Why are there no other posters here? I just watched this movie today. Another tremendous performance by Brando. He is an absolute pleasure to watch on screen. The ending caught me by surprise. A real Greek tragedy with tons of irony. You really have to see this flick if you are a fan of Brando and the classics. It reminded me alot of A Streetcar Named Desire.
shareI cannot believe this rates a paltry 6.7. It's off the Richter scale!!!!
This Tennessee flick did'nt do well at the box office. But it is a cult favorite. Outstanding. I love the way he used the Greek tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice and the symbols!!
a) The snake skin jacket: Valentine is a story tell, a charmer;
b) the guitar, Orpheus had a lyre;
c) and the fact that Valentine has happened upon this town to rescue Lady, as Orpheus attempts to rescue Eurydice.
d) Jeb represents Hades, lord of underworld. He just seemed to be dying so, so slowly. Death was always around him.
I love this movie and it should be given to kids in school to review and comment on!
I absolutely loved this movie being a fan of Anna Magnani and Brando. I think it is so fantastic. I was surprised to here that it was considered by some people to be a dud movie when Brando died.
shareIf you want a 50's film with Orpheus connections, I'd say a more rewarding one is "Orpheus" by Jean Cocteau (DVD, Criterion).
This MIGHT be the longest 2 hours ever. Its like Renoir, a lot of circular talk. I want it to be stellar ("stella"?), though.
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There is no subjective value judgement against Renoir in my saying "It's like Renoir", nor is the quote a 'strike' against Renoir or this film, but it is merely a calmly made opinion from an easychair?
I do feel that the majority of Renoir I've seen, with the exception of Bete Humaine, seeks to entertain with dialogue more than visuals, and thus what seems to be a similarity with this film.
I am often speechless.
I suppose the verbosity -- but let us say "emphasis on dialog" --
may come from its origins as a stage play. In terms of the camera
work, we often find the lens staring at Marlon, and clearly we're
supposed to think Marlon is hot stuff, but if you don't happen to
think he's hot stuff, then that strategy fails, because he is not
emoting or doing anything else very interesting. I am kind of
surprised that Williams worked on the movie script: it seems to
have flashes of his style but they are intermittent. At several
points the dialog and action ring false, as if some important
transition had been chopped out. Bad editing, maybe?
I kept having the feeling that many of the people working in or
on this movie were saying to themselves, "Oh, this is a Daring
Important Arty Movie, not just trash for the masses." I got a
whiff of so-1950s self-importance and preciosity. But maybe
that's just me. It's certainly not something I've encountered
elsewhere in Williams's work, or that of most of the players.
I am kind of surprised the ending caught danser1 by surprise.
The movie is squarely in the Lonesome Hot Stranger genre and
the major outlines that are going to be followed are plain from
the beginning. The plan is:
1. LHS comes to town and swaggers around.
2. A certain woman (or women) get excited
although they Ought Not because of their
social position (rich, married, etc.)
3. Something bad happens to the hero and he
a. gets killed
b. disappears
c. is unaccountably domesticated
(all more or less equivalent)
Cf. Long Hot Summer, Picnic, etc. etc. etc.
The extra in this movie is that there are
_two_ women, one of whom is Bad. I don't know
of many LHS movies with that extra flavor. I
suppose it is extra testimony to Marlon's
hotness. The effort to promote Marlon's hotness
seems way over the top, incidentally; it's almost
Gay softcore. But I think that goes along with
the aforesaid self-importance and may even
contain an element of conscious humor.
As a native southerner, I find this very authentic. The movie, I mean. We already know that TW is authentic. I have seen in real life since the 1950's, lots of Jabes, Sheriff Talbots, Peewees, etc. Great southern players like Victor Jory were included. Jory was the quintessential sweaty southern bad guy, the quintessential Simon Legree. Remember: he played the villain that Scarlett Ohara threw dirt at. He played Helen Keller's stupid, unhelpful father in "The Miracle Worker"
Since there's no question of negative criticism of the performances of Brando, Magnani, Woodword, et. al. there remains only the need to note again what a very great American writer that my cousin Tennesse Williams was. His works have those characteristics common to all great writers of world literature - Dickens, Tolstoy, Pagnol, (and might I even say, Shakespeare) and on and on. That is, a common thread, a universal thread that is woven throughtout the entire works of the respective great authors. Like I say to my little students: "Good job!"
