Sweet Bird of Youth

Sweet bird of youth... the liz taylor one. With mark harmon, probably best known for ncis. Princess is much older than the young beach boy and wannabe actor she's dating. And she has numerous health and psychological issues. They have made an agreement; princess will help chance become an actor, and he will provide companionship and sexual favors. A power struggle! But... chance has already made a date to see his old girlfriend. But the girlfriend's father (rip torn) is a bigshot in town, and wants chance punished. And gone. What will princess and chance learn? Will they find what they are searching for? Keep an eye out for valerie perrine.. she was samantha in can't stop the music. Directed by nicolas roeg. He had also done the man who fell to earth! This story is from tennessee williams, so we knew it was going to be a painful lesson. It gets pretty rough. Liz taylor had already won her oscars for woolf and butterfield 8.

I was not aware when I went to watch this film that it was a remake of the classic Paul Newman Geraldine page one. We know that Elizabeth Taylor was in other Tennessee Williams movies and also with Paul Newman why she decided to make this one I have no idea. Her costars are negligible except for Rip Torn in a repeat performance. I love Elizabeth Taylor she's a very beautiful woman and a very fine actress I'm purposely not using was I can understand empathy for this character because she was also older and out of shape etc. but there's no comparison really and she does not shine through in this at all. When you have as good a movie as the original was sometimes it's just hard to remake and maybe shouldn't even be tried

Nicolas Roeg, the director of this film made several very fine films and ' Bad Timing ' is a masterpiece. Given the chance to direct it for television he does not quite succeed with Tennessee Williams fine play ' Sweet Bird of Youth. ' A previous film was made with Geraldine Page and Paul Newman. Page was excellent and Newman less so and the ending was deeply compromised. To Roeg's credit he gives a brilliant ending and the surgical instruments and the scream behind the door does the filmed play justice. Mark Harmon is arguably better in the role of the expensive gigolo ( that's what they were called back then!! ) than Paul Newman; more handsomely jaded and convincing. And in my opinion I could see his conflict between selling his body and the passionate romance within him for a lost love. Rip Torn is also excellent as the corrupt politician whose daughter is ' soiled ' by her previous contact with Harmon's Chance Wayne. As for Elizabeth Taylor as Alexandra del Lago, who is on the run from screen stardom she does it her way, less over the top than Page but for me utterly successful in her interpretation. Sadly with all this acting talent Nicolas Roeg allows various drafts of the play instead of the final version, and lessens the outstanding dialogue considerably. As I said only the ending really hits the spot, and in my opinion his use of overlaid music is terrible and the camera does nothing particularly interesting. I have no idea why he wanted to direct William's drama. I do not think he was in tune with it, but the actors were and they deserved better. Once again Elizabeth Taylor proved what a great actor she was when given the opportunity to shine, even in the hands of a director who half way fails in the project.

Consider Tenneessee Williams one of the greats when it comes to play writing. 'Sweet Bird of Youth' is not quite 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof', 'A Streetcar Named Desire' and 'The Glass Menagerie', but it is nonetheless classic Williams and one of his best. Due to many things, the powerful emotional impact, challenging themes daring and ahead of the time to tackle back then, richly drawn characters and intelligent, realistic dialogue.

There are two filmed versions. One being the 1962 feature film with Geraldine Page and Paul Newman. The other being this 1989 television film. While neither are in the same league as the play, there is no doubt in my mind that the former is the better version. The bold themes may not have had their full impact, but they were intact still (more so than other film adaptations of Williams' work at that time that, although with much to recommend on their own terms, not just toned down the material but ommitted content which the film didn't do as badly), the chemistry was electric and the performances powerful. In the 80s and 90s, there were a number of television films made adapted from Williams' work and most of them were more faithful in detail and content (if not always in spirit) than their feature film counterparts. This 1989 'Sweet Bird of Youth' is an exception.

In that while Williams' intentions are clear this felt like 'Sweet Bird of Youth' re-ordered and re-invented, which it actually essentially was. It contains revisions made by Williams himself and a wider range of his writing, but a large part of me felt that it was not for the better, while its dilligence is admirable it is somewhat too on the academic side. The chemistry isn't on the same level here than to before, the steam generally is missing and personally thought that Elizabeth Taylor and Mark Harmon didn't quite sizzle enough together all the way through. Pace-wise, it feels rather staid, needed more edge, and the action could have opened up more because there can be a filmed stage play feel here and don't think that was quite the intent.

Due to the re-work and re-interpretations, some of the story is rather jumpy and can feel confused, and some of the characters that were major before are abridged to extended cameo-like. Taylor looks beautiful but unlike the out of this world portrayal of Geraldine Page in the 1962 film (am really trying not to compare but it is inevitable rather in this aspect because the difference in quality is so wide) her performance is uneven. There are some intensely moving moments, but also some overwrought ones and those that show a lack of energy. Surprising seeing as she was experienced in Williams, especially good in 'Suddenly, Last Summer'.

Mark Harmon though is good and has the right amount of intensity, his chemistry with Taylor has moments. This is a case though of the supporting cast making more of an impression than the leads. Ronnie Claire Edwards and Cheryl Paris make a lot out of their rather abridged roles and Valerie Perrine is heavenly as Miss Lucy. The best performance comes from Williams specialist Rip Torn, and also the cast member being most familiar with the play so knows it inside out, as a malevolent with a pinch of subtlety Boss Finley.

'Sweet Bird of Youth' is pleasing to look at, with Taylor's costumes looking ravishing. Williams' dialogue has lost none of its order despite the nature of how the play has been adapted. The direction is respectable if never properly distinguished and there are parts that have tension and poignancy (just wish there was more though). If there is one thing this does better than the feature film, it is the ending which doesn't feel as tidy or as odds with the mostly bleak tone.

Altogether, interesting and worth a peek but somewhat bland. 5/10

Tennessee Williams when he wanted to get into his favorite subject of sex was never coy or shy about it. But the most brutal work he ever did was Sweet Bird Of Youth. So brutal that when Paul Newman and Geraldine Page repeated their roles for the screen it was toned down a lot by the omnipresent Code which would be gone in a few years.

Mark Harmon is not as charismatic as Paul Newman very few are. But he brings his own brand of sexy swagger to the role of Chance Wayne who is now the kept boy of fading film star Alexandra Del Lago played here by screen legend Elizabeth Taylor.

Taylor and Harmon are driving up the gulf coast of Florida and come to his home town where he was run out years ago after disgracing the daughter of Rip Torn the town boss played by Cheryl Paris. As the town gossip goes Paris was left with a social disease and under his express orders Torn had a hysterectomy performed on Paris. Mind you though the talk in such places as barbershops and hair salons leave some doubt as to how Paris got disgraced. Still and all the poor kid in town is a most convenient whipping boy.

So after years of drifting and getting by on looks and charm Harmon is in town with Taylor and he's looking for her to be his meal ticket to fame and fortune. Only this meal ticket proves to be bogus and Harmon gets some rough and ugly justice and his good looks and charm will now be for naught.

Rip Torn who was Junior Finley on both Broadway and on film now plays Boss Finley, the part Ed Begley got a Best Supporting Actor for. Torn is a big more subtle than Begley, but he's just as malevolent, maybe more. This version brings more of the politics of the late Fifties into the drama as Finley who has state wide ambitions is a rabid segregationist in the style of George Wallace and Lester Maddox.

This version of Sweet Bird Of Youth is a fine introduction to the work of Tennessee Williams and I'm glad it's now on DVD so that current audiences can enjoy.