The Young Philadelphians is a 1959 drama film starring Paul Newman, Barbara Rush and Alexis Smith, and directed by Vincent Sherman. Robert Vaughn was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. The film is based on the novel The Philadelphian by Richard P. Powell. Newlywed Kate Judson Lawrence is distraught to discover on her wedding night that her upper class Philadelphia Main Line husband, William Lawrence III , is impotent. After he leaves her on that night, she seeks comfort from longtime working class friend Mike Flanagan . The next day, Kate learns that William died in a... car wreck. She gives birth to a son, Anthony Judson "Tony" Lawrence, and raises him in genteel poverty. Years pass. Tony is an ambitious, smart college student, working his way through school as a construction worker with his sights on becoming a lawyer. One day, he encounters socialite Joan Dickinson when she has a minor car accident. They soon fall in love, though Joan is expected by nearly everyone in her lofty social circle to marry millionaire Carter Henry .
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| Release date: | 1959 |
| Directed by: | Vincent Sherman |
| Runtime: | 136 Minutes |
| Producer: | James Gunn |
| Music by: | Ernest Gold |
| Cinematography: | Harry Stradling |
| Screenplay by: | James Gunn, Richard P. Powell |