RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
Found a Bug? Squash It! Report Bugs Here
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / Sweet Bird of Youth
Sweet Bird of Youth

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Buy Poster External Icon
Bookmark and Share

Sweet Bird of Youth (1962)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
75 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:16

Fresh:12

Rotten:4

Average Rating:6.7/10

Runtime: 2 hrs

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Paul Newman and Geraldine Page re-created their Broadway roles in Tennessee Williams's SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH for this stylish film adaptation. Newman stars as Chance Wayne, a Hollywood gigolo... Paul Newman and Geraldine Page re-created their Broadway roles in Tennessee Williams's SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH for this stylish film adaptation. Newman stars as Chance Wayne, a Hollywood gigolo determined to become a star, who teams up with Alexandra Del Lago (Geraldine Page), a washed-up Hollywood actress, on his way back to his small-town home. The town clamors at the reappearance of the charismatic Chance, who claims to have found fame and fortune in Hollywood, while the mysterious Alexandra lies in a drunken stupor in their hotel room. Alexandra convinces Chance she can make him a star, so he protects her reputation while rediscovering his love for his hometown sweetheart, Heavenly (Shirley Knight), whose heart he broke when he disappeared to find fame. Chance's attempts to reignite his passion for the naive Heavenly deeply angers her vengeful father, the cruel town "boss" (Ed Begley) who will stop at nothing to see his daughter's lost innocence avenged. Williams's hard-hitting themes of betrayal, mob violence, and deceit are fully examined in this fine adaptation. Geraldine Page ignites the screen as she seductively manipulates Chance and languishes alone in her prisonlike hotel room, terrified of losing her star status. [More]

Starring: Paul Newman, Geraldine Page, Shirley Knight, Ed Begley

Starring: Paul Newman, Geraldine Page, Shirley Knight, Ed Begley, Rip Torn, Mildred Dunnock, Madeleine Sherwood, Philip Abbott, Corey Allen

Director: Richard Brooks

Director: Richard Brooks
Producer: Pandro S. Berman
Composer: Robert Armbruster

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Sweet Bird of Youth

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
1 - 16 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

Page and Newman are fantastic.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
04/08/08
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Brooks' direction seems a little too stolid for all the sleazy, flaming passions. These are, however, given full measure by an excellent cast.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
02/09/06
Tom Milne
Tom Milne
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Newman began his splendid career on stage and returned triumphantly to Broadway to star in Williams' play about a gigolo with acting ambitions who attaches himself to an aging movie star.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
05/24/03
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It's a glossy, engrossing hunk of motion picture entertainment, slickly produced by Berman.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
04/08/08
Variety Staff
Variety Staff
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

All of Williams's Southern Gothic themes are intermingled here: violence, familial conflict, sexual neurosis, the mentality of the mob. Most of it comes across as overheated nonsense.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
04/08/08
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
04/08/08
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader

Strong cast (Newman, Page) in deeply dramatic Williams drama.

comment Comment
02/22/08
Steve Crum
Steve Crum
Video-Reviewmaster.com

There is no clearer face for the conflict and despondency of the decade of the sixties than Newman's magnificent bastards.

Full Review Source: Film Freak Central | comment Comment
07/11/06
Walter Chaw
Walter Chaw
Film Freak Central

When approaching 1962's Sweet Bird of Youth, go for the parts rather than the whole.... [T]he film is a long drive through swampy melodrama.

Full Review Source: DVDJournal.com | comment Comment
05/07/06
Mark Bourne
Mark Bourne
DVDJournal.com

The film gets a little bogged down in minutiae and irrelevant side plots, but on the whole it's solid and searing.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
05/06/06
Christopher Null
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com

In 1962, the film was deemed audacious due to its straighforward handling of such taboo issues as drugs, v.d., abortion, and degeneracy, but it's a comromised work that due to mores and censorship deviates substantially from Tennessee Williams' play.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
04/28/06
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

No review available.

comment Comment
03/09/06
Jake Euker
Jake Euker
F5 (Wichita, KS)

Newman and Page elevate Williams' melodramatic romance.

comment Comment
02/10/06
Carol Cling
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal

No review available.

comment Comment
12/21/05
Susan Granger
Susan Granger
www.susangranger.com

No review available.

comment Comment
10/09/05
Chuck O'Leary
Chuck O'Leary
Fantastica Daily

This cynical, coruscating drama has a strong look of being contrived, and Mr. Brooks' happy ending for it is implausible and absurd.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
05/09/05
Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
1 - 16 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View
See All

More DVDs

Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
36% 36% Angels & Demons
25% 25% Four Christmases
68% 68% Funny People
95% 95% Star Trek
14% 14% The Ugly Truth

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
32% 32% Terminator Salvation
44% 44% Night at the Museum: B…
86% 86% A Christmas Tale
60% 60% Paper Heart

More New Releases…

What’s Hot On RT

Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Twilight Saga: Eclipse

5 facts straight from the cast.

Disney Animation

Disney Animation

We chart the studio's classics.

Avatar

Avatar

An exclusive look at the human hardware.

Eric Bana

Eric Bana

The Star Trek star talks cars with RT.

Other News

  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • Spielberg Hops Away from Harvey Source: Variety
20
  • Tarantino Could Have Directed Green Lantern Source: MTV
24
  • Will Duvall be Gilliam's Don Quixote? Source: Collider.com
26
  • No Hobbit Until 2012? Source: The Wrap
22
  • Don't Hold Your Breath for Hancock 2 Source: HitFix
42
  • Peter Berg Talks Battleship Source: CHUD
2
  • Summit Ponders Twilight Finale Source: Variety
159
  • First Look at Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Source: USA Today
56
  • Jeremy Renner Talks Hawkeye Possibilities Source: Superhero Hype
14
  • Todd Phillips Talks The Hangover 2 Source: Entertainment Weekly
18
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Total Recall: Natalie Portman's Best Movies
69
  • Five Favorite Films with Jason Reitman
47
  • 10 Horrifically Profitable Films
45
  • Critics Consensus: Everybody's Fine Is Just OK
44
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: Vampires and Football Break Thanksgiving Records
42
  • Five Favorite Films with Jesse Ventura
39
  • Sundance 2010: RT's 10 Most Anticipated Movies
26
  • Awards Tour: National Board of Review Winners List!
24
  • RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: Terminator Salvation and a Smithsonian Battle
22
  • Weekly Ketchup: Tron Team to Remake The Black Hole
22
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • Director Ruben Fleischer Talks Zombieland
2
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
17
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
12
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
22
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
8
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
15
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
22
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
9
  • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
28
  • Gavin Hood Talks Wolverine; Possible Sequel
28
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • Sweet Bird of Youth at Rotten Tomatoes

Fresh Links

Featured
RT on YouTube
RT on YouTube External Link

Subscribe to RT's YouTube channel and don't miss a second of our cracking video content.

RT on Twitter
RT on Twitter External Link

Follow Rotten Tomatoes and join us as we tweet about the week's releases.

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.