Young Man with a Horn

(Doris Day) is quietly touching in Young Man With a Horn as a singer pining for Kirk Douglas’ tortured trumpeter.

For the jazz devotee this is nearly two hours of top trumpet notes. For the regular filmgoer, it is good drama.

Young Man With A Horn suffers from excessive melodrama, but boasts several fine performances and plenty of enjoyable jazz.

If you have a sneaking affection for 1950-ish, made-to-measure movies, there are pleasures to be found in Young Man With a Horn.

The sound-track bops along nicely with jazz-tinged standards.

There's one, and only one, good reason to rent this movie - the music. [08 Sep 1990]

The non-musical performances are shallow: Douglas is forceful but one-note, Day is as square and wholesome as a glass of milk, and Bacall purrs along in the same faux-bad girl performance she’s given for the past 60 years. But I suppose that’s fitting for a morality play this black and white, where wild jazz, liquor, and loose women cause the downfall of man.