Sweet bird of Youth, at the opening of the film, with the background of a flock of sea birds flying over the river, the hero drives the car accompanied by the former Hollywood actress Alexandra is needy and desperate at the moment, escaping reality by consuming tobacco and alcohol,
They are using each other in order to get the thing they want. However, the sweet bird has not died yet in Chance’s heart, for his love towards Heavenly is still there, singing.
The acting of the Page is really powerful and emotionally bursting, she tried her best, pleading with Chance to stay once she knows that he is still in love with Heavenly. However, she just throws Chance away as penniless luggage at the moment that she knows she has a chance to shine on the stage again.
Chance’s fantasy has been smashed, he went to find Heavenly and persuades her to leave the town with him. Heavenly loves Chances as well, so they reconcile and leave the town together.
Heavenly’s greedy father shouted at them--the maid of their --Nonnie said you just go straight to hell by yourself.
Tom the boss of Finley deserves this, as he does not love his daughter and just enjoying to put her on display as a model of purity and chastity.
He mistreated his mistress--miss Lucy as well, and he is suspicious of her, so he hurts her so brutally by closing that jewellery box so suddenly to break her fingers. The shouting of her is really emotionally disturbing!
Fame rotten heart, however, Chance is still in love with Heavenly, so no matter how bitter and frustrating he gets from the failure of pursuing a career to become a film star. He is still in Youth and has hopes for a rebirth.
The film version was sanitized, with Chance becoming a drifter rather than gigolo for hire. The ending was also heavily altered from the explicit sexual mutilation scene depicted in the conclusion of the original stage version.
Somehow, the sweet bird of Youth has a satirical and ironic meaning, which indicates that the bird in youth is sweet, but also can be poisonous, Chance becomes the lover of a fading film star, in order to exchange fame. However, selfishness and ugliness of fame contaminated, corrupted and destroy him at last, as the pricing of being sweet.
He used love like most men use money.
The biggest difference between people is not between the rich and the poor. The biggest difference is between those who have ecstasy in love and those who haven’t.
Newman真美，只是部分段落略显浮夸。
williams剧作里larger than life的人物，隐藏在对话里的往事冰山只露一角一向都是喜欢的。这部电影里用了如此直白的闪回反而失去了不少意味。
另外还重逢了Madeleine Sherwood（miss lucy）这张令我从小过目不忘的脸……参见另一部willams名作。
意外的非常好看，田纳西对于情感纠葛的表现非常辛辣尖刻，给人酣畅淋漓之感。尽管有着对于名利丑陋面的揭示与批判。仍在故事的结尾给予了甜蜜的希望与和解。
Sweet bird of Youth, at the opening of the film, with the background of a flock of sea birds flying over the river, the hero drives the car accompanied by the former Hollywood actress Alexandra is needy and desperate at the moment, escaping reality by consuming tobacco and alcohol,
They are using each other in order to get the thing they want. However, the sweet bird has not died yet in Chance’s heart, for his love towards Heavenly is still there, singing.
The acting of the Page is really powerful and emotionally bursting, she tried her best, pleading with Chance to stay once she knows that he is still in love with Heavenly. However, she just throws Chance away as penniless luggage at the moment that she knows she has a chance to shine on the stage again.
Chance’s fantasy has been smashed, he went to find Heavenly and persuades her to leave the town with him. Heavenly loves Chances as well, so they reconcile and leave the town together.
Heavenly’s greedy father shouted at them--the maid of their --Nonnie said you just go straight to hell by yourself.
Tom the boss of Finley deserves this, as he does not love his daughter and just enjoying to put her on display as a model of purity and chastity.
He mistreated his mistress--miss Lucy as well, and he is suspicious of her, so he hurts her so brutally by closing that jewellery box so suddenly to break her fingers. The shouting of her is really emotionally disturbing!
Fame rotten heart, however, Chance is still in love with Heavenly, so no matter how bitter and frustrating he gets from the failure of pursuing a career to become a film star. He is still in Youth and has hopes for a rebirth.
The film version was sanitized, with Chance becoming a drifter rather than gigolo for hire. The ending was also heavily altered from the explicit sexual mutilation scene depicted in the conclusion of the original stage version.
Somehow, the sweet bird of Youth has a satirical and ironic meaning, which indicates that the bird in youth is sweet, but also can be poisonous, Chance becomes the lover of a fading film star, in order to exchange fame. However, selfishness and ugliness of fame contaminated, corrupted and destroy him at last, as the pricing of being sweet.
He used love like most men use money.
The biggest difference between people is not between the rich and the poor. The biggest difference is between those who have ecstasy in love and those who haven’t.
