Mood" had to be played. Yes! "In the mood" was a favorite of many a musician in his youth, but as they matured they grew out of it. Of course the groan was partly due to the constant requests for it. When sometime in the future , historians look back on the current period, they will call it(with the exception of salsa) the dark ages of music. Even the musicians or at least a great many of them don't know what they are doing. And you can take that to the bank. Many of todays artists wouldn't even be able to play what was heard in this film. That's because this film's music is so much more complicated than the music of the last forty years, and it takes so much more virtuosity to play a non electrical instrument. The electronics of the new music is very limited in color, tone, dynamics and variety of sound. This relatively new emphasis on electricity,(akin to special effects in the movies) is responsible for a good deal of the ignorance around us. It's like when some 14 year old reviewer says that the greatest movie of all time is "Jaws" or "Star Wars" III, when he's never even heard of "Sunset Bouelevard". In the movie "Barbershop", Cedric the Entertainer tells Ice T, "that's the trouble with your whole generation, you have no history". The fine musician knows whom and what has come before him, just like Rick knew Art. Miles knew Dizzy, and Dizzy knew Eldridge, and Eldridge knew Louie, and Louie knew Oliver. Mozart knew Bach and Beetoven knew Mozart. etc. Charlie Parker knew Stravinsky and Leonard Bernstein knew the great Louie Armstrong. I wonder what Snoop Dog knows?
Perhaps the best Jazz Movie, although not the first
hcaraso31 August 2009
First, I would like to point out that I had always dreamed of living in the USA, but The Lady Of My Life hated the idea, although accepting the Big Country for more than 20 visits (business and leisure). However, from this infatuation I developed a strong interest in the two Fine Arts America is proud of: Jazz and Cinema. And America marked the 20th century with them. I even wrote one of the first studies on the subject (JAZZ ET CINEMA), published in 1956 by JAZZ MAGAZINE. In that study, I wrongly suggested YOUNG MAN WITH A HORN as the best movie about jazz musicians ever done (after further thought, the credit goes, for me, to JAMMIN' THE BLUES). And also being the first movie really treating the subject, for which I was also wrong: that credit goes to Anatole Litvak's BLUES IN THE NIGHT, 1941, discovered last year and featuring Jimmie Lunceford and his Orchestra. Maybe not for the quality: after a Nth vision, yesterday on TCM, together with Minnelli's DESIGNING WOMAN (a Bacall Festival, what a double feature!) I still consider YMWAH as the best. It has everything a jazz buff needs: It is based on Bix Beiderbecke's life (also brought to the screen by the Italian Pupi Avati, filmed on locations but totally missed); it features three big stars, still alive and well; it is literally inhabited by jazz; the trumpet solos are played by Harry James, who also signed in as musical adviser; it brings on the screen, as mentioned by David Meeker's JAZZ IN THE MOVIES a certain number of jazz stars of the time, including Jack Jenney, Willie "the Lion" Smith, Corky Corcoran (longtime a member of Harry James' outfits)and Nick Fatool, who drummed also for Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw; I didn't notice Louis Armstrong and Zutty Singleton, as mentioned in IMDb's credits... Let's not forget that Harry James, considered as an intruder by some experts signing their own comments, was Down Beat's Number One in I944, over Louis Armstrong, and contributed to many Hollywood issues, including Hollywood HOTEL, SPRINGTIME IN THE ROCKIES, BATHING BEAUTIES, BENNY GOODMAN STORY and LADIES' MAN. The observation made by some of the IMDb comments, concerning the uncomfortable situation of the Blacks in the early 50ies is very interesting, compared to the results reached since. During my last visit in the States (2006), I was flabbergasted by two things in my relation with Black individuals: I could not understand their accent (but they perfectly understood mine) and 2. At least those I spoked with looked well integrated, comfortable in their jobs and liking it. If I had to assembly now a capsule illustrated study on JAZZ AND CINEMA. I would start it with the Benny Goodman Motorcade beginning Hollywood HOTEL and end it with the last number of Bob Fosse's DVD by Ann Reyking and Ben Vereen: SING, SING, SING (with a Swing).Harry Carasso, Paris, France
Doris Day "Wowser"
rchick32 August 2005
It seems to slip in under the radar, so to speak, but Doris Day's rendition of "I Think You're Swell" is a show-stopper. Day seems completely blown off the screen by the star power of Douglas and Bacall, plus Day is costumed in such mousy looking outfits, but there is no denying the power of Day's little ditty. This isn't Day's usual phrasing or style; it is Day doing a perfectly brilliant imitation of the way a 30s or 40s big band "girl singer" WOULD have sung the song. She is so utterly relaxed and real that we think that this isn't "acting" and that this is how Day naturally sounded at the time. Not so. I think that Day was consciously focusing on doing a "girl next door" version of how Peggy Lee would have done the song, a smiley-face version of Lee's velvet-baseball-bat impact.
Hollywood Jazz
telegonus28 October 2002
Once one gets over the strangeness of seeing Kirk Douglas playing the trumpet, this one turns out to be a pretty good movie about an obsessed, self-destructive jazz musician, adapted from Dorothy Baker's novel, which was based on the short, remarkable life of jazzman Bix Biederbeck. Director Michael Curtiz once again shows himself a master of screen biography, albeit highly fictionalized in this case. His flair for capturing urban nightlife is sublime, as he has an intuitive understanding of the lonely moods that city people go through; their sudden changes in fortune, for reasons they scarcely understand; and the inability of anyone, really, to get a grip on modern life.