I thought it was a good movie. Not really a lost classic, but I rated it an 8 and certainly think it's a worthwhile film. It's a little slow moving, but there's some genuine emotion at the end and some great dialogue throughout.
Also, I find it odd that this film, based on a play, has the most interesting camera work and cinematography of all the Sidney Lumet films I've seen.
Remember, the masses certainly do not necessarily understand what is good.
remember Madison's - "the tyranny of the majority" in Federalist #10? It applies to all things.
- Q.E.D (quod erat demonstrandum)
Remember, the masses certainly do not necessarily understand what is good.
Nor does the egotistical, self-satisfied minority which regards itself incorrectly as more intelligent, more sensitive and better educated than the majority.
(SPOILERS AHEAD!!)
Well, I completely agree with you. I gave this film a well deserved eight. The final scenes, so quick in closing the story, the way in which Brando 'finds' death is brutal, shocking, it literally left me breathless, speechless, sitting consternate in the sofa ... I know this is very often the case with Tennessee Williams' plays, but boy ... what a shocking ending! Only for that feeling the ending created, it deserves a good mark.
Anybody else shocked by the ending? I'd like to hear your coments
Unbelievable totally underrated but ok imdb ratings are getting worse and worse if you consider the hot entries of new movies which are in the top 250. Just imagine Rocky Balboa must be better than The Fugitive Kind. Maybe it is also because people are not evaluating a Brando movie in comparison to other movies but in comparison to Godfather, Apocalypse Now, On the Waterfront and Streetcar named Desire. Except Waterfront I voted the three aforementioned 10 (and in total I only voted about 10 movies 10 of mmmmhhhh some thousand). So Fugitive Kind is for me a 9 but never ever a 6,7!!! Maybe they should split voting in popular and professional - e.g. you have to do a filmquiz or whatsoever to be able to vote professional.
But really a great great movie!!!
I have just watched this film for the first time, can't understand why I haven't seen it before as I generally enjoy Brando's performances. I found this film to be absorbing. I was called away about three quarters through, and I couldn't dispel the images from my mind. I wondered how the story would play itself out, expecting tragedy, but hoping for something better for Lady. To my mind the performances of Jory and Armstrong were good, Magnani was totally believable as the lonely survivor, and Brando was excellent as the introspective, lonely drifter. The tragic conclusion left no hope for anyone. No lessons learned from all the ugly racism and abuse of power, bit like life itself I suppose. I will encourage all the young hopefuls in my family to see it.
shareIt's a terrific movie and La Magnani deserved another Oscar.
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I couldn't agree with you more. This movie is a ten. Incredible writing, the friggin character actors nearly steal the scenes from the Oscar worthy performances! Lumet lightly drapes the Greek stuff over Mississippi with lighting so it is not overbearing at any point.
It is a historically very important movie in its way as Sweet Smell of Success. One really feels a body blow to the repressiveness of the 1950s in this movie and what is so FASCINATING is the way many different kinds of political, sexual and racial repression are portrayed as contingent and interdependent.
Overwritten? No way these words are some of the best ever written by Tennessee! The repression and the reballion against it are structure enough to bear these words.
A CRIMINALLY OVERLOOKED MASTERPIECE.
My 4 might have something to do with it.
What a mess.
Overwrought, overacted.
Joanne Woodward was so shrill and hammy, could anyone really believe that as anything but a type. But all of them were broadly drawn types.
And then there's the ridiculous dialogue poorly worked into the clunky plotting.
I laughed at numerous points which weren't intended to be funny (including the moving shadow of a boom mike as Brando and Woodward stroll around a corner).
And how could anyone not see the ending coming?
It seemed fairly telegraphed to me.
Everything starts matching up with the earlier time leading up to her father's death.
The new hang-out, the threat for a supposed wrong, pregnancy ... while the jealous husband turns out to be one of the main arsonists from the previous conflagration.
This is either minor Tennessee Williams or just a terrible adaptation.
I am asking the same too... i just watched the movie last week, and i think is a great movie.
I amd a HUGE Brando's fan, and i really like his performance in here... i am gonna rate this with a 9.
What's sad is that only 887 or so people have rated this film whereas a film with Paris Hilton in it would garner 8000 votes. Pathetic, if you ask me.