2026.02.04n混迹于好莱坞和百老汇的钱斯•韦恩带着科斯莫斯公主，也是过气的电影明星亚历山德拉•德•拉戈回到他的故乡圣克劳德，他要了旅馆的套房，服务员弗莱还记得他，以前经常和芬利老板的女儿海文丽在乡村俱乐部跳舞。就在他刚刚服侍醉酒的科斯莫斯公主躺下，就有人敲门，原来是芬利医院的乔治•斯卡德医生，钱斯奇怪他怎么知道自己回来了，医生回答“恶事传千里，”从钱斯来到后，旅馆老板海切尔和斯卡德医生都不待见他，看来钱斯的口碑不咋地。钱斯在老家还有两个让他挂念的人，他的母亲和女友海文丽，斯卡德医生告诉他，他的母亲前几周刚刚去世了，给他去信，可是没有回音，至于钱斯的女友海文丽，很快就要嫁给斯卡德医生了。nn不过钱斯在酒吧也遇到了他当年的玩伴斯科特和巴德，他们一起回忆当年的幸福时光，杰基弹奏了一首当年专门为钱斯写的歌，他们齐声高唱，钱斯想起往事，历历在目，在酒吧做服务员的钱斯和汤姆•芬利的女儿海文丽热恋的时候，芬利给了他一百美元和一张车票，鼓励钱斯去了纽约发展，现如今钱斯以好莱坞和百老汇的名人回归故里，其实他只是一个在好莱坞和百老汇做了很多年的临时演员，类似于中国的“北漂”，现在他想孤注一掷，借助亚历山德拉•德•拉戈的名声玩一把冒险，以求一举成名。当过州长的芬利对钱斯的突然回来充满了狐疑，他安排儿子去调查。海文丽从诺妮姑妈那里得知钱斯回来了，她对当年钱斯在她爸爸的忽悠下不辞而别的事心知肚明，理解钱斯这些年在外面努力打拼的艰辛，“正确的门打不开的时候，他走错了门。”同时揭露她爸爸在外面包养一个叫露西的女人的事，恼羞成怒的芬利狠狠的打了海文丽一记耳光，还对钱斯发出死亡威胁来恐吓女儿。nn很快奉芬利的指令，旅馆老板海切尔对钱斯下了逐客令，被韦恩拒绝，他们碍于亚历山德拉•德•拉戈的名气不敢有过激行为。韦恩和亚历山德拉•德•拉戈是在棕榈滩她的私人小屋认识的，那时候她因复出失败，把自己喝的烂醉，还吸食了大量的毒品，神智不清，喘不上气来，是韦恩帮助了她，并且一直陪侍着她。现在韦恩和她聊起这这段经历，特别是携带毒品过海关的事，韦恩问的很详细，科斯莫斯公主不知道，韦恩偷偷的在床头放置了录音机，把这段话录了下来。并以此敲诈勒索的时候，没有想到亚历山德拉•德•拉戈根本就不在意，她调侃到“当怪物遇到怪物，其中一只必须让路，那将永远不会是我，”亚历山德拉•德•拉戈要求韦恩陪睡来满足自己，韦恩只好继续履行他做“鸭子”的职责。汤姆•芬利得知他包养的女人露西在旅店里招揽生意，继续卖淫，怒气冲冲的来到她的房间，狠狠的修理了她。nn复活节这天，韦恩在教堂里见到了他心心念念的海文丽，可是近在咫尺，两个人劝不能相聚，她的父亲和哥哥把她看管的死死的。芬利父子俩来到科斯莫斯公主房间，威胁她在天黑前离开圣克劳德，否则会杀了韦恩，科斯莫斯公主被吓坏了，她又把自己喝的烂醉。韦恩接到诺妮姨妈的电话，他不顾科斯莫斯公主的苦苦哀求和阻拦，执意开车去赴约。海文丽开着快艇来到海岸的灯塔，她不是来和韦恩约会的，而是让他尽快带着科斯莫斯公主离开这里，忘记她，和他们的孩子，说完扬长而去。亚历山德拉•德•拉戈接到经纪人沃尔特的电话，沃尔特告诉她，她的电影打破了纽约和洛杉矶的票房纪录，她成为当今最卖座的巨星，而对推荐韦恩这样一个海滩男孩成名，亚历山德拉•德•拉戈一点兴趣都没有，坦言就是找个乐子，果然应了那句戏子无情善变的话。庆典集会上竞选对手伯特斯•海文•史密斯教授搞砸了芬利的演讲，逼迫女儿海文丽堕胎让他一下子成了千夫所指的罪人。失去了机遇的韦恩不顾一切的来到芬利家大声呼叫海文丽，被海文丽的哥哥一伙人施暴毁容，随后而来的海文丽和钱斯再次相逢，两个有情人紧紧的拥抱在一起。
1.其实单就电影来看，不算特别反励志负能量，保罗纽曼的角色本来就是个混球，最起码电影里并没有表现他是因为理想破灭才变坏的。这是个心性不纯的年轻人，生活没有捉弄他，是他有负自己的天赋（帅，或者演技什么的）——他用黑暗的眼光去看待世界，用卑鄙的心态应对人生，被命运惩罚是理所当然，最后海文莉的选择简直就是瞎了眼，以后她一定会后悔的。——好吧，我这么想可能是残忍了点。
2.这个故事里表现的好莱坞可真是令人毛骨悚然，一个演员不成名或者过气了就只有死路一条么？当然，男主和女主都是不太正常的人，从他们的角度去观察好莱坞可能也是偏颇的。女主大概有点像费雯丽吧，我觉得。
3.《黑衣人》系列里我很喜欢的Zed——Rip Torn那时候还好年轻啊——而且他通过这片跟女主结婚了？？？？这个八卦赋予本片蛮特别的意义。
4.Shirley Knight的气质跟Carey Mulligan好像啊……这让我愈发把本片和《了不起的盖茨比》联系在一起了。
5.女主——Geraldine Page不错，全片最精彩的部分就是她和保罗纽曼在中段的长对白，舞台剧演员的台词功力真棒——不过也正因为她是舞台剧演员出身，表演过猛了，导致后半段这个角色挺招人烦的。
6.保罗纽曼很少演反派吧，其实这个故事里他绝对是个反派，属于那种特别令观众讨厌的男主角——其实呢，因为他帅，以及天生的野性气质，再加上几个极端邪恶的配角的陪衬，让人对男主角恨不起来，更多感觉是恨铁不成钢的无奈。
——不过，不能因为配角都很邪恶，就认为主角是好人了——他当然是个坏人，就算是他的卑微出身和奋斗失败导致他变成了坏人，他也依然是坏人（更何况电影中并没有表现出这一点），这点是非判断能力还是要有的。