Miscast as a musician though he is, Douglas is quite good with the darker and more volatile aspects of his character's personality. Lauren Bacall is far less good as his society girl-friend with a lesbian streak, Doris Day marginally better as his True Love. There are some excellent supporting bits by Juano Hernandez and Jerome Cowan. This is overall a satisfying film, too slick for its own good in parts, it's not the best of its director's works, but it's in the high middle range.
Miscast as a musician though he is, Douglas is quite good with the darker and more volatile aspects of his character's personality. Lauren Bacall is far less good as his society girl-friend with a lesbian streak, Doris Day marginally better as his True Love. There are some excellent supporting bits by Juano Hernandez and Jerome Cowan. This is overall a satisfying film, too slick for its own good in parts, it's not the best of its director's works, but it's in the high middle range.
Michael Curtiz's "Amadeus".........................
ianlouisiana17 March 2018
Warning: Spoilers
......the story of an "ubermensch" musician,a man with no peers in his field,young,gifted and misunderstood.
Unfortunately because he is played by Mr K.Douglas with his rictus grin,rictus scowl and rictus every - bloody thing,he evokes very little sympathy; in me at any rate.
More Bunny Berigan then Bix Beiderbecke,Mr Douglas is one hell of a trumpet player.Like in countless movies before and since he wants to play "his" music
and refuses to "sell out".
But jazzers who don't "sell out"quite often starve.
A later echo might be seen in "New York,New York" where Mr De Niro ends up on the coat tails of Miss Minnelli until he can no longer live with himself.
No such quibbles for Kirk who burbles away behind Doris Day in the end.
Before then he takes to the demon drink,enters unsuitable relationships and does all the jazz - ish things Hollywood producers fondly imagine creative musicians like to do.
Doris Day seems more comfortable in her role than Lauren Bacall whose more complex character eludes her.
Nice rather than amazing trumpet playing by Harry James complements the movie which is directed by Michael Curtiz with his customary panache and professionalism.
A better film about a jazz trumpet player is "Pete Kelly's Blues" which is actually set in the Beiderbecke era.
But "Young man with a horn" from a somewhat florid novel by Dorothy Baker
is well worth watching for all that.
This Horn Hits Some False Notes
Chance2000esl13 May 2008
Warning: Spoilers
In his book "Understanding the Beats," (1992) Edward Halsey Foster writes of the undercurrent of interest and jealousy by the white middle class of the 'hipster' culture of the 1940s. Thus, Hollywood produced movies such as this one that romanticized 'hipster' culture so that the 'organization man' could get vicarious hipster kicks from a safe distance.
'Young Man With a Horn' is a real break through from the phony and full of hooey M-G-M biopics of earlier decades, with a realism and toughness that you expect from the grittier Warner Brothers. The subject is the unconstrained aliveness of a jazz musician, a special type of hipster. It focuses on the jazz musician's life and obsession with jazz; it features plenty of jazz with Harry James and Hoagy Carmichael; it has lesbianish implications for Lauren Bacall's character; it has a black actor playing one of the major roles; it has meaty dialog about the origin and nature of jazz music as well as the size of its specialized audience; it also has wonderful singing by Doris Day, who does a good imitation of Peggy Lee.
Well, so much for the pluses. The screen writers probably figured that Kirk Douglas's obsession for his trumpet and what he could do with it would be a one trick pony and not be able to sustain audience interest for a whole movie. So after the impressive first half hour, the movie makes an abrupt turn, with the entrance of Lauren Bacall as Amy, to a triangle love story about Kirk's love for and failed marriage to her, with the Pollyanish Jo (Doris Day) waiting in the wings to help him when he falls.
Based on the book about Bix Beiderbecke's life, it ends differently. Instead of dying young, Douglas (as Rick Martin) on his death bed has an epiphany mistaking an ambulance siren as the mysterious note he's been trying to hit all his life. Cut to the recording studio where, suddenly healed, he backs Doris Day singing 'Someone to Watch Over Me,' and fade out. Also sell out.
Well what would you expect for the period when it was filmed? We'd have to wait until 'Round Midnight' (1986) and 'Bird' (1988) to have films that really are true to the jazz musician's life.
For the great first half of the film, a 7. But the rest brings it down to a 5.
'Young Man With a Horn' is a real break through from the phony and full of hooey M-G-M biopics of earlier decades, with a realism and toughness that you expect from the grittier Warner Brothers. The subject is the unconstrained aliveness of a jazz musician, a special type of hipster. It focuses on the jazz musician's life and obsession with jazz; it features plenty of jazz with Harry James and Hoagy Carmichael; it has lesbianish implications for Lauren Bacall's character; it has a black actor playing one of the major roles; it has meaty dialog about the origin and nature of jazz music as well as the size of its specialized audience; it also has wonderful singing by Doris Day, who does a good imitation of Peggy Lee.
Well, so much for the pluses. The screen writers probably figured that Kirk Douglas's obsession for his trumpet and what he could do with it would be a one trick pony and not be able to sustain audience interest for a whole movie. So after the impressive first half hour, the movie makes an abrupt turn, with the entrance of Lauren Bacall as Amy, to a triangle love story about Kirk's love for and failed marriage to her, with the Pollyanish Jo (Doris Day) waiting in the wings to help him when he falls.
Based on the book about Bix Beiderbecke's life, it ends differently. Instead of dying young, Douglas (as Rick Martin) on his death bed has an epiphany mistaking an ambulance siren as the mysterious note he's been trying to hit all his life. Cut to the recording studio where, suddenly healed, he backs Doris Day singing 'Someone to Watch Over Me,' and fade out. Also sell out.
Well what would you expect for the period when it was filmed? We'd have to wait until 'Round Midnight' (1986) and 'Bird' (1988) to have films that really are true to the jazz musician's life.
