Young Man with a Horn (1950)
Kirk Douglas stars as the title character of Young Man with a Horn, a man with no education, an incredible natural musical talent, a temper, and lousy taste in women. Basically, he’s your typical musician. If you’ve never seen a “musicians make mistakes and have problems” movie, rent this movie tonight, because it’s one of the most famous of that genre.
Hoagy Carmichael narrates the film, and practically everything he says could have been cut from the film. If Kirk Douglas storms down the street with an angry look on his face, do we really need Hoagy to tell us, “He was real upset about the way things turned out”? But, Hoagy does take us to the beginning of Kirk’s story, his poor upbringing and his early discover and love of music. Orley Lindgren plays young Kirk, and he’s absolutely adorable! The makeup department even put a little mark on his chin to match his older self. He’s a darling and talented little boy, and I don’t know why he stopped acting in 1954.
Orley sees Juano Hernandez playing jazz at a nightclub and is fascinated by his trumpet playing. Juano is very kind and teaches Orley how to play the instrument, starting a lifelong familial connection. My favorite scenes are those with Juano Hernandez, a wonderful actor who didn’t enjoy as lustrous a career as he should have. He’ll tug at your heart, and he has wonderful chemistry with both Kirk and Orley.
When Orley grows up and becomes Kirk, he gets a job in a big band led by Jerome Cowan, backing up the singing of Doris Day. Doris introduces Kirk to Lauren Bacall, a psychology student with enormous problems. But, she does look uncharacteristically pretty in this movie, so you can’t really blame him for being interested.
If you love the trumpet, you’ve probably already seen this movie, as it’s a classic and the trumpet playing’s performed by Harry James. If you love movies with good acting, you should definitely put it on your list. Kirk is excellent in the role, expressing every raw emotion as his character is supposed to and gaining more than the audience’s sympathy as he’s led down the wrong path. Once again, he was snubbed by the Academy and wasn’t nominated for this wonderful performance. Lauren is very convincing as a woman with major psychological problems, so while you probably won’t like her in this movie, you’ll admit she does a good job. Doris isn’t given much to do besides play herself—she got her start singing with big bands—but at least we get to hear her beautiful voice!
Want to watch it? Click here to watch it on ok.ru. And thanks "Classic Movies Kristine Rose" for posting!
More Doris Day movies here!
More Kirk Douglas movies here!
Hoagy Carmichael narrates the film, and practically everything he says could have been cut from the film. If Kirk Douglas storms down the street with an angry look on his face, do we really need Hoagy to tell us, “He was real upset about the way things turned out”? But, Hoagy does take us to the beginning of Kirk’s story, his poor upbringing and his early discover and love of music. Orley Lindgren plays young Kirk, and he’s absolutely adorable! The makeup department even put a little mark on his chin to match his older self. He’s a darling and talented little boy, and I don’t know why he stopped acting in 1954.
Orley sees Juano Hernandez playing jazz at a nightclub and is fascinated by his trumpet playing. Juano is very kind and teaches Orley how to play the instrument, starting a lifelong familial connection. My favorite scenes are those with Juano Hernandez, a wonderful actor who didn’t enjoy as lustrous a career as he should have. He’ll tug at your heart, and he has wonderful chemistry with both Kirk and Orley.
When Orley grows up and becomes Kirk, he gets a job in a big band led by Jerome Cowan, backing up the singing of Doris Day. Doris introduces Kirk to Lauren Bacall, a psychology student with enormous problems. But, she does look uncharacteristically pretty in this movie, so you can’t really blame him for being interested.
If you love the trumpet, you’ve probably already seen this movie, as it’s a classic and the trumpet playing’s performed by Harry James. If you love movies with good acting, you should definitely put it on your list. Kirk is excellent in the role, expressing every raw emotion as his character is supposed to and gaining more than the audience’s sympathy as he’s led down the wrong path. Once again, he was snubbed by the Academy and wasn’t nominated for this wonderful performance. Lauren is very convincing as a woman with major psychological problems, so while you probably won’t like her in this movie, you’ll admit she does a good job. Doris isn’t given much to do besides play herself—she got her start singing with big bands—but at least we get to hear her beautiful voice!
Want to watch it? Click here to watch it on ok.ru. And thanks "Classic Movies Kristine Rose" for posting!
More Doris Day movies here!
More Kirk Douglas movies here!