Champion / Young Man with a Horn

August 5, 2016 - 7:30 pm

Billy Wilder Theater

Restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive in cooperation with National Telefilm Associates, Inc. and Republic Pictures, with funding provided by The Packard Humanities Institute, Cowboy Booking, and The American Film Institute/National Endowment for the Arts Preservation Grants Program.

Champion (1949)

Kirk Douglas received a first Academy Award nomination from this independently produced drama, which he chose over more commercial projects. The story of a boxer who rises from obscurity to fame, the story allowed Douglas to fuse ambition, ruthlessness and desperation into an alarming and indelible characterization; his "Midge Kelly" both a self-made man, and one made by the force of circumstances.

35mm, b/w, 97 min. DIR: Mark Robson. SCR: Carl Foreman. CAST: Kirk Douglas, Marilyn Maxwell, Arthur Kennedy, Paul Stewart.

Young Man with a Horn (1950)

Kirk Douglas is Rick Martin, whose lifelong obsession with jazz and the trumpet leads him to musical ecstasies and personal agonies. Clearly understanding his artistic needs, he is less well understood by others, including girl singer Jo Jordan (Doris Day) and the mysterious and troubled Amy (Lauren Bacall), who becomes his wife. Douglas learned to play the trumpet for this role, giving his performance a gripping immediacy and authenticity.

35mm, b/w, 112 min. DIR: Michael Curtiz. SCR: Carl Foreman, Edmund H. North. CAST: Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, Doris Day, Hoagy Carmichael.

Part of:

Kirk Douglas: A Centennial Celebration

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Champion / Young Man with a Horn

Champion (1949)

Young Man with a Horn (1950)

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