For the great first half of the film, a 7. But the rest brings it down to a 5.
Kirk Douglas tops a great cast
jann-613 January 2001
I watched this film because I'm a fan of Lauren Bacall. While she is good, this movie belongs to Kirk Douglas. The title character spends his life devoted to his music. His friend Jo (Doris Day), says he's "married to" his trumpet. Eventually he marries Jo's friend, Amy (Bacall.) The couple are polar opposites; he devoted to the only thing in life that's ever mattered to him, she going from one career path to another desperately trying to find something she can stick with. The backdrop of the movie is, of course, jazz music. But even if you aren't fond of jazz (which I'm not particularly), it won't detract from your enjoyment of the story. And Doris Day sings superbly. Hoagy Carmichael is the narrator, taking you into this smoke-filled world of jazz and eventually back out. It's quite a trip.
Fascinating as a drama and a musical...
Doylenf23 September 2006
KIRK DOUGLAS, LAUREN BACALL and DORIS DAY are an interesting trio to watch in this film directed by Michael Curtiz, with some jazz trumpet work by Harry James filling the soundtrack.
Musicians seem to have hard luck lives that cry to be told on the screen (or in novels, as this one was). Douglas is a trumpet player almost too talented for his own good whose temperamental outbursts are not unlike the actor's own private life actions. He plays the role knowing full well how to show larger than life tantrums.
He has some larger than life love interest too--in a rich, neurotic girl who is jealous of his love for the trumpet, played luxuriously by a purring and sultry LAUREN BACALL, and a fresh-faced singer who does some marvelous vocals as a band singer, DORIS DAY. The stark contrast between the two female leads adds to the story's interest and both actresses do some of their best work here. Day really knows how to put over a song standard with great phrasing and beautiful timing.
Enjoyable as both drama and musical, YOUNG MAN WITH A HORN is a sort of rags to riches story of a complex man with a tortured soul who finally gets away from the grips of despair and ends up with the girl who stood loyally by him through all his ups and downs.
It's nothing deep, but it is certainly absorbing and well played.
Musicians seem to have hard luck lives that cry to be told on the screen (or in novels, as this one was). Douglas is a trumpet player almost too talented for his own good whose temperamental outbursts are not unlike the actor's own private life actions. He plays the role knowing full well how to show larger than life tantrums.
He has some larger than life love interest too--in a rich, neurotic girl who is jealous of his love for the trumpet, played luxuriously by a purring and sultry LAUREN BACALL, and a fresh-faced singer who does some marvelous vocals as a band singer, DORIS DAY. The stark contrast between the two female leads adds to the story's interest and both actresses do some of their best work here. Day really knows how to put over a song standard with great phrasing and beautiful timing.
Enjoyable as both drama and musical, YOUNG MAN WITH A HORN is a sort of rags to riches story of a complex man with a tortured soul who finally gets away from the grips of despair and ends up with the girl who stood loyally by him through all his ups and downs.
It's nothing deep, but it is certainly absorbing and well played.
The first half is better than the second half...
AlsExGal15 April 2023
...in this musical biopic based on the life of Bix Beiderbecke, American pianist, coronist, and composer who died at age 28. Directed by Michael Curtiz and produced by Warner Brothers, this film tells the tale of RIck Martin (Kirk Douglas) who is orphaned as a child and raised by a much older sister who moves around the country, finally settling in LA. A loner both by nature and nurture, he becomes interested in music in general and then the trumpet specifically, with trumpeter Art Hazzard (Juano Hernandez) becoming both a tutor and father figure to him. His sister disappears from the story early on, and this makes Rick a convincing latchkey kid at this point.
As a grown man he meets two women. One is a singer in a band, Jo Jordan, who is just too sweet and understanding to be true to the point that nothing romantic develops. Doris Day is wasted in this part except when she sings. The other is socialite Amy North (Lauren Bacall) who Martin sees as an interesting enigma to the point that he marries her. This is where the film loses its way as Amy's characterization is all over the place. Other than the fact that she seems to enjoy tormenting Rick I really don't get her motivation.
I read the portion of director Curtiz' biography dealing with this film, and apparently Bacall didn't like her character either and clashed with Curtiz on a regular basis on this subject. The lesbian angle for Amy was written in intentionally, but with the production code still being in full force, it's really hard to see it unless you know it's there.
This is worthwhile with Kirk Douglas' electric portrayal, the touching relationship between Rick Martin and Art Hazzard, the great portrayal of night life and jam sessions, and Hoagy Carmichael's narration, all outweighing the goofy ending.
As a grown man he meets two women. One is a singer in a band, Jo Jordan, who is just too sweet and understanding to be true to the point that nothing romantic develops. Doris Day is wasted in this part except when she sings. The other is socialite Amy North (Lauren Bacall) who Martin sees as an interesting enigma to the point that he marries her. This is where the film loses its way as Amy's characterization is all over the place. Other than the fact that she seems to enjoy tormenting Rick I really don't get her motivation.
I read the portion of director Curtiz' biography dealing with this film, and apparently Bacall didn't like her character either and clashed with Curtiz on a regular basis on this subject. The lesbian angle for Amy was written in intentionally, but with the production code still being in full force, it's really hard to see it unless you know it's there.
This is worthwhile with Kirk Douglas' electric portrayal, the touching relationship between Rick Martin and Art Hazzard, the great portrayal of night life and jam sessions, and Hoagy Carmichael's narration, all outweighing the goofy ending.
Putting All Your Eggs In One Trumpet Case.
rmax30482325 August 2010
Warning: Spoilers
An engaging and tragic, commercially oriented semi-biography of Bix Beiderbecke.
