Young Man with a Horn (film)

Young Man with a Horn is a 1950 drama filmVariety film review; February 8, 1950, page 11.Harrison's Reports film review; February 11, 1950, page 22. based on a biographical novel of the same name aboutBix Beiderbecke, the legendary cornet player. The film is considered to be the first contemporary big-budget jazz film, a genre that became common not soon after the release of the movie, as well as one of the first major Hollywood productions to suggest a lesbian relationship.

The movie stars Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, Doris Day, and Hoagy Carmichael, and was directed by Michael Curtiz and produced by Jerry Wald. The screenplay was written by Carl Foreman and Edmund H. North.

Plot

As a young boy, after his mother dies, Rick Martin sees a trumpet in the window of a pawn shop. He works in a bowling alley to save up enough money to buy it.

Rick grows up to be an outstanding musician, tutored by jazzman Art Hazzard. He lands a job playing for the big band of Jack Chandler, getting to know the piano player Smoke Willoughby and the beautiful singer Jo Jordan.

Chandler orders him to always play the music exactly as written. Rick prefers to improvise, and one night, during a break with Chandler's band, he leads an impromptujam session, which gets him fired.

Jo has fallen for Rick and finds him a job in New York with a dance orchestra. One night, her friend Amy North accompanies her to hear Rick play. Amy, studying to be a psychiatrist,...
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