I thought Brando did a hell of a job and I was enthralled with every roll of the eye, hand gesture, display of bruteness and all other aspects of his performance. I found myself sitting on my sofa slyly imitating him to the surprise of my girlfriend. I'm pretty sure she was sweating it as we later... well... anyways.
Snakeskin should be remembered as a Brando character that stands out just like the rest of them. Although Marlon was wearing a bit of guyliner in this film, it didn't distract from his superb performance.
Side Note: I found this at ODD LOTS for three dollars. You should check your local ODD LOTS... really. Also found One Eyed Jacks, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Ballad of Jack & Rose, Hannah & Her Sisters as well as Talk To Her. Surprisingly, Odd Lots has a nice little collection of films for three bucks.
Sorry to be so uninformed folks, but can anyone tell me what "guyliner"is? Is it like Spanx or girdle/corset combo for fellas?
Anyhoo...I think this movie is super. The themes translate to the present day quite fine. I'm recovering from major surgery and am staying in a rehab facility and I am in my early 40's. Everyone else in the rehab is 30 to 40 years older. I was totally stoked to hear how many tvs were tuned to TCM as I have been walking the halls.
Here is the really cool part for me. All the medical staff and daily helpers of all ages and ethnicities have been telling me how much they love the movies. One African American gal of 24 told me on Ava Gardner day on TCM, "Everybody thinks these old movies and black and white films would be totally boring and nobody could sit through 'em." She said once she started sucking her friends and boyfriend into watching, they were getting hooked too. She also said that her BF for her B-day bought her a Shirley Temple gift pack and she was thrilled! I was like, "Woo Hoo!" Half the friends in my age group completely do not understand how I could watch Notorious and Casa Blanca again for, like, the 15th time each.
So none of this really has anything to do with M. Brando, but I will reiterate that I am a big fan. I totally appreciate the movie and all players. Didn't think it was so unrealistic, in fact in some ways think its more apropos than even the last 2 decades possibly.
(I live in the small town south. My grandmother that passed 4 years ago at the age of 93 could still clearly remember the Klan marching through her even smaller southern town when she was a child. She could recognize local men under their sheets by their unique or peculiar walking style or gate. Black men used to hide under the floor or crawl space under her family's house because they said no klansmen would have the courage to drag a man out from under my great-grandfather's home to do a man harm whether he be black or white. Classism and racism still exist. Different groups may be more of the target now. Laws protect us to a certain extent but.....)
We have a large community of Italian Americans in my area who emigrated and settled here to farm. They for generations suffered the same attitudes and prejudice depicted in the film although this is no longer the case.
Besides, I think it is relevant to remember that the screenplay was adapted from a stage play. Dialog heavy? Hello? Suddenly Last Summer? Cat on a Hot Tin Roof? I could go on....
On a final note, one of the ways to make affordable great films, especially today, but certainly in the 1950's, is to spend more time on the characters and what they have to say to each other rather than car chases which blow up buildings which have twillion dollar cg effects, etc.
Anybody else on my same page here?
And I am still wonderin' 'bout the "guyliner" thing. Surely it's not some sort of men's mini pad!
I rated it 10. My favorite Brando film and one of my favorite films, period. I watched it numerable times on TV as a kid, bought the VHS when it came out and just noticed that it's finally available on DVD.
shareI watched it today too, and I thought Brando was excellent in it. His ability to project that brooding, dark persona is just wonderful. It is particularly suited for this movie, and his mysterious character.
Magnani has always impressed me with her abilities to display inner pain and turmoil, although I just couldn't see much chemistry between Lady and Val. His transitions from not caring about her to loving her (for the moments) didn't ring true.
Woodward was perfect for the role, doing a high class Carol Baker routine. She was one of the more believable characters. Victor Jory was convincingly repulsive and disgusting, and the woman who played the nurse should have won an award just for her sheer mendacity and monstrosity!!
Brando WAS the picture though.
You are the end result of a phallo-centric technocracy.
You've got it all wrong. This is Brando's worst "serious" performance, in my opinion. I gave this a three stars out of 10 as I felt my vote for anything less would have been ignored. What a terrible movie! Terrible acting too by all except Maureen Stapleton.
"Why do people always laugh in the wrong places?"
-- Bull Connor