Kirk Douglas is Rick Martin, a poor kid in the Midwest who has no friends and no relatives who care for him. When he's about twelve years old he falls in with the modest jazz band of Art Hazard (Juano Hernandez). Hazard teaches him to play the trumpet and the horn becomes the naive Douglas's only love, though he becomes close to a singer (Doris Day) and a piano player (Hoagy Carmichael).
Douglas rises to the top and is the featured soloist with a dance band in New York. In these kinds of biographical movies, it's always a bad sign when the protagonist rises to the top. There is, after all, nowhere else for the movie to take him but down.
And Douglas accordingly goes down for the count. He becomes involved with, and then married to, Lauren Bacall, who is a rich, intellectual neurotic envious of Douglas' achievements and celebrity. No -- more than that. She envies the apparent love that bonds Douglas and his trumpet together. Possessed by his own problems Douglas shuns his beloved mentor Art Hazard who then dies.
Bacall destroys Douglas's marriage and runs off to Europe (with another woman), leaving Douglas to drink, then flame up brightly like a light bulb burning its filament, until his trumpet, too, fails him. He smashes it and then he's a raving alcoholic wandering the streets of New York alone and broke. These circumstances tend to be depressing, as I can attest.
In the end, Douglas winds up in an alcoholic ward where he is rediscovered by his friends Day and Carmichael. Inspired by the siren of an ambulance, Douglas conquers his demons and Diplococcus pneumoniae and goes on to marry Doris Day and she sings in the band and Hoagy Carmichael is the pianist and Kirk Douglas plays the kind of music he wants and everybody lives happily ever after. The film's score ends on a triumphant major chord. Not really. That happy ending is only implied, and to those who can see beyond Hollywood's demand for happy endings, Douglas must die with his eyes blazing, the way Bix did.
Douglas is fine in the lead. He suffers grandiloquently, his features twisted in amazed disbelief. He's very good at it. He's even better at self-serving chicanery but he doesn't get a chance to exercise that skill here. Juano Hernandez is good at what he does too -- the servile but dignified Negro. Once in a while, as in "Intruder in the Dust", he gets a chance to be less noble, even a little truculent. Hoagy Carmichael may not be much of an actor -- he's a piano player who in real life was a friend of Beiderbecke's -- but he's so likable that his presence is almost always welcome. Doris Day deserves a movie of her own. Born Doris Kappelhoff in the German enclave of Cincinatti, she was about 27 when this was filmed. Like Carmichael she first became known in a field other than acting. She became a singer with various bands during the war years. Here, she's pert, cute, expressive, and sexy as hell, a natural talent. She looks like the high school girl that all the boys in her class salivated over.
It's a decent film but, as another reviewer advised, don't mix it up with Bix Beiderbecke. Douglas's trumpet is dubbed by Harry James, one of the most famous swing orchestra leaders and trumpet players. He was a fine instrumentalist too. I heard him in Las Vegas years later, still hitting notes that seemed impossibly high. But his style was that of a big-band soloist and the genre was sweet pop tunes. By the time this film was released, big bands were on an extinction curve and being replaced by dumb vocals with lyrics like, "Someone turned the moon upside down/ Now I have to turn it right-side up". That's what Smoke meant when he said the kids buy records to learn the words. Instrumental and compositional innovations were limited to be-bop and cool jazz, which had been influenced by the original Bix Beiderbecke. (Irony.) James' music in this film is user friendly, in no way demanding of the audience. That's the sort of thing that makes this movie "commercial." Not to denigrate it. In the house of Euterpe, there are many mansions.
The story is tragic, but with that happy Hollywood coda, it shouldn't leave anyone moanin' low.
Kirk Douglas is Rick Martin, a poor kid in the Midwest who has no friends and no relatives who care for him. When he's about twelve years old he falls in with the modest jazz band of Art Hazard (Juano Hernandez). Hazard teaches him to play the trumpet and the horn becomes the naive Douglas's only love, though he becomes close to a singer (Doris Day) and a piano player (Hoagy Carmichael).
Douglas rises to the top and is the featured soloist with a dance band in New York. In these kinds of biographical movies, it's always a bad sign when the protagonist rises to the top. There is, after all, nowhere else for the movie to take him but down.
And Douglas accordingly goes down for the count. He becomes involved with, and then married to, Lauren Bacall, who is a rich, intellectual neurotic envious of Douglas' achievements and celebrity. No -- more than that. She envies the apparent love that bonds Douglas and his trumpet together. Possessed by his own problems Douglas shuns his beloved mentor Art Hazard who then dies.
Bacall destroys Douglas's marriage and runs off to Europe (with another woman), leaving Douglas to drink, then flame up brightly like a light bulb burning its filament, until his trumpet, too, fails him. He smashes it and then he's a raving alcoholic wandering the streets of New York alone and broke. These circumstances tend to be depressing, as I can attest.
In the end, Douglas winds up in an alcoholic ward where he is rediscovered by his friends Day and Carmichael. Inspired by the siren of an ambulance, Douglas conquers his demons and Diplococcus pneumoniae and goes on to marry Doris Day and she sings in the band and Hoagy Carmichael is the pianist and Kirk Douglas plays the kind of music he wants and everybody lives happily ever after. The film's score ends on a triumphant major chord. Not really. That happy ending is only implied, and to those who can see beyond Hollywood's demand for happy endings, Douglas must die with his eyes blazing, the way Bix did.
