Youngblood Hawke (1964)

Director:

Delmer Daves

Writers:

Delmer Daves (writer)
Herman Wouk (writer)

Release Date:

4 November 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

The International Jet Set...and Youngblood Hawke belonged. All the way from a Kentucky shack to the black-tie intimacies of a Fifth Avenue penthouse.

Plot:

Youngblood Hawke is a truck driver from Kentucky who comes to New York City to become a hot-shot writer...

Plot Keywords:

Publishing | Glamorous Lifestyle | Jetset | Author | Beautiful Woman

Cast

James Franciscus	...	Youngblood Hawke
Suzanne Pleshette	...	Jeanne Green
Geneviève Page	...	Frieda Winter
Eva Gabor	...	Fannie Prince
Mary Astor	...	Irene Perry
Lee Bowman	...	Jason Prince
Edward Andrews	...	Quentin Judd
Don Porter	...	Ferdie Lax
Mildred Dunnock	...	Mrs. Sarah Hawke
Kent Smith	...	Paul Winter Sr.
John Dehner	...	Scotty Hawke
John Emery	...	Georges Peydal
Mark Miller	...	Ross Hodge
Hayden Rorke	...	Mr. Givney
Werner Klemperer	...	Mr. Leffer

Runtime:

UK:137 min | USA:137 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

West Germany:18 (f) | Finland:K-16 | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Genevieve Page had requested an English diction coach for her role in this film because her accent was so thick and she feared that she would be hard to interpret. For one reason or another, she was never given one and her character thus has a French accent. To cover up this discrepancy, there is one instance where her character speaks French to someone on the phone, making it clear that the character (in the movie only) is a native French-speaker.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Hawke arrive at a New York City adjacent airport on the day before Christmas - traditionally one of the busiest travel days of the year - yet appears to be only traveler in entire terminal.

Quotes:

Youngblood Hawke: [jealous] It seemed that you preferred his company over mine.
Frieda Winter: Nonsense. He is unsure if he will even start writing the first chapter of his next book. As a matter of fact, he makes me feel kind of motherly... which is something you never did!

The last of Delmer Daves' potboiler masterpieces

James Franciscus had the role of his career (yes, even greater than Beneath the Planet of the Apes!) as a Kentucky truck driver who comes to New York City to make it as a novelist. I'm not being facetious about Franciscus: he never looked more handsome, and he plays his role with a disarming blend of cockiness and vulnerability. He has perhaps the most soulful and expressive eyes of any blond-haired actor in the movies.

Suzanne Pleshette plays his patient editor with her usual warmth and intelligence, and Genevieve Page is elegant and fascinating as the society woman who "keeps" him. Edward Andrews is witty and menacing as a literary critic, and Mary Astor is totally believable as a veteran stage actress. Everybody shines in the all-star cast.

Delmer Daves took Herman Wouk's mammoth bestseller (what's new?) and wisely made some changes in his screen adaptation. In the novel, Youngblood Hawke is a brawny, average looking man where Daves gives us a beautiful, cerebral hero. Now for a glossy, unabashed soap opera, eye candy can sure help 137 minutes pass a little more pleasantly! Another of Daves' departures from the novel is in permitting more of the leads to remain alive by the end; by doing this, Daves is giving us our cake and letting us eat it. Frankly, I *devour* it on average of once a month!

This film was the last of Delmer Daves' potboiler masterpieces - an enormously entertaining blend of class and trash.