From Warner Bros.
Directed by Delmer Daves
Starring
James Franciscus
Suzanne Pleshette
Geneviève Page
Eva Gabor
Mary Astor
Lee Bowman
Mildred Dunnock
Don Porter
Edward Andrews
John Emery
John Dehner
Kent Smith
Mark Miller
Watching it again yesterday... it's probably been about 20 years... and I realized something within just a few minutes... I still love this flick. And it brings me such pleasure... and c'mon now, isn't that just what movies should do? With it, however, comes some guilt because I question whether any paid critic ever gave it a good review and I can scarcely think of a friend or acquaintance who sang its praises. And it does have praises. Let's discuss a smattering.
It was written by the esteemed Herman Wouk who wrote it in 1962, after The Caine Mutiny and Marjorie Morningstar but before The Winds of War and War and Remembrance. It's about the rise and dramatic fall of a young writer and Wouk based the title character on fellow writer, Thomas Wolfe.
It is directed by Delmer Daves who was one of my favorites. I am incapable of turning away from his westerns (Broken Arrow, Drum Beat, The Last Wagon, 3:10 to Yuma, The Hanging Tree) or his late teen or young adult romances (A Summer Place, Parrish, Susan Slade and Rome Adventure).
Eagle-eyed fans of those last four flicks will take immediate note that they all starred the same blond actor... yes, Troy Donahue. Let's acknowledge that Daves turned him into the popular personality that he quickly became. They had a good working relationship but Donahue had no interest in making Youngblood Hawke, a decision he'd made at the end of filming Rome Adventure. He'd had enough of the screaming teenage girl crowd and wanted to go on to bigger and better things.
Pity... for him because his brief career soon tanked. It was rumored that Warren Beatty was signing on but the money became an issue. Then George Peppard, Stuart Whitman, Bobby Darin and Terrence Stamp's names were bandied about. Ultimately the role went to James Franciscus (a Donahue-lookalike) with lead actress chores divvied up between Suzanne Pleshette (in the throes of divorcing Donahue) and Geneviève Page, a little-known French actress.
Before we get to the things that don't work, let's hone in on the story. Franciscus lives with his widowed mother (Dunnock) in Kentucky. While writing his second novel, he is helping her fight her ex-brother-in-law (Dehner) over the family money. Franciscus wants very much to be a writer... and like many novelists, he has a lot to say. He's not even thinking so much about the money as he is trying to find a publisher after so many rejections.
Finally a call comes and off he flies to New York which completely captures his attention and imagination while scaring him to death. A publisher (Miller) introduces the young hopeful to editor Pleshette who thought his novel was wonderful. She is immediately attracted to him. She probably noticed his blond locks, his uneasy smile, his dimples and that great voice. I know I did.
That night Pleshette takes him to a party with the cream of literary society in attendance and the adulation clearly goes to his head. While there he runs into the seductive Page, a married socialite, an errant mother and patron saint of talented young men destined for greatness. They become embroiled in an affair, an event from which he personally and professionally suffers.
He and Pleshette are not only to work closely together and make a deadline but she has gotten him an attic apartment in her building. While she falls more and more in love with him, he not only turns to Page more but winds up moving in a sublet-apartment she has gotten for him. Their affair is so involving that he is pulled away from his work.
The first book sells and he does well but the second book is a publishing sensation, even winning a Pulitzer. Soon, all he thinks about is money. He is talked into building a shopping center and then decides to go into the publishing business, where, among other things, he will publish his own books.
Then comes a blistering scene at another party to celebrate the publishing of his third book when he asks a cynical critic to give a review on the book right then and there in front of many guests and the critic (Andrews) says are you sure?
What follows hurt my ears and annihilates the poor guy. (I loved Franciscus's physical reactions in this scene and his response is heart-breaking.) The critic doesn't just stop with the horrible book, which he calls a cheat, but attacks the writer for selling out, for taking his eye off the prize, for caring more about money than his talent. Here, of course, is the point of the tale as if anyone watching needs to be told but what a dramatic high point it is.