Douglas is fine in the lead. He suffers grandiloquently, his features twisted in amazed disbelief. He's very good at it. He's even better at self-serving chicanery but he doesn't get a chance to exercise that skill here. Juano Hernandez is good at what he does too -- the servile but dignified Negro. Once in a while, as in "Intruder in the Dust", he gets a chance to be less noble, even a little truculent. Hoagy Carmichael may not be much of an actor -- he's a piano player who in real life was a friend of Beiderbecke's -- but he's so likable that his presence is almost always welcome. Doris Day deserves a movie of her own. Born Doris Kappelhoff in the German enclave of Cincinatti, she was about 27 when this was filmed. Like Carmichael she first became known in a field other than acting. She became a singer with various bands during the war years. Here, she's pert, cute, expressive, and sexy as hell, a natural talent. She looks like the high school girl that all the boys in her class salivated over.
It's a decent film but, as another reviewer advised, don't mix it up with Bix Beiderbecke. Douglas's trumpet is dubbed by Harry James, one of the most famous swing orchestra leaders and trumpet players. He was a fine instrumentalist too. I heard him in Las Vegas years later, still hitting notes that seemed impossibly high. But his style was that of a big-band soloist and the genre was sweet pop tunes. By the time this film was released, big bands were on an extinction curve and being replaced by dumb vocals with lyrics like, "Someone turned the moon upside down/ Now I have to turn it right-side up". That's what Smoke meant when he said the kids buy records to learn the words. Instrumental and compositional innovations were limited to be-bop and cool jazz, which had been influenced by the original Bix Beiderbecke. (Irony.) James' music in this film is user friendly, in no way demanding of the audience. That's the sort of thing that makes this movie "commercial." Not to denigrate it. In the house of Euterpe, there are many mansions.
The story is tragic, but with that happy Hollywood coda, it shouldn't leave anyone moanin' low.
One of the best!
JohnHowardReid26 April 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Young Man With A Horn has two - no make that three - major things going for it. The first is Ted McCord's low-key, back-lit, black-and-white photography. It has a luminosity and a beauty that has rarely been equalled, never excelled in black-and-white picturemaking. This is one of the top ten most artistically photographed black-and-white films of all time. In fact it is so consistently beautiful and lovely to look at and photographed throughout in the same consistently back-lit style, it's easy to pick out the two or three brief scenes Mr McCord did not photograph and were presumably added after the film was finished.
The off-screen narration - a popular device when the film was made (cf. Red Badge of Courage) - was evidently an afterthought - and a poor one at that. The narration does nothing for the film and the quality of the writing is even more hackneyed, cliched and given to overstating the obvious than some of the dialogue and, equally important, the obviously tacked on, upbeat ending.
The second major quality the film posseses is the trumpet-playing of Harry James, so skilled it needs no further backing here.
The third item is the quality of the acting - Douglas is ideally cast and Bacall, making a late entrance, comes across most convincingly in a rare unsympathetic part. The dramatic demands on Miss Day are much lighter but she too acquits herself honorably. Hoagy is good - his part has been built up, his one song being added after the film had already wrapped - but the film's outstanding support performance comes from Juano Hernandez who runs the emotional gamut from confidante and advisor to dependant and admirer with his usual dignity and assurance.
Cutiz's direction presents some admirable touches - the scene in which Bacall is introduced walking away from the camera and then having her face relected in a mirror as she turns around - but some of the acting is very obviously "staged" and stiff. The often florid dialogue doesn't help. Despite the earnestness of its acting, the film often lacks interest and conviction. Sometimes it seems terribly well-meaning but dull. It lacks that sense of involvement, the feeling that we are seeing not a staged picture but taking a vicarious and involving part in real-life drama. It's curious that a movie so well-made and artistically crafted in many departments, should present itself at the same time as so obviously just a film.
OTHER VIEWS: Love to have that soundtrack in my collection! Notice the way McCord's lighting switches from the stark gray tones in the early Doris Day scenes to the black in Lauren Bacall's episodes as well as frequent effective use of mirrors in these sequences. Yes, the craftsmen did their best to build up the film and it's not their fault that the script is just not as gripping in the Bacall interludes as it is in the childhood and Day scenes. Some great location filming (the kid crossing the railway tracks) contributes to making some of the film's most memorable images (Douglas dashing down the hospital corridor, collapsing on a street in New York, etc).
The off-screen narration - a popular device when the film was made (cf. Red Badge of Courage) - was evidently an afterthought - and a poor one at that. The narration does nothing for the film and the quality of the writing is even more hackneyed, cliched and given to overstating the obvious than some of the dialogue and, equally important, the obviously tacked on, upbeat ending.
The second major quality the film posseses is the trumpet-playing of Harry James, so skilled it needs no further backing here.
The third item is the quality of the acting - Douglas is ideally cast and Bacall, making a late entrance, comes across most convincingly in a rare unsympathetic part. The dramatic demands on Miss Day are much lighter but she too acquits herself honorably. Hoagy is good - his part has been built up, his one song being added after the film had already wrapped - but the film's outstanding support performance comes from Juano Hernandez who runs the emotional gamut from confidante and advisor to dependant and admirer with his usual dignity and assurance.
Cutiz's direction presents some admirable touches - the scene in which Bacall is introduced walking away from the camera and then having her face relected in a mirror as she turns around - but some of the acting is very obviously "staged" and stiff. The often florid dialogue doesn't help. Despite the earnestness of its acting, the film often lacks interest and conviction. Sometimes it seems terribly well-meaning but dull. It lacks that sense of involvement, the feeling that we are seeing not a staged picture but taking a vicarious and involving part in real-life drama. It's curious that a movie so well-made and artistically crafted in many departments, should present itself at the same time as so obviously just a film.
