478 - Sweet Bird of Youth, United States, 1962. Dir. Richard Brooks.

Monday, April 23, 2018

478 - Sweet Bird of Youth, United States, 1962.  Dir. Richard Brooks.

I am shocked!  Shocked! 

No, this is not Claude Rains as Captain Louis Renault in Casablanca (1942), feigning surprise that gambling is going on at Rick's Cafe Americain.

Rather, it is Ed Begley as Boss Finley, trying desperately to fend off the accusation just leveled at him in public, at a public rally no less, which was intended to drum up support for him and usher him into office.

Since he is not shocked to learn that gambling is going on at Rick's, let us see what it is that is shocking him.

"I am shocked!  Shocked!  To find our state overrun by backstabbing Bolshevikis and Red rabble-rousing.  There.  Get the governor on the phone."

Hmm.  He is shocked that Communists have infiltrated the state government.  Which state?  Florida.  Which city?  St. Cloud.

Why is he accusing his accusers of being Communists?

Because someone from the crowd just asked him a question that was a little too personal, and he needs desperately to pivot, as they say.

The question was regarding a certain operation his daughter Heavenly once had at the hands of Doctor George Scudder, the doctor who now holds the cushy position of being the chief at the hospital, responsible for administrative tasks and no actual hands-on work as a physician.

Once the accusation is made, the public turns on Boss Finley.

"Murderer!  Baby killer!" he is called.

"An illegal operation, performed in your hospital, aided and abetted by you.  And forced on her without her consent."

An illegal operation.  Enough to destroy a man with so much power that nothing else and no one has been able to get to him.

How times have changed.

Sweet Bird of Youth premiered as a play on March 10, 1959.  The movie came out in 1962.  Eleven years before the ruling.

Chance Wayne is, or was, the father of the baby.  And he has just found out about it today.  Mr. Finley never disclosed or allowed Heavenly to disclose their little secret to Chance.  In fact, Chance, who has loved Heavenly for years, has been driven out of town twice by the big Boss.

The first time he gave him a hundred dollars and sent him off to New York to pursue his dream of becoming a famous actor.

The second time, he sent him out West.

Now Chance has come back, this time with a famous but fading movie star in tow, the alcoholic Alexandra Del Lago, aka, The Princess Kosmos, short for The Princess Kosmonopolis, the stage name being used to travel "incognito," or at least to make her believe she still needs to.

Chance and Alexandra take turns using each other, each trying to get the other to help his or her career get a boost.  Chance needs Alexandra to put in a word for him so that he can get a break.  Alexandra needs Chance to keep her alive and sober long enough to get another gig.  And to keep from blackmailing her.  He was clever enough to record a conversation secretly, where she admits on tape that she was trafficking in illegal drugs.

Meanwhile, Boss Finley has his own mistress, Miss Lucy, whom he keeps shut up and provided for at the Regal Palms Hotel.  The same hotel into which Chance and Alexandra have started staying, managed by Finley lackey Dan Hatcher, and watched over by Finley's son, Thomas J. Finley, Jr.

In the play, things do not turn out so well.  It is Tennessee Williams, after all.

In the movie, they turn out a little better.  MGM needs a return on its investment.

But the movie is lushly produced and engaging, with Richard Brooks returning with Paul Newman and Madeleine Sherwood from Cat On a Hot Tin Roof (1958) for another Tennessee Williams adaptation.  This time they are joined by Geraldine Page, Shirley Knight, Ed Begley, Rip Torn, and Dub Taylor.  A cast of stallwarts, all looking younger and thinner.  With the beautiful seaside of Malibu filling in for the Florida coast.

Tennessee Williams was able to keep cranking out the plays.

And Hollywood as well as Broadway, along with the American people, ate them up.

Watching them now, one can see why.


Chance:  Whatever I am, I am not part of your luggage.

Alexandra:  In a few years, you will be through with your good looks, and I will be through with you.

He may have missed out on Hollywood, but at least he has Heavenly.