Golden Boy Critics’ Reviews
Golden Boy charts the swift rise of a gifted twenty-one-year-old violinist, Joe Bonaparte, who is corrupted by fame and fortune when he chooses to become a professional boxer. Surrounding his hero with a gallery of sharply written characters who try to shape and guide Joe's destiny, playwright Clifford Odets lays out the young man's many facets: sensitive musician, rebellious son, frustrated lover, and self-destructive champion. In the end, it's the seductive promise of the American dream that betrays Joe as it did for so many in the Depression years.