Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Sammy-Jo Cervantes There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Michael_Elliott Sweet Bird of Youth (1962)*** (out of 4)Years after running away to Hollywood to become a star, Chance Wayne (Paul Newman) returns home never hitting it big but he has the alcoholic, former star Alexandra Del Lago (Geraldine Page) with him in hopes that she will sign him to a contract. Pretty soon he winds up getting involved with his former love (Shirley Knight) and her power crazed father (Ed Begley) who ripped them apart years earlier.Tennessee Williams' SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH is another good adaptation and thankfully the censors were a tad bit cooler than in the previous decade, which allowed some of the more frank and daring sexuality to be left in tact. The film deals with a slut, an abortion and the use of sexuality to get what one wants so there's no question that Hollywood's gates were opening up a tad bit more.Newman was coming off the success of THE HUSTLER and he gives a very good performance here but he's actually out-shined by the entire cast. Page is wonderful in her role of the alcoholic who slowly starts to come out of her depression. I thought Page did an excellent job no matter what the role called for. Knight was simply stunning to the eyes but also gives a terrific performance as the woman constantly held down and abused by her father. Begley won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as the sadistic, cold snake who is one of the biggest hypocrites that you'll ever see. Rip Torn is wonderful as the even more sadistic son with Mildred Dunnock and Madeleine Sherwood also offering up great support.The film also benefits from some wonderful cinematography, a great score and there's no doubt that Richard Brooks direction keeps everything moving at a very good pace. I think the film's only fault is that it's a bit too over-dramatic at times. Still, there performances are so good that it's easy to recommend the film and its darker subject matter.

Bill Slocum A movie dedicated to the proposition that life is written for the winners but lived mostly by the losers, "Sweet Bird Of Youth" would appear likely to be a depressing spectacle, but viewers will find much to enjoy and get caught up in.Tennessee Williams wrote plays that flew close to the sun. Three managed to become time-honored masterpieces. Others failed spectacularly. "Sweet Bird Of Youth" is neither of those, but an otherworldly Southern Gothic soap opera served up with outrageousness and humor. It suffers from Williams' penchant for symbolic excess; the central star-crossed lovers are named "Chance" and "Heavenly" and come together in a place called "St. Cloud." Still, it pulls you in with its outrageousness and humor and keeps you with the passion of its dialogue and performances.Chance Wayne (Paul Newman) left St. Cloud to make a name for himself and win the approval of his rich girlfriend's family. "This here is America," he was told. "Today you're nobody, tomorrow you're somebody." Now he's back in town, the paid escort of a big star on a big bender. No one is that happy to see him, especially the girlfriend's powerful father, Boss Finley (Ed Begley).Director Richard Brooks creates a film of heightened unreality, filling the screen with vibrant color and faces ever flush with anger, love, or strain. His cast, many like Newman recruited from the original Broadway play, follow a similar aesthetic, their performances big and somewhat stagy. Compare Newman here to his more subtle work in bookend productions like "The Hustler" and "Hud," and you will see how much he pushes his big scenes here. But "Sweet Bird Of Youth" demands that kind of over-the-top-ness of cast and crew.It's an ungainly production; its biggest character having nothing to do with the main story. That character is the big Hollywood star Chance took into town with her: boozy but proud Alexandra Del Lago. Geraldine Page plays her as a Judy Garland manqué: We even hear "Over The Rainbow" playing as Chance carries her into a hotel that becomes the film's central locale. Page alternately decries her lost youth and bosses Chance around with randy gusto, a fascinating performance that delivers a lot of nice comic moments as well as recognizably human ones.You can also see Del Lago as Williams himself, in the way she bites and claws to stay at the top, finding unsafe solace in beach boys and drink and pills and what Chance calls pot but she prefers to describe as "Moroccan hashish." Her insecurity is at the heart of the film, even if it is only an echoing device for the main plot, in which Chance tries to salvage what he can of his fleeting youth with lovely Heavenly (Shirley Knight, who delivers a nicely grounded performance to balance out the scenery chewers around her) from Boss F and his unhinged son (Rip Torn, who is delightfully nasty and bizarre)."Sweet Bird Of Youth" plays at extremes and gets too caught up in its core message. But Brooks does well by his source material, making sure we get a wide range of emotions to make up for their lack of depth. A lot of criticism directed against the movie is directed at its final scene, which foregoes Chance's grislier and more downbeat fate in the play. It may have been a sop to 1962 conventions, but I submit a harsher ending would have made the film all but unendurable, not because it would have been shocking but too downbeat after all that lovely black humor preceding it.In the end, what you get instead here is something ruminative but fun, not a showcase for Williams at his best but one that shows how terrific he was at writing big performances. Begley lights up the screen with his big eyebrows and his hypocritical inveighing about chastity, while Newman in his physical prime simmers effectively as the striver still chasing that big break, accurately described by Del Lago as "silky smooth, hard gold."I doubt Williams quite got what he would have liked here, from the play or from the movie. But watching this on television some years later, strong drink in hand, one can imagine him echoing one of Del Lago's classic lines as she looks over the shirtless Chance: "I may have done better, but God knows I have done worse!"

Brigid O Sullivan (wisewebwoman) Tennessee Williams's play is adapted for film by Director Richard Brooks. A wonderful cast brings this dramatic Southern soap opera to a sublime level the lead role of Chance Wayne given a sizzling performance by Paul Newman, a conniving, charming gigolo who keeps trying - and failing - to succeed at his chosen profession.Chance returns to his hometown towing a has been drug addicted alcoholic movie star, Alexandra Del Lago (Geraldine Page). Chance comes with the purpose of taking his old love, Heavenly (Shirley Knight) away from her obsessed father, 'Boss' Finley (Ed Begley) so the three of them can hit Hollywood together and Alexandra will help him get his first big break in the movies.Chance's homecoming goes off like nothing he has planned, he left a lot of damage when he took off before. Heavenly's dad, who, along with Finley, Jr. (Rip Torn), has a burning hatred for Chance along with a plot for revenge.The film does not evolve much from the stage play and appears stagey throughout.Geraldine Page is the only one who transferred from the original play to the film and her performances is completely overwrought but she manages to carry it off and steals every scene she is in. She puts one in mind of Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard. The part of Alexandra is made for her.There is a beautiful score and Paul Newman is stunning in the role.The only complaint I would have (and thus a lower rating of 7 out of 10) would be the significant change both to the story of what happened to Heavenly after Chance disappeared the first time and to the ending of the film, due to censorship rules. Far far more heartbreaking and tragic than depicted here.And it is such a shame we will never be able to see the alternative ending with this incredible cast. In my opinion it would have put the film into the all time great list.7 out of 10. A must-see.

james higgins 86/100. Geraldine Page gives one of the best performances of her illustrious career, if not her best. Paul Newman is magnificent, among his best five performances. The supporting cast is amazing. Madeleine Sherwood is incredible. Shirley Knight, Ed Begley, Rip Torn and Mildred Dunnock all deliver. Tennessee Williams can be a downer, but he also rights some powerful stuff, although this varies quite a bit from the book. Intense, extremely well produced in every aspect. Ed Begley won an Oscar, Page and Knight were nominated. Richard Brooks superbly directs the film with flair and style.The characters develop so amazingly well, classic film-making at its best.