Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man (1962)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Martin Ritt

Writers:

A.E. Hotchner (screenplay)
Ernest Hemingway (stories)

Release Date:

28 September 1962 (West Germany)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

An immature young man from Middle America grows to manhood after a cross-country journey and his military service in World War I

Plot Keywords:

Manhood | Nurse | Alcoholic | Ambulance | Domineering Mother

Awards:

Nominated for 5 Golden Globes.

Cast

Richard Beymer	...	Nick Adams
Diane Baker	...	Carolyn
Corinne Calvet	...	Contessa
Fred Clark	...	Mr. Turner
Dan Dailey	...	Billy Campbell
James Dunn	...	Telegrapher
Juano Hernandez	...	Bugs
Arthur Kennedy	...	Dr. Adams
Ricardo Montalban	...	Major Padula
Paul Newman	...	The Battler
Susan Strasberg	...	Rosanna
Jessica Tandy	...	Mrs. Adams
Eli Wallach	...	John
Ed Binns	...	Brakeman (as Edward Binns)
Philip Bourneuf	...	City Editor

Also Known As:

Adventures of a Young Man (UK)
Ernest Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

145 min | USA:139 min (FMC Library Print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Netherlands:12 | USA:Approved (certificate #20134) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Jerry Wald Productions

Trivia:

The ten "Nick Adams" stories utilized by screenwriter A.E. Hotchner are "Indian Camp," "The Doctor and the Doctor's Wife," "The End of Something," "The Three Day Blow," "The Battler," "A Very Short Story," "In Another Country," "Now I Lay Me," "The Way of the World," and "A Way You'll Never Be." The latter portion of the film set in Italy is drawn from "A Farewell to Arms."

Quotes:

Nick Adams: Look, what can you tell in four days?
George: I'll tell ya what I can tell. I can tell ya that three times a day I get hungry and every twenty-four hours I get an irresistible urge to go to sleep in a bed. I don't wanna beg and I don't wanna steal. I don't want a cop tellin' me I'm a vagrant and runnin' me outta town. I'm sorry to desert you, but I'm not cut out for this kind of a life.

Oddly Familiar

This film attempts to compile all or most of Hemingway's Nick Adams stories into one complete whole. The effect is a coming of age story that ends on a bitter/semi-sweet note. Along the way you see a series of stories populated by well known actors and actresses.

There is a sequence that reminds one of Farewell to Arms (wounded ambulance driver falls in love with nurse, who eventually dies in his arms).

There is the overbearing, controlling, religious mother and the anguished father (who eventually takes his own life).

There is the hard boiled newspaper editor, who gives sound hard boiled advice.

I liked the movie, but I am unsure whether I would recommend it to someone else.