OTHER VIEWS: Love to have that soundtrack in my collection! Notice the way McCord's lighting switches from the stark gray tones in the early Doris Day scenes to the black in Lauren Bacall's episodes as well as frequent effective use of mirrors in these sequences. Yes, the craftsmen did their best to build up the film and it's not their fault that the script is just not as gripping in the Bacall interludes as it is in the childhood and Day scenes. Some great location filming (the kid crossing the railway tracks) contributes to making some of the film's most memorable images (Douglas dashing down the hospital corridor, collapsing on a street in New York, etc).
Horn of not quite plenty
Lejink8 May 2009
Unusual title, unusual film. Kirk Douglas is as intense as ever in this early 50's drama, centring on a young musician's obsessive interest in his musical career and deeper than that it seems, the music itself. The movie's back-to-front narrative, prologued and epilogued by the great songwriter Hoagy Carmichael, here in a prominent acting role too, echoes the construction of the later and superior Douglas film "The Bad and The Beautiful".
While there's much to admire, particularly in the cinematography (wonderful roomy exteriors, ditto the deserted New York street scenes), reflecting the ever-efficient Curtiz's experienced knack of unflashy direction, just put the camera in the right spot most of the time and tell the story and quality acting from Douglas, Day and Carmichael in particular, still I found the film lacking that certain something that would elevate it to the top-drawer.
Maybe it's the unlikely, unbelievable almost Faustian contract that Douglas seems to make with his music, distancing himself from real contact with friends, colleagues and even potential lovers like the good-hearted singer played well here by Doris Day, before she got too wholesome and sanitised. I also found it hard to accept that the steely Douglas would fall apart as quickly and dramatically as he does over the pseudo-intellectual iceberg that is Lauren Bacall. I'd also contend there was just a bit too much music in the film too, (not being a jazz fan obviously didn't help) as I felt it held up the drama somewhat, plus it just seemed the dialogue could have benefited from being sharper and pithier throughout. The pat ending, happy of course, delivered in a blink and you'd miss it to-camera summary by Carmichael not only seems rushed and forced, it's plain wrong - Douglas' anti-hero should have continued on the road to self-destruction in keeping with the preceding narrative tow of the film.
And what to make of Lauren Bacall's character...? Her almost mannish closet-gay persona certainly seems risqué for the times and an unnecessary contrivance. I've read in a film guide too of the use of Douglas' trumpet-playing failings as a metaphor for impotence, which I must admit I didn't pick up on myself, but these themes do I feel contribute to an overall strange coldness, or is that cold strangeness, at the heart of this film which I found off-putting and certainly stopped me warming to it as much as I could or should have.
While there's much to admire, particularly in the cinematography (wonderful roomy exteriors, ditto the deserted New York street scenes), reflecting the ever-efficient Curtiz's experienced knack of unflashy direction, just put the camera in the right spot most of the time and tell the story and quality acting from Douglas, Day and Carmichael in particular, still I found the film lacking that certain something that would elevate it to the top-drawer.
Maybe it's the unlikely, unbelievable almost Faustian contract that Douglas seems to make with his music, distancing himself from real contact with friends, colleagues and even potential lovers like the good-hearted singer played well here by Doris Day, before she got too wholesome and sanitised. I also found it hard to accept that the steely Douglas would fall apart as quickly and dramatically as he does over the pseudo-intellectual iceberg that is Lauren Bacall. I'd also contend there was just a bit too much music in the film too, (not being a jazz fan obviously didn't help) as I felt it held up the drama somewhat, plus it just seemed the dialogue could have benefited from being sharper and pithier throughout. The pat ending, happy of course, delivered in a blink and you'd miss it to-camera summary by Carmichael not only seems rushed and forced, it's plain wrong - Douglas' anti-hero should have continued on the road to self-destruction in keeping with the preceding narrative tow of the film.
And what to make of Lauren Bacall's character...? Her almost mannish closet-gay persona certainly seems risqué for the times and an unnecessary contrivance. I've read in a film guide too of the use of Douglas' trumpet-playing failings as a metaphor for impotence, which I must admit I didn't pick up on myself, but these themes do I feel contribute to an overall strange coldness, or is that cold strangeness, at the heart of this film which I found off-putting and certainly stopped me warming to it as much as I could or should have.
The Rise and Fall of a Musician Divided between Two Loves
claudio_carvalho30 November 2012
In the 30's, the outcast orphan Rick Martin (Orley Lindgren) is raised by his daughter without any care or love. One day, he overhears a song in a mission and owner of absolute pitch, he is capable to play it on the piano. When he sees a trumpet in a pawnshop, he falls in love with the instrument and works to raise the necessary money to buy it.
One day, he meets the legendary trumpeter Art Hazzard (Juano Hernandez) and Rick (Kirk Douglas) becomes his protégée. Art teaches how to play trumpet to Rick that becomes a well succeeded but rebel trumpeter. Along his career, Rick Martin's friends are Art Hazzard, the piano player Willie 'Smoke' Willoughby (Hoagy Carmichael) and the singer Jo Jordan (Doris Day) and becomes the star of his orchestra. When Jo introduces her friend Amy North (Lauren Bacall), who is a medical student that loves to experience new sensations, Rick falls in love with her in the beginning of his downfall.
"Young Man with a Horn" is a beautiful movie by Michael Curtiz that tells the story of the rise and fall of a musician divided between his two loves: his trumpet and a woman. The story is basically divided in two parts – the first one before Lauren Bacall's character is uplifting, with the story of a boy that becomes a star through his friendship with a great trumpeter and his music, and the second part that is heartbreaking with his unrequited love by a strange woman. The performances are top-notch; the music score is magnificent; and the cinematography in black and white is wonderful. The cast seems to be enlightened and it is almost to highlight a performance - Orley Lindgren, Juano Hernandez, Kirk Douglas, Hoagy Carmichael, Doris Day and Lauren Bacall, they are all fantastic. My vote is eight.
