"Sweet Bird" is the exact moment when Tennessee slips into self-parody

I can't judge the original play production of course, but this movie is like someone was writing a parody of classic tennessee williams. The overripe dialogue, the melodramatic aging diva, the hunky hooker and, of course, the absurdly named Heavenly...

Geraldine Page was fun to watch, her hilariously over the top style like a flash from a Hollywood long past. This style of acting was fashionable for about 10 minutes back then, this weird combination of Method-style naturalism and Southern Gothic excess.

My only real gripe with this nonsense of a movie is the horrendous sound quality - the location shooting seems to have necessitated nearly all of the dialogue being looped in. When big daddy closes the easter egg on his hooker's finger, the scream is so mismatched from the visual that it comes off as comic.

Have to admit, though, you can't pull your eyes away from this mess...