Critic Reviews
69
Metascore
Generally Favorable
positive
5(63%)
mixed
3(38%)
negative
0(0%)
Showing 8 Critic Reviews
83
(Doris Day) is quietly touching in Young Man With a Horn as a singer pining for Kirk Douglas’ tortured trumpeter.
80
Young Man With A Horn suffers from excessive melodrama, but boasts several fine performances and plenty of enjoyable jazz.
80
For the jazz devotee this is nearly two hours of top trumpet notes. For the regular filmgoer, it is good drama.
75
As played by Douglas, he is a man with a free flow from his spirit through the instrument. It's instinctive. He becomes involved with two women, and this is where the movie could become hokey, but it doesn't. [12 Jun 2005]
70
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.
60
The sound-track bops along nicely with jazz-tinged standards.
50
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.
50
There's one, and only one, good reason to rent this movie - the music. [08 Sep 1990]