Title (Brazil): "Êxito Fugaz" ("Rapid Success")
One day, he meets the legendary trumpeter Art Hazzard (Juano Hernandez) and Rick (Kirk Douglas) becomes his protégée. Art teaches how to play trumpet to Rick that becomes a well succeeded but rebel trumpeter. Along his career, Rick Martin's friends are Art Hazzard, the piano player Willie 'Smoke' Willoughby (Hoagy Carmichael) and the singer Jo Jordan (Doris Day) and becomes the star of his orchestra. When Jo introduces her friend Amy North (Lauren Bacall), who is a medical student that loves to experience new sensations, Rick falls in love with her in the beginning of his downfall.
"Young Man with a Horn" is a beautiful movie by Michael Curtiz that tells the story of the rise and fall of a musician divided between his two loves: his trumpet and a woman. The story is basically divided in two parts – the first one before Lauren Bacall's character is uplifting, with the story of a boy that becomes a star through his friendship with a great trumpeter and his music, and the second part that is heartbreaking with his unrequited love by a strange woman. The performances are top-notch; the music score is magnificent; and the cinematography in black and white is wonderful. The cast seems to be enlightened and it is almost to highlight a performance - Orley Lindgren, Juano Hernandez, Kirk Douglas, Hoagy Carmichael, Doris Day and Lauren Bacall, they are all fantastic. My vote is eight.
Title (Brazil): "Êxito Fugaz" ("Rapid Success")
Music is a harsh mistress.
michaelRokeefe25 November 2003
The legendary director Michael Curtiz presents a glimpse into the world of jazz and a story loosely based on the life of immortal jazz trumpeter Bix Beiderbecke. Kirk Douglas is a guilt-ridden trumpeter that has trouble hitting that elusive "high note". Doris Day, Lauren Bacall and Jerome Cowan also star; but the movie belongs to Douglas. Wonderful music like: "I Only Have Eyes For You", "Limehouse Blues" and "The Very Thought of You". It is odd watching Douglas handle the trumpet. Its only a movie; but well worth watching again and again.
This dark musical adventure was on key!
somic25 February 2008
"Young Man With A Horn" is a classy, yet very dark film. I was glued to my chair from beginning to end. In a sense, it's a case study of a man obsessed by the only true meaning he has found in life.
Kirk Douglas plays (Rick Martin) who was an orphan left to fend for himself. His mother was an alcoholic. He would roam the streets at night looking for a sense of meaning. One night he came upon a nightclub and was taken back by the music. Through the window he heard the sound that would change his life.
The trumpet player Art Hazzard, played by (Juano Hernandez), Befriended Rick. He taught him to play the trumpet and became a father figure to him. From that point on Rick lived and breathed the trumpet.
As he grew older he put his skills to good use and joined several bands. He never really found meaning in the style of the day. His true love was jazz. He would work all day then play all night in the black Jazz clubs. Along the way he made a few friends.
One girl of interest was Jo Jordan, Played by (Doris Day). She was the lead singer with the swing band he was working for. Jo later introduced Rick to a friend of hers by the name of Amy North, (Lauren Bacall). Rick was fascinated with her. He really couldn't put a finger on it, but there was something about her.
Lauren Bacall was wonderful as a woman born into wealth yet totally empty inside. She is a woman with no direction who starts things in life but is never motivated to finish what she starts. That is a bad recipe for Rick who has found a calling in life but has become obsessed with it. The two are poison for each other. Amy's jealousy leads her to despise Ricks musical gift. The fact that Amy won't respect his obsession, leads Rick to the bottle. Things go from bad to worse.
This was a wonderful film with actors who were at the top of their game. It really doesn't get any better then this. I highly recommend it.
Kirk Douglas plays (Rick Martin) who was an orphan left to fend for himself. His mother was an alcoholic. He would roam the streets at night looking for a sense of meaning. One night he came upon a nightclub and was taken back by the music. Through the window he heard the sound that would change his life.
The trumpet player Art Hazzard, played by (Juano Hernandez), Befriended Rick. He taught him to play the trumpet and became a father figure to him. From that point on Rick lived and breathed the trumpet.
As he grew older he put his skills to good use and joined several bands. He never really found meaning in the style of the day. His true love was jazz. He would work all day then play all night in the black Jazz clubs. Along the way he made a few friends.
One girl of interest was Jo Jordan, Played by (Doris Day). She was the lead singer with the swing band he was working for. Jo later introduced Rick to a friend of hers by the name of Amy North, (Lauren Bacall). Rick was fascinated with her. He really couldn't put a finger on it, but there was something about her.
Lauren Bacall was wonderful as a woman born into wealth yet totally empty inside. She is a woman with no direction who starts things in life but is never motivated to finish what she starts. That is a bad recipe for Rick who has found a calling in life but has become obsessed with it. The two are poison for each other. Amy's jealousy leads her to despise Ricks musical gift. The fact that Amy won't respect his obsession, leads Rick to the bottle. Things go from bad to worse.
This was a wonderful film with actors who were at the top of their game. It really doesn't get any better then this. I highly recommend it.
