Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

John Huston

Writers:

Carson McCullers (novel) and
Gladys Hill (writer)

Release Date:

13 October 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Most women in her situation would do the very same thing! They just wouldn't do it as well- or as often!

Plot:

Bizarre tale of sex, betrayal, and perversion at a military post.

Plot Keywords:

Major | Horse | Riding Crop | Officer | Military

Cast

Elizabeth Taylor	...	Leonora Penderton
Marlon Brando	...	Maj. Weldon Penderton
Brian Keith	...	Lt. Col. Morris Langdon
Julie Harris	...	Alison Langdon
Zorro David	...	Anacleto
Gordon Mitchell	...	Stables Sergeant
Irvin Dugan	...	Capt. Murray Weincheck
Fay Sparks	...	Susie
Robert Forster	...	Pvt. L.G. Williams

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

UK:15 (video rating) | UK:X (original rating) | Portugal:M/12 | West Germany:18 (f) | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Long Island, New York, USA

Company:

Warner Brothers/Seven Arts

Trivia:

In his autobiography, An Open Book, Director John Huston recalls how he meet with Marlon Brando to offer him the role of Major Penderton. Initially Brando rejected the role feeling that he was not suited for the part. Huston then encouraged Brando to read the script and then to make a decision. After he had read the script, Brando took a very long walk in the rain, then came back to Huston and told him he wanted the part.

Goofs:

Continuity: The Maj. Penderton's shirt is completely buttoned when he mounts Firebird. Later, when he falls off it, his shirt is unbuttoned.

Quotes:

Leonora: [to Weldon] So, Firebird's alright, is he?
Leonora: [Lashes him across the face with her horse whip]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in True Romance (1993)

A sensual cat

In an army barracks where life seems to go on with apparent naturalness there takes place a human drama of lust, adultery and repressed homosexuality in which Elizabeth Taylor, that sensual cat, moves herself like a fish in a pond. She is married to a major (Marlon Brando) but has an established affair with a colonel (Brian Keith) since her husband seems not to accomplish with his marital duties, being a repressed homosexual feeling himself attracted against his will to a private soldier (Robert Forster). The colonel is married to a neurotic woman who has a filipino servant (Zorro David) who makes a curious character indeed in his devotion to his mistress. This story develops itself in a calm way interrupted here and there by only a few outbursts of emotion and violence when repressed feelings explode. It's not a masterpiece but a movie that portrays with enough truth and authenticity a lot of human actions and reactions, making it worth to be seen. I think however that Montgomery Clift who was first designed to perform the role of Major Penderton would have done it much better than Marlon Brando since he was a much more sensitive kind of actor in his performances.