The Fugitive Kind (1960)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Sidney Lumet

Writers:

Tennessee Williams (play)
Tennessee Williams (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

May 1960 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

...and now the screen is struck by lightning !

Plot:

Val Xavier, a drifter of obscure origins arrives at a small town and gets a job in a store run by Lady Torrence...

Plot Keywords:

Jacket | Cemetery | Small Town | Drifter | Rebellion

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Marlon Brando	...	Valentine 'Snakeskin' Xavier
Joanne Woodward	...	Carol Cutrere
Anna Magnani	...	Lady Torrance
Maureen Stapleton	...	Vee Talbot
Victor Jory	...	Jabe M. Torrance
R.G. Armstrong	...	Sheriff Jordan Talbot
Virgilia Chew	...	Nurse Porter
Madame Spivy	...	Ruby Lightfoot
Ben Yaffee	...	Dog Hamma
Joe Brown Jr.	...	Pee Wee Binnings
John Baragrey	...	David Cutrere
Sally Gracie	...	Dolly Hamma
Lucille Benson	...	Beulah Binnings
Emory Richardson	...	Uncle Pleasant
Frank Borgman	...	Gas Station Attendant

Runtime:

119 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Brazil:14 | Australia:M (original rating) | Australia:PG (alternate rating) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

Milton, New York, USA

Company:

Pennebaker Productions

Trivia:

Of the cast of the 1957 Broadway production, Maureen Stapleton and R.G. Armstrong made the transition to the screen. While Armstrong reprised his role as Sheriff Talbott, Stapleton took the supporting role of Vee Talbot. Interestingly, Stapleton also was the original Serafina in Williams' "The Rose Tattoo," a role that also was played by Magnani on-screen.

Quotes:

Carol Cutrere: Juking? Oh! Well, that's when you get in a car, which is preferably open in any kind of weather. And then you drink a little bit and you drive a little bit, and then you stop and you dance a little bit with a jukebox. And then you drink a little bit more and you drive a little bit more, you stop and you dance a little bit more to another juke box! And then you stop dancing and you just drink and you drive. And then, you stop driving.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Tennessee Williams: Orpheus of the American Stage (1994) (TV)

film misses play's impact

Years ago I saw Lumet's 'The Fugitive Kind'; more recently I saw Peter Hall's 1990 film of a stage version (with the original title 'Orpheus Descending'), which revealed surprising new dimensions. After seeing the Hall film, I went to Williams' text, then re-visited 'The Fugitive Kind', which I remembered as having brilliant moments but as finally somewhat confused.

I found many differences between Lumet's film and the stage version: incidents mentioned in a line or less of dialogue, get acted out with (too) much variety of settings in the film; apart from the inevitable cuts, lines are transposed in different sequence in the film script and the play's pinpoint progression of human relations gets largely lost in the film.

The film has impressive credits: Williams helped prepare the screen adaptation. The two films that came after this one in Sidney Lumet's filmography were also adaptations of stage plays and both have terrific impact: 'Long Day's Journey into Night' and 'A View From the Bridge'. Brando and Magnini were great screen presences. I don't know what went on in behind the scenes, but to me more turns out to be less in this celluloid adaptation. Williams felt this play to be 'special' among his works. Some critics thought his perfecting it over very many years was an obsession that got him nowhere. I think the 1990 film helps us re-appraise. The two main characters have a vulnerability (not in the Brando/Magnani version) which opens our receptiveness to the play. The bit of ballad Brando sings to no one is banal. Kevin Anderson/Valentine's songs send a haunting beauty to us the viewers and to characters in the drama: he is Orpheus descending--to the Hell of our world!