Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Pretty Good

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

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!

In the 30's, the outcast orphan Rick Martin (Orley Lindgren) is raised by his daughter without any care or love. One day, he overhears a song in a mission and owner of absolute pitch, he is capable to play it on the piano. When he sees a trumpet in a pawnshop, he falls in love with the instrument and works to raise the necessary money to buy it.One day, he meets the legendary trumpeter Art Hazzard (Juano Hernandez) and Rick (Kirk Douglas) becomes his protégée. Art teaches how to play trumpet to Rick that becomes a well succeeded but rebel trumpeter. Along his career, Rick Martin's friends are Art Hazzard, the piano player Willie 'Smoke' Willoughby (Hoagy Carmichael) and the singer Jo Jordan (Doris Day) and becomes the star of his orchestra. When Jo introduces her friend Amy North (Lauren Bacall), who is a medical student that loves to experience new sensations, Rick falls in love with her in the beginning of his downfall."Young Man with a Horn" is a beautiful movie by Michael Curtiz that tells the story of the rise and fall of a musician divided between his two loves: his trumpet and a woman. The story is basically divided in two parts – the first one before Lauren Bacall's character is uplifting, with the story of a boy that becomes a star through his friendship with a great trumpeter and his music, and the second part that is heartbreaking with his unrequited love by a strange woman. The performances are top-notch; the music score is magnificent; and the cinematography in black and white is wonderful. The cast seems to be enlightened and it is almost to highlight a performance - Orley Lindgren, Juano Hernandez, Kirk Douglas, Hoagy Carmichael, Doris Day and Lauren Bacall, they are all fantastic. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Êxito Fugaz" ("Rapid Success")

Dance band pianist Hoagy Carmichael (as Willie "Smoke" Willoughby) tells about how he palled around with legendary jazz trumpeter Kirk Douglas (as Rick Martin). We flashback to see lonely orphan Orley Lindgren (as young Rick/Kirk) show an interest in gospel music. He wants to buy a trumpet. While working as a pin-boy in a bowling alley, young Lindgren hears Juano Hernandez (as Art Hazzard) playing in a nearby nightclub. The kid is in ecstasy watching "Art Hazzard and His Dixie Pickers" from a hiding place and soon meets Mr. Hernandez, who teaches him to play the trumpet. Douglas idolizes Hernandez.Growing up fast, Mr. Douglas hooks up with our chain-smoking narrator, Mr. Carmichael, who helps get him employed. Next, a perpetually wide-eyed Douglas meets pretty girl singer Doris Day (as Jo Jordan), but he shows little interest in women. "You're married to that trumpet," Ms. Day observes as Douglas fails to take advantage her invitation to kiss. He's not interested in Carmichael, either - just the trumpet. That all changes when Day introduces Douglas to her sexy psychiatric student friend Lauren Bacall (as Amy North). But, the trumpet STILL gets in the way. And, if it isn't the trumpet, it's the bottle… The story is overwrought, predictable, and ends up being dull. Still, "Young Man with a Horn" has a few things going for it.The combination of director Michael Curtiz and cinematographer Ted McCord create a beautiful black-and-white picture; the street scenes with Lindgren and Douglas are great, as is Ms. Bacall's beautifully lighted apartment. Day and Harry James (dubbing for Douglas) perform several musical numbers. Carmichael does his thing well, and Hernandez contributes an especially dignified supporting performance. This film has become known for featuring a lesbian character, but even that is unexciting. Ironically, opposites attract as Bacall and Day look great on screen together, but the script neglects the possibilities.****** Young Man with a Horn (2/9/50) Michael Curtiz ~ Kirk Douglas, Doris Day, Lauren Bacall, Juano Hernandez

This movie is generally described as "loosely based" on the Dorothy Baker novel, which in turn is "loosely based" or "inspired by" the career of Bix Beiderbecke. Wrong. The movie has absolutely nothing to do with Bix's life. Even the musical instrument involved is not the same--Bix played a cornet, which has a somewhat different sound quality from the trumpet "played" by Kirk Douglas here.I could list the details of the career of Rick Martin (the lead character played by Douglas)and compare them with those of Bix, but I would be here all day. There simply are no details that are similar.One good thing about the movie is the trumpet music supplied by "musical consultant" Harry James, which is dubbed for Douglas. Anyone who enjoy's Bix's wonderful solos, however, will see no similarity at all in sound or style between Bix and James. Not that it matters that much, given what I've already said about the movie.Kirk Douglas plays Kirk Douglas--not a bad thing, really. Lauren Bacall, who is really beautiful in this film, plays an unbearably self-centered, spoiled woman, and the character is really quite a bore. Every time she appears on screen, the movie grinds to a halt, unless you take all her posturing and foolish talk seriously.Bix pretty much killed himself by drinking and never developed into the great jazz master that he seems destined to have become. But even so he gained the respect of an undoubted master, trumpeter Louis Armstrong, and Bix was influenced early on by Armstrong's innovative performances, though the two men really did not play the same sort of music.In the movie, the "Armstrong" character is a trumpeter named Art Hazzard, played by Juano Hernandez. While Armstrong was a man of enormous gifts,appetites, and personality--a real force--the part written for Hernandez is more that of the "kindly Negro" favored in the 1950s by those professing to have no race prejudices. It's quite a comedown for Hernandez, who was wonderful, two or three years earlier, in his role as Lucas Beauchamp in the movie adaptation of Faulkner's "Intruder in the Dust." Hoagy Carmichael, who knew Bix Beiderbecke, does his usual shtik as the piano player who's been around. We see him at his piano, endlessly smoking. Another boring performance in the film.And then there's Doris Day--lovely and talented and delightful to see and hear. When she is on screen, this otherwise dumb movie just lights up.