Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Best movie ever!

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

......the story of an "ubermensch" musician,a man with no peers in his field,young,gifted and misunderstood. Unfortunately because he is played by Mr K.Douglas with his rictus grin,rictus scowl and rictus every - bloody thing,he evokes very little sympathy; in me at any rate. More Bunny Berigan then Bix Beiderbecke,Mr Douglas is one hell of a trumpet player.Like in countless movies before and since he wants to play "his" music and refuses to "sell out". But jazzers who don't "sell out"quite often starve. A later echo might be seen in "New York,New York" where Mr De Niro ends up on the coat tails of Miss Minnelli until he can no longer live with himself. No such quibbles for Kirk who burbles away behind Doris Day in the end. Before then he takes to the demon drink,enters unsuitable relationships and does all the jazz - ish things Hollywood producers fondly imagine creative musicians like to do. Doris Day seems more comfortable in her role than Lauren Bacall whose more complex character eludes her. Nice rather than amazing trumpet playing by Harry James complements the movie which is directed by Michael Curtiz with his customary panache and professionalism. A better film about a jazz trumpet player is "Pete Kelly's Blues" which is actually set in the Beiderbecke era. But "Young man with a horn" from a somewhat florid novel by Dorothy Baker is well worth watching for all that.

This is largely a fun, yet serious, musical film noir, one of my favorite films. The screenplay centers on Rick Martin: a virtuoso jazz pianist and trumpet player. He has a natural ear for music and spends all day and all night on his music. He is rebellious, loving to improvise rather than sticking to the sheet music sometimes provided. Besides, he doesn't read music very well. "I don't play for people. I play for myself". This attitude almost ends his musical career, until he finds an accommodating band, and goes on to become famous among musicians. Music composer and pianist Hoagy Carmichael opens the film with an explanatory narration. This is followed by a characterization of Rich as a boy, played by Orley Lindgren, floundering as a virtual orphan and street urchin, until he discovers he has a natural ear for music. Kirk Douglas plays Rick as an adult and is excellent.The characterization of Rick is loosely based on the novel of the same title, which is loosely based on the life of Bix Beiderbecke: storied, but doomed, jazz pianist and trumpet player of the 1920s, dying at age 28, apparently of alcohol poisoning. The film provides an apparently happy ending, presumably guessing that this is what most audiences would prefer. This also provides hope that addictions to drugs and all consuming passions can often be cured by sufficient insight and motivation.Hoagy knew the real Bix and provided some pointers to Douglas how to play him. He also serves as one of Rick's few consistent friends, as Smokes, appearing occasionally throughout the film, usually as a piano player or narrator. Another good friend is African American Art Hazzard, who much helped him get started playing the trumpet and appears periodically until he is hit by an auto, in a seemingly suicidal incident. Rich plays his trumpet at his funeral....Famous Harry James apparently did all the trumpet playing for Douglas, although he receives virtually no credit. Doris Day is present as Jo, a friend and sometimes girlfriend to Rick. Her acting clearly is not as polished as that of fellow stars Douglas and Lauren Bacall, but she brings a calming and upbeat presence with her singing and motherly attention to Rick. Unfortunately, she's not willing to go further, saying she doesn't get too involved with married men, meaning Rick's devotion to his trumpet. She calls him "a crazy young man with a horn". In being a big band singer, Doris is playing herself from 1939-47, singing several standards, among other songs.The other woman who pops into Rick's romantic life is Amy, well played by Lauren Bacall. Amy is introduced to Rick by friend Jo. By Amy's admission, she and Rick are polar opposites in most important ways. Yet, Rick soon develops a romantic interest in her, despite several warnings by her that she will be poison in a marriage. She quips "Don't fall in love with me. Only people who respect themselves are capable of real love. I don't happen to respect myself". She envies both Jo and Rick for their superb musical talents and commercial success. However,she dismisses jazz as "a cheap narcotic". In contrast to Rick, she has tried out various jobs, but hasn't found anything sufficiently interesting to hold her passion, or that she is good enough at to rise professionally. Currently, she hopes to become a psychiatrist, but soon flunks out. She's still 'a little girl lost'. She is frank about herself in many ways, but doesn't reveal that she has lesbian tendencies. The film censor board wouldn't allow direct references to lesbians. Thus,we are only given indirect hints. Jo says she's a strange girl and is all mixed up inside. Rick later tells her she is sick and needs to see a psychiatrist. During their brief marriage, she decides to take a trip to Europe with a girlfriend. During their marriage, they were mostly on different shifts, thus didn't see much of each other awake. He says he married her because he thought she was an intelligent classy girl, but found out otherwise. She says she married him because she thought some of his focus and drive would rub off on her. Opposites sometimes attract, and sometimes this works out, but this marriage was doomed from the beginning.There is a curious incident toward the end. While drunk, Rick wanders into a music store and buys a beat up second hand trumpet. I think he is making an analogy between that trumpet and himself. If you have seen "Lust for Life", released a few years after this film, you will see that Douglas portrays a similar insecurity and intensity to both unbalanced men, whose art or music was their all consuming passion. It drove each man mad that they couldn't fully convey their passion in their work. They were pathological perfectionists.

There are many films which depict the early artists and the legendary talents in the history of Jazz. This is one such story. It is the Black and white story of Rick Martin (Kirk Douglas) who has a unique craving to learn music and will spend the rest of his life searching for that 'Special' note produced by a trumpet. Early in his life, which is told in retrospect by Willie 'Smoke' Willoughby (Hoagy Carmichael) he meets with legendary musician Art Hazzard (Juano Hernandez) who introduces Martin to the Trumpet with which he becomes a true Artist. Thereafter he meets up with Jo Jordan (Doris Day) and later Amy North (Lauren Bacall) who seeks to learn what drives a man like Martin. The movie is in Black and White and becomes a tour-De-force for Douglas who there after becomes the foundation of a musical Classic. Terrific film and one which is well recalled from the early days of Movies. ****

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