Young Man with a Horn (1950)

Young Man with a Horn (1950)

starring Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, Doris Day

written by Carl Foreman, Edmund H. North

directed by Michael Curtiz

112 minutes

Rick Martin (Kirk Douglas) rises from a poor background to become a jazz musician. He teaches himself to play the piano and then learns the trumpet from Art Hazzard. Once he gets old enough and good enough he joins a band where he meets singer Jo Jordan (Doris Day).

Rick quickly learns that his exuberant style is not appreciated by the band's leader and it isn't long before he and pianist Willy "Smoke" Willoughby quit the band and strike out on their own. Rick moves to New York City where he reconnects with Art Hazzard and finds a band leader who allows him to shine.

Rick also reconnects with Jo Jordan who introduces him to Amy North (Lauren Bacall) whom he later marries. Rick and Amy's marriage does not last. She grows distant. He starts drinking copious amounts.

Thoughts

I saw this movie as part of the 2026 Noir City DC film festival at the AFI Silver Theater. I had not seen it before. It was introduced by film historian Foster Hirsch.

The movie was adapted from a novel of the same name. The main characters was based on musician Bix Beiderbecke. The movie has an upbeat ending unlike the book or the life of Beiderbecke who died at the age of 28.

The first half of the movie was good. I was enjoying the musical numbers and the story was decent although not terribly remarkable up to that point. Once Rick meets Amy the music seems to take a backseat.

Many of the things that Amy says and does imply that she isn't interested in Rick even though he is attracted to her. He pursues her, nevertheless, despite her cool demeanor. Things change dramatically  over the course of the movie but not for reasons that are clearly depicted. I didn't enjoy this part of the story as much. Foster Hirsch described her as being coded as lesbian. I can see that.

This doesn't feel like noir. If it weren't for some of the music I probably wouldn't have much of anything overly positive to say about this movie than I am.

Notes

I have seen Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, and Doris Day in other movies. Other actors who were in this movie that I have seen in other movies include Hoagy Carmichael, Juano Hernandez, and Jerome Cowan.

Alan Crosland, Jr. edited this movie. I don't usually take notice of credits like this but I watched an episode of The Outer Limits that he directed just the other day so the name leaped out at me as I was perusing the credits.

The screenplay for this movie was based on a novel written by Dorothy Baker. I have seen a few other movies whose screenplays were written in whole or in part by Carl Foreman or Edmund H. North.

This is at least the 12th movie I have watched that was directed by Michael Curtiz.