Êxito Fugaz

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.

A decent Hollywood film, but only if you take it as Hollywood and check reality at the door. It was based on a book that the author, Dorothy Baker, admitted was "inspired" by the life of Bix and his music. Most professional jazz musicians and Bix contemporaries find much of it, especially the search for "high notes," laughable, and an inaccurate portrayal of any musician's life, let alone Bix's. Many of those same people find the film even more flawed...

However, that said, this is good Hollywood. Classic Curtiz work with many of the same nuances you'll find in Casablanca (you'll enjoy the use of smoke and shadow in the b/w environment). It was a film that many of the leads reportedly did not enjoy making (subject matter hit a little too close to home for Hoagy Carmichael and Doris Day), but that does not seem to seep into the film too much. Lauren Bacall satisfyingly fills the role of the sultry wrong woman, Day is terribly wholesome but alluring, and any chance to see Hoagy on screen is worth the price of a rental. Now, if only the Kirk Douglasness of Kirk Douglas could have been turned down a hair...

...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.

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?

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