Fugitive Kind
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Movie Reviews of Fugitive Kind
Movie Review: If there was a moral to this story...
Summary: 5 Stars
In The Fugitive Kind, Tennessee Williams gave us a conflict between fugitives from morality and bigots. For whom would you pull?
Williams mishandled Anna Magnani. I would have given a different explanation - or no explanation at all - for the presence of "Lady Torrance" in Two River County, Louisiana. "Daughter of an Italian wine maker" explained Magnani's accent, but Two River County seemed more suited for whisky distilleries than for "Italian wine gardens."
Did the original story, with Maureen Stapleton as Lady Torrance, include an Italian wine garden?
If the bigots of Two River County hated a "dego" (slur against Italians used by Williams), then why did they wait until he sold "Italian wine" to [black people] before they attacked?
I might believe the writer if he used whisky, or maybe even French wine, there in Louisiana; and no character, especially one played by Anna Magnani, would spend the day working after learning a crucial secret about that attack.
Williams had struggles other than writing-in Magnani, i.e., his illogical formula.
The first time I saw The Fugitive Kind I had no empathy for Jabe Torrance. The writer distracted me by using Jabe's bigotry.
The writer initially convinced me bigotry prevailed, but Valentine Xavier and Lady Torrance would have pushed any reasonable person to his limits. If there was a moral to this story, then it was, "Do not antagonize proven homicidal psychopaths with sexual misconduct."
Could better men than bigots not defeat depravity (Val in his way, Lady in hers)?
Reading about Williams having Elvis in mind to play Val (instead of Brando) makes me rethink his ambitions. In "King Creole," Elvis took on juvenile delinquents and their mob boss in Louisiana - released July 2, 1958. Did Williams originally hope Elvis would be a fugitive from morality in Louisiana in The Fugitive Kind, released December 1, 1959?
The original ambition might explain why Brando carried a guitar everywhere without playing the thing: frustrating. On the other hand, Elvis might have sung too many songs. (Imagine Elvis in his final scene singing, "I'm just a hunk, a hunk of burning love.")
No Elvis. More Magnani. Better.
Tennessee William's ability to write monologue for female characters was impressive. Nothing made The Fugitive Kind more touching than the short-lived passions of Lady Torrance.
Five stars: Brando and Magnani could make any writing a work of art. The entire cast was superb. Three stars: Tennessee Williams was in over his head with Magnani. Using bigots as protagonists and moral-fugitives as antagonists was a no-win situation from the start - okay for stories of poetic justice but a failed formula for tragedies.
Movie Review: Brando as Presley via Tenessee Williams
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the film version of Tenessee Williams' Stage success "Orpheus Descending" (which would have been a confusing title for movie audiences). I have heard that Williams wrote this part with Elvis Presley in mind but Tom Parker wouldn't let the King of Rock'n Roll play it, and that's a shame. He probably would have been very good, but let's face it, he was no Brando. Brando is at his best as a young drifter/hustler with a past in New Orleans. He wanders into a small Southern town looking for work and finds Anna Magnani as a barren weary woman who has been bartered in marraige to a Tyrannical evil husband (Victor Jory). He encounters Joanne Woodward, a previous "acquaintance", as a dissipated spoiled Southern Bell who still lusts after him, and the plot continues to thicken. It seems that Woodward's brother had an affair with Magnani sometime earlier and refused to marry her, causing her to have an abortion. Nature takes its course and the Brando character and the Magnani character begin an affair. I don't want to give away any more of the plot except to say that it's typical Tennessee Williams at his best which is to say "It's excellent". The Players, especially the stars Brando, Magnani and Woodward have never been better in their respective estimable careers. Look for Maureen Stapleton in a small but interesting supporting part. I have been waiting for this to come out on DVD for years. I'm looking forward to it. Highly recommended.Movie Review: Superb screen adaptation of Tennessee Williams' credo
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Fugitive Kind" is one of the truest cinematic interpretations of Tennessee Williams' works. Several screen translations of his plays soften his views and/or give them watered down endings. Take "Streetcar" for example: in the play Stella stays with Stanley, but in the film she takes her baby and leaves swearing she'll never set foot in their house again. In the stage version of "Sweet Bird of Youth" Chance Wayne is castrated like a dog for his wrong doings and for growing old. Only "The Fugitive Kind" "Night of the Iguana" and "The Last of the Memphis HOT-SHOTS" really stay true to Williams' vision of human existence.
However, the latter two plays cannot match the cast of "The Fugitive Kind." Nowhere else in cinematic history can you find such powerful and engrossing performances from everyone: in-depth close-ups of Marlon Brando, Anna Magnani, Joanne Woodward, Maureen Stapleton (the original Broadway "Lady Torrance") and Victor Jory in a harrowing performance.
I used to go to the Carnegie Hall Cinema every time "The Fugitive Kind" was shown and bask in the black and white beauty of Tennessee Williams' cry from the the heart. I own the video and have waited forever it seems for "Fugitive" to appear on DVD. However, I cannot tell if this version in widescreen or not. If not, I'll just keep my VHS version.
Movie Review: "GREAT DRAMA AND TENSION"
Summary: 5 Stars
MARLON BRANDO,ANNA MAGNANI,AND JOANNE WOODWARD,3 OF THE GREATEST ACTORS OF THAT TIME
TOGETHER IN AN ADAPTATION OF THE PLAY,"ORPHEUS DESCENDING". THE SUPPORTING CAST;MAUREEN
STAPLETON,VICTOR JORY,R.G.ARMSTRONG + THE BIT PLAYERS ARE EXCELLENT. KENYON HOPKINS'
MUSIC SCORE IS A HAUNTING LITTLE PIECE OF WORK. LEONARD MALTIN'S BOOK IS WRONG IN SAYING THAT
THE STORY GO'S NO WHERE. A SLICE OF LIFE ALWAYS HAS A BEGINNING,MIDDLE AND AN END.
A DRIFTER WANTS TO GO STRAIGHT, BUT THERE WILL BE SOME ROAD BLOCKS AHEAD.
GREAT B&W CINAMATOGRAPHY . DIALOGUE AT TIMES, IS SOMETIMES POETIC AND OTHER TIMES IS
FUNNY;"WHAT CHEW MEAN,'GO JUKIN'?'. THIS MOVIE IS A TRUE KEEPER! THIS ONE WILL BE KEEPING COMPANY WITH ;"THE MEN","ST CAR NAMED DESIRE" ,"THE WILD ONE""ON THE WATERFRONT" ,"ONE EYED JACKS","APPALOOSA","LAST TANGO IN PARIS" AND "THE GODFATHER",IN MY COLLECTION.
BRANDO,MAGNANI,WOODWARD,STUDENTS OF ACTING ,MUST GET THIS DVD!!! THANKS,TENNESSEE WILLIAMS!
Movie Review: Otherworldly
Summary: 5 Stars
The Fugitive Kind is one of my favorite films of all time, in large part because the experience of watching it (so long as you do not resist its dramatically-saturated style) is like being transported into a strange, though strangely familiar, world of shifting light and dark, where the angry sweat of a kicked-once-too-often South can be felt and tasted, and the possibility of love becomes a dream of the doomed. This is more poetry and dance than film, more drug than food; it makes the viewer an ethereal shadow witnessing by sensation the tragic unraveling of these characters' dreams. There are few films that can do what this does - marry brilliant writing (Tenessee Williams), breathtaking and claustrophobic cinematography, daring direction (Sydney Lumet), and haunting acting performances (especially by Brando and Magnani). Altogether a tour-de-force and an absolute delight!