Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man

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Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man
Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man FilmPoster.jpeg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Martin Ritt
Screenplay by A. E. Hotchner
Based on The Nick Adams Stories by Ernest Hemingway
Produced by Jerry Wald
Starring Richard Beymer
Cinematography Lee Garmes
Edited byHugh S. Fowler
Music by Franz Waxman
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date
  • July 25, 1962 (1962-07-25)
Running time
145 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$4.1 million [1] or $3 million [2]

Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man is a 1962 American adventure film directed by Martin Ritt based on Ernest Hemingway's semi-autobiographical character Nick Adams, and featuring Richard Beymer as Adams. A.E. Hotchner wrote the screenplay, originally calling the film Ernest Hemingway's "Young Man". The cast includes Diane Baker, Jessica Tandy, Ricardo Montalbán, Eli Wallach, Arthur Kennedy and Paul Newman. It was released in July 1962. [3]

Contents

Plot

Nick Adams is a young, restless man in rural Michigan who wants a good life and to see the world. He leaves his domineering mother and noble but weak physician father on a cross country trip. In his ramblings he encounters a punch-drunk boxer, a sympathetic telegrapher, and a burlesque show promoter. Nick applies to be a reporter for a newspaper in New York City, but is told he lacks experience. While working at a catered banquet, he hears a speech by a beautiful woman soliciting volunteer ambulance drivers for the Italian Army in World War I, and impulsively signs up. On arrival, he is assigned a bilingual companion to help him, who cannot believe that Nick would volunteer for such a posting. They experience battlefield horrors, Nick is injured, and falls in love with his nurse, who then falls ill herself and dies at the moment they are taking their bedside wedding vows. Finally returning home to his family, he is stunned to hear that his father had died after worrying about Nick.

Cast

Licensing

Production

Development

A. E. Hotchner had adapted five Nick Adams storys for a program on Seven Lively Arts called "The World of Nick Adams". Directed by Robert Mulligan it was well received, and admired by Hemingway. [4]

Jerry Wald and Hochtner then approached Hemingway seeking the rights to either Across the River and Into the Trees or the Nick Adams stories. Hemingway did not want to sell rights to his novel and was only keen on selling one Nick Adams story. Hotchner pitched to buy the rights for 10 of the 19 stories. Hemingway agreed provided certain conditions were met, including ensuring that "Nick was a good boy." [5] Five of the stories had already been used in "The World of Nick Adams".

The stories used in th first part of the movie wer "Indian Camp", "The Doctor and the Doctor's Wife", "The End of Something", and "The Three-Day Blow". The stories used in the second part were "The Battler" and "A Pursuit Race" (the second part) and "A Very Short Story". The third and final section of the movie used "In Another Country", "Now I Lay Me", and "A Way You'll Never Be" (Nick in the Italian army). Hemingway had to approve the screenplay during all stages of development. [6] Hotchner later wrote:

The stories are connected only by the fact that Nick appears in all of them; other than that, they are isolated experiences of fear, disillusionment, courage, love, war, and loneliness. Each one is a glistening shaft sticking in the heart of an emotional experience. But to fuse them and embellish them for the screen without disturbing their impact was a particularly difficult assignment. [7]

Hotchner started writing the script in December 1960. The rights were reportedly $300,000. [8] Hotchner finished the script two weeks before Hemmingway died. [9]

Casting

Jerry Wald said he and director Martin Ritt agreed that Richard Beymer was "the young actor I think stands the best chance of being the next Gary Cooper." [10]

Shooting

Filming started 25 September 1961 in Mellen, Wisconsin and wound up in 22 January in Verona, Italy. [5] Interiors were supposed to be shot at Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome, but that facility was taken up by the production of Cleopatra (1963), forcing Hemingway's to finish its studio work back in the United States. [11]

Jerry Wald died just before the film was released. [12]

Reception

Critical

Variety said "Richard Beymer's performance is not up to the challenge" of providing a central focus for the movie. [13]

Box office

The film was a financial failure. When asked why Martin Ritt later said:

It wasn’t a very good film. That was one of the reasons, probably the most important reason. Again, it was cut up. The various scenes by themselves were quite interesting, one or two of them were very good, but it just didn’t add up... It’s beautiful to look at. That country is incredible. I kept some of that footage, a lot of footage that I shot from a ‘copter. Oh, boy. But the film didn’t really work. It was soft in the middle. [14]

Notes

References

  1. ↑ Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN   978-0-8108-4244-1. p253
  2. ↑ "Wald, Ritt, Hotchner off to Italy". Variety. 21 June 1961. p. 3.
  3. ↑ Oliver, Charles (1999). Ernest Hemingway A to Z: The Essential Reference to the Life and Work. New York: Checkmark Publishing. ISBN   978-0-8160-3467-3. p. 150
  4. ↑ Hotchner p 16-17
  5. 1 2 Scheuer, P. K. (Feb 13, 1962). "Hotchner Reveals Hemingway 'Insides'". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest   168065693.
  6. ↑ AFI Catalog Retrieved 30/9/2022.
  7. ↑ Hotchner p 18
  8. ↑ "Hemingway Tales in 300G Package". Variety. 7 December 1960. p. 5.
  9. ↑ Hotchner p 20
  10. ↑ Louella Parsons (Aug 2, 1961). "Ernest Hemingway's 'Young Man' Film to Honor Gary Cooper". The Washington Post and Times-Herald. ProQuest   141450056.
  11. ↑ Steinhart, Daniel. (2019). Runaway Hollywood: Internationalizing Postwar Production and Location Shooting. University of California Press. p. 86. ISBN   978-0-52-029864-4.
  12. ↑ "Jerry Wald Is Dead; Movie Producer, 49". New York Times. Jul 14, 1962. ProQuest   116133967.
  13. ↑ "Adventures of a Young Man". Variety. 20 June 1960. p. 6.
  14. ↑ Ritt, Martin (2003). Martin Ritt : interviews. University Press of Mississippi. p. 31.
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