Not only does his book fail but he is sued for the improper management of the shopping center (for which he'll have to declare bankruptcy) and a play that is based on his first novel gets rotten reviews.
What's more, he has come to see the damage of his relationship with Page and breaks up with her. It's a great scene. He realizes that Pleshette is the girl for him (it was about time to see the actress's radiant smile) but then comes more tragedy. Page's young teen son, who idolizes Franciscus but thinks less of his mother after catching the pair kissing, hangs himself at school after the kids bully him over his mother's relationship. Page is crying. Pleshette is crying. Franciscus is crying. I am crying.
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| Franciscus and Page |
The film ends with Youngblood Hawke returning to his old Kentucky home to rewrite his third book, now with his brain fully engaged, and with the woman he truly loves. Aaah... fadeout.
All the Donahue films were from Warner Bros and in glorious color and there's the question of why this movie, from the same studio, was filmed in black and white. Since color is more expensive, could it be that the studio gave up on the film before it even started? If so, why?
My biggest complaint is that it all felt so rushed. Scenes were sped along, circumstances were as well. One moment he was a coal truck driver and the next he's thinking of opening a shopping center. Okay, that's an exaggeration but only a slight one. I am reminded that on the very day he arrives in New York, two women have fallen for him. What's the rush? A little more judicious editing would have helped.
If the third book, per the critic, was a cheat, I felt much the same since we learn nothing about the books he has written. I felt cheated there and found it more than odd that we are telling the story of a writer and we learn nothing about what he's writing beyond a title and two were good and one was poor? Help us with a little authenticity here.
And while this is only a half complaint, the focus here is clearly the love triangle and I believe had the writing been highlighted more, it could have been a more valuable piece of work. I'm guessing it was more stressed in Wouk's work. The writer's soul-searching and torment are referred to but not shown. And yet, consider adding these items to a film that is already bursting at the seams.
Daves is not only the director of the piece but also adapted the screenplay from Wouk's work. So right or wrong, it all lies at Daves' feet. I'm betting, however, that WB clamped down and paid little mind to the novel and told Daves to turn out another Donahue movie without Donahue. Daves probably balked but they insisted and punished him by making it in black and white. Hey, maybe this paragraph could be a movie itself.
I'm guessing the casting didn't cause a lot of excitement either. Franciscus, to some, was white bread, and a TV star, to boot. In fact, the film was made while his popular television series, Mr. Novak, was on hiatus. This was Pleshette's seventh film but she'd only made one really good film, The Birds, the year before. And Page, billed after Pleshette, actually has the lead female role and Americans had not heard of her.
For me, I thought they all were good... their characters were either saved by the writing or they weren't. Franciscus was probably miscast but I enjoyed his earnest performance without ever confusing him with Laurence Olivier. Warren Beatty would have brought the torment and a real sense that this is based on Thomas Wolfe, of that I have no doubt.
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| Pleshette and Franciscus |
Pleshette was later known as a gifted comedienne in her television work but she was an utterly watchable dramatic actress as well on the big screen. She got off some good one-liners here and was never too hard on the eyes.
Page's character had my undivided attention... I thought she was sublime as the rich mistress and brought that character and the film itself to life in her dramatic, European way. She is a steamy lot of woman for Youngblood.
The large cast is made up of characters actors that would be familiar to many. I loved Mildred Dunnock, always birdlike and strong beyond what one would anticipate. Edward Andrews made a lot of dorky comedies but when he was mean and vicious in dramas, few could top him.
The film was not done as well as it could have been but it still brings me the same pleasure I felt when I first saw it. I love this large cast and I love movies about writers.
Previously I did two postings on movies about writers and I gave each of them four stars. One is 2016's Genius, a fascinating film on the aforementioned Thomas Wolfe and his editor Max Perkins. The other, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' bio, 1983's Cross Creek, is, in my opinion, the best movie ever on writing and writers. Perkins is a character in that one as well. If you've not seen these films and enjoy ones on writers, I highly recommend.
Here's a peek at Youngblood Hawke:
Next posting:
Movie biographies
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