Day and Douglass give great performances
evso29 July 1999
Before I saw this film, I didn't think of Doris Day as a serious actress, so seeing her performances in both "Young Man with a Horn" and "I'll See You in My Dreams" gave me a pleasant surprise. Doris Day is perfect in this film for the character of Jo Jordan, the big-band singer who falls for Rick Martin (Kurt Douglass). This is almost a tour-de-force for Day. It is not a comedy, and she acts accordingly. We see her anguish upon realizing that Martin (who is the protagonist) is smitten with her acquaintance Amy North (Lauren Bacall). Douglass plays a trumpet-player who is aware of his amazing gift and is careful with himself, that is, until he meets Bacall's confused character. The story is quite interesting, based on the true story of a gifted trumpet player who died of alcoholism at the age of 28. The movie stays pretty true to the real story, with a few elaborations. Martin is an orphan who is taught the trumpet and almost raised by a black trumpeter by the name of Art Hazzard (Juano Hernandez). He grows up to be a great talent and plays in big bands for money, then plays his own kind of music til the wee hours for himself. He is said to "speak" through his trumpet by the film's narrator, "Smoke" (Hoagy Carmichael). Martin carries his horn around with him everywhere and is lost without it. Day's character tells him that people will refer to him as the "young man with a horn" because he refuses to part with it. Bacall's character refers to the horn as Martin's "alter ego". The supporting cast is great - Day, Carmichael, and Hernandez are terrific. Douglass was not the first choice to play the main character, but he does a good job. We see his naivete at the beginning, and then his clear anguish at his downfall. Bacall is the antagonist of the film. Her character is not perfect, but symbolizes wealth and everything that Martin is not. I was not blown away by her performance; she seemed to me rather wooden. The viewer really is given no insight into her reasoning or her character. I couldn't understand her motivation at all and I think her portrayal takes away from how great the film might have been. However, I think the performances of Douglass and the supporting cast are worth watching the movie for. The cinematography is also very interesting, especially one scene at a train station. The film is not sappy, but is not perfect, either. Overall, I would give it 2 and 1/2 stars out of 4.
Any resemblance to Bix Beiderbecke is strictly impossible
bob-790-19601810 December 2010
This movie is generally described as "loosely based" on the Dorothy Baker novel, which in turn is "loosely based" or "inspired by" the career of Bix Beiderbecke. Wrong. The movie has absolutely nothing to do with Bix's life. Even the musical instrument involved is not the same--Bix played a cornet, which has a somewhat different sound quality from the trumpet "played" by Kirk Douglas here.
I could list the details of the career of Rick Martin (the lead character played by Douglas)and compare them with those of Bix, but I would be here all day. There simply are no details that are similar.
One good thing about the movie is the trumpet music supplied by "musical consultant" Harry James, which is dubbed for Douglas. Anyone who enjoy's Bix's wonderful solos, however, will see no similarity at all in sound or style between Bix and James. Not that it matters that much, given what I've already said about the movie.
Kirk Douglas plays Kirk Douglas--not a bad thing, really. Lauren Bacall, who is really beautiful in this film, plays an unbearably self-centered, spoiled woman, and the character is really quite a bore. Every time she appears on screen, the movie grinds to a halt, unless you take all her posturing and foolish talk seriously.
Bix pretty much killed himself by drinking and never developed into the great jazz master that he seems destined to have become. But even so he gained the respect of an undoubted master, trumpeter Louis Armstrong, and Bix was influenced early on by Armstrong's innovative performances, though the two men really did not play the same sort of music.
In the movie, the "Armstrong" character is a trumpeter named Art Hazzard, played by Juano Hernandez. While Armstrong was a man of enormous gifts,appetites, and personality--a real force--the part written for Hernandez is more that of the "kindly Negro" favored in the 1950s by those professing to have no race prejudices. It's quite a comedown for Hernandez, who was wonderful, two or three years earlier, in his role as Lucas Beauchamp in the movie adaptation of Faulkner's "Intruder in the Dust."
Hoagy Carmichael, who knew Bix Beiderbecke, does his usual shtik as the piano player who's been around. We see him at his piano, endlessly smoking. Another boring performance in the film.
And then there's Doris Day--lovely and talented and delightful to see and hear. When she is on screen, this otherwise dumb movie just lights up.
I could list the details of the career of Rick Martin (the lead character played by Douglas)and compare them with those of Bix, but I would be here all day. There simply are no details that are similar.
One good thing about the movie is the trumpet music supplied by "musical consultant" Harry James, which is dubbed for Douglas. Anyone who enjoy's Bix's wonderful solos, however, will see no similarity at all in sound or style between Bix and James. Not that it matters that much, given what I've already said about the movie.
Kirk Douglas plays Kirk Douglas--not a bad thing, really. Lauren Bacall, who is really beautiful in this film, plays an unbearably self-centered, spoiled woman, and the character is really quite a bore. Every time she appears on screen, the movie grinds to a halt, unless you take all her posturing and foolish talk seriously.
Bix pretty much killed himself by drinking and never developed into the great jazz master that he seems destined to have become. But even so he gained the respect of an undoubted master, trumpeter Louis Armstrong, and Bix was influenced early on by Armstrong's innovative performances, though the two men really did not play the same sort of music.
In the movie, the "Armstrong" character is a trumpeter named Art Hazzard, played by Juano Hernandez. While Armstrong was a man of enormous gifts,appetites, and personality--a real force--the part written for Hernandez is more that of the "kindly Negro" favored in the 1950s by those professing to have no race prejudices. It's quite a comedown for Hernandez, who was wonderful, two or three years earlier, in his role as Lucas Beauchamp in the movie adaptation of Faulkner's "Intruder in the Dust."
Hoagy Carmichael, who knew Bix Beiderbecke, does his usual shtik as the piano player who's been around. We see him at his piano, endlessly smoking. Another boring performance in the film.
And then there's Doris Day--lovely and talented and delightful to see and hear. When she is on screen, this otherwise dumb movie just lights up.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
