Young Man with a Horn

The film contains a reference to homosexuality, although the Hays Office--the industry's censor--required any mention of it be subtle. The character of Amy (Lauren Bacall) is lesbian, which is why Rick (Kirk Douglas) walks out on her, telling her that she is "a very sick girl." The exchange between Amy North and Miss Carson (Katharine Kurasch) after Amy's party, and their facial expressions, indicate this: Amy North: "I'm dying to see the rest of your sketches."

Miss Carson: "We'll have dinner out and then go back to my place."

Many decades later, Bacall told a Turner Classic Movies interviewer that the reference was so subtle (and she was then so young and naive) that she didn't understand until years later that the character she played was supposed to be lesbian. This is one of three mainstream movies from 1950 to reference lesbianism, the others being "All About Eve" and "Caged," according to "The Celluloid Closet" by Vito Russo.

When a young Rick Martin is looking out the rear window of the car as it drives away from the cemetery, a light or reflector and its articulated stand is clearly reflected on the glass.

Featured in Siskel & Ebert & the Movies: RoboCop/The Squeeze/Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs/Withnail and I (1987)