Young Man with a Horn (1950)
Lauren Bacall is Amy, a queer-coded heiress, in the 1950 Michael Curtiz film YOUNG MAN WITH A HORN, based on Dorothy Baker’s popular 1938 novel of the same name.
YOUNG MAN WITH A HORN
1950. USA.
Director: Michael Curtiz
Screenplay: Carl Foreman and Edmund H. North
Based on: “Young Man with a Horn”(1938) by Dorothy Baker
Starring: Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, Doris Day, Hoagy Carmichael, and Juano Hernández
The film follows the ascent of a talented headstrong jazz musician, Rick (Kirk Douglas), who is later brought down by alcoholism and his loveless marriage to Amy (Bacall).
The film follows the ascent of a talented headstrong jazz musician, Rick (Kirk Douglas), who is later brought down by alcoholism and his loveless marriage to Amy.
“Why did you ever marry me?” Rick asks.
“How do you know about anything until you try it?” She responds.
Amy married Rick to see if his musical career would help boost her into success – and also to see if she could live a heterosexual lifestyle. Throughout their marriage the couple were rarely together because of their ‘busy’ schedules. Amy didn’t like it when Rick tried to touch her and some nights she wouldn’t come home.
“I met a girl the other day, an artist. Maybe we’ll go to Paris together.” She tells Rick.
It becomes evident through Amy’s actions, as well as her interactions with this woman, that they are more than just friends. The people around her add to the queer insinuations as well: Both Rick and Amy’s friend Jo (Doris Day) refer to her as being “sick” on multiple occasions (homosexuality was believed to be an illness at the time). Jo’s “normalcy” is also used to contrast Amy’s queerness:
“It must be wonderful to wake up in the morning and know just which door you’re going to walk through. She’s so terribly normal,” Amy states.
With it being the 1950s, Amy of course is villainized and in the end Rick leaves her. He continues to spiral into depression but in the end is left with the hope of a “normal” connection with Jo. Amy isn’t heard from again, though I like to think she’s in Paris with her artist girlfriend.
YOUNG MAN WITH A HORN is available to rent/purchase on AppleTV and Amazon (USA/Canada/Australia) – it’s also available on DVD.
