Youngblood Hawke

Herman Wouk's bestseller about a Kentucky-born writer's spectacular rise and fall among the big-city glitterati gets the big-screen treatment courtesy of Warner Bros. master of melodrama Delmer Daves. Daves, fresh from a string of successes, recruited celebrated and storied composer Max Steiner to score the film, adding gravitas to the glitz. James Franciscus stars as the title character, a truck driver who arrives in New York City intent on making it as a writer. Aided by a friendly editor, Jeanne Green (Suzanne Pleshette), Hawke's star is on the rise, both among the intelligentsia and the jet set. Hawke inevitably succumbs to the lures of high society, breaking Jeanne's heart and eventually seeing his career destroyed by the jealous husband of one of his paramours.

Youngblood Hawke (James Franciscus) is a Kentucky truck driver who comes to New York City to make it as a writer. He meets editor Jeanne Green (Suzanne Pleshette), who sees talent in Hawke's work. Jeanne falls for the handsome Kentuckian and helps him put together a book deal. His first book is only moderately successful, but his confidence is lifted when veteran actress Irene Perry (Mary Astor) wants to make his story into a Broadway play. Hawke soon discovers he is desired by many women, and the heartbroken Jeanne takes a job at another publishing company. His second book makes Hawke the toast of the town and the New York social elite. When Hawke has an affair with the married socialite Frieda Winter (Genevieve Page), her husband Paul (Kent Smith) discovers his wife's infidelity and sets out to ruin Hawke's career. His third book bombs, Frieda's son kills himself over his mother's affair, and Hawke's financial fortune takes a severe nosedive. He returns to Kentucky to work on his next book, but he contracts pneumonia before realizing that Jeanne is the woman he really loves. Good supporting performances from Werner Klemperer, Don Porter, Eva Gabor, and Edward Andrews along with the principle characters make this sentimental melodrama a success.