The play this is based on, first produced in 1957 (I believe) flopped. Then the great director Sidney Lumet took a stab at it in a loose adaptation film called 'The Fugitive Kind' from 1960 starring Marlon Brando and Joanne Woodward which was also a flop (though has a 7.2/10 rating here at IMDb) though ironically Tennessee Williams has a play from 1937 called "The Fugitive Kind" but the Lumet film was not based on it; but Williams' play 'Orpheus Descending' was a revision of the 1940 work "Battle of Angels". Confusing, no? What's my point to all that? So many, including Williams, tried to make this story work and never could, really. Well, not until a well-worked yet relatively unknown writer/director Peter Hall. His adaptation is closely aligned to Williams' version, and actually works pretty well on screen.
This film stars Kevin Anderson as Val Xavier, a singer drifting through town who gets a job at Lady Torrance's store. Lady is played by the great actress Vanessa Redgrave. Lady is married to Jabe who's played by Brad Sullivan, who's dying of cancer and is also the man who killed Lady's father; Lady hates Jabe but remains married to him anyway; though Jabe eventually tells hers, most likely because he's dying. Anne Twomey plays Carol Cutrere who is actually linked to Val in the play but not so much in the film but that she feels like saving him; though there may be one scene where Val alludes to Carol in a flashback scene but it's not entirely clear he's talking of Carol. I felt that, while there are many aspects to the story, this film was about being saved from either the horrific tortures of one's life or to a basic degree being able to free oneself from the constraints of it. The ending of the play and the ending of this film is the same but different. While Lady does get shot by Jabe in both, Val, in the play dies in a building fire where as in the film Jabe sets him on fire reminiscent of how he and the Klan killed Lady's father. I thought that part was a homage, if nothing else. I could be wrong, though.
The powerful creativity of this film isn't the acting, or necessarily the direction, it's the poetry of the words which I am sure would come off confusing to some or just link it to one of the few weird films such as those directed by Lynch or Cronenberg. Personally I felt it's sort of like the 1982 film 'Deadly Drifter' (also known as 'Out' which is the title of the novel it's based on) which starred Danny Glover and Peter Coyote. Mainly in the way it moves around: entrancing yet subtle in certain ways. Michael Emerson had his TV & Film debut (played Benjamin Linus on the TV show 'LOST') in this film playing the clown toward the end of the film. It's a very small part and you won't recognize him but I thought it worth mentioning. It's a vibrant film. No lack of excitement. Very well written. As TV films go, it wasn't that bad overall.
This film stars Kevin Anderson as Val Xavier, a singer drifting through town who gets a job at Lady Torrance's store. Lady is played by the great actress Vanessa Redgrave. Lady is married to Jabe who's played by Brad Sullivan, who's dying of cancer and is also the man who killed Lady's father; Lady hates Jabe but remains married to him anyway; though Jabe eventually tells hers, most likely because he's dying. Anne Twomey plays Carol Cutrere who is actually linked to Val in the play but not so much in the film but that she feels like saving him; though there may be one scene where Val alludes to Carol in a flashback scene but it's not entirely clear he's talking of Carol. I felt that, while there are many aspects to the story, this film was about being saved from either the horrific tortures of one's life or to a basic degree being able to free oneself from the constraints of it. The ending of the play and the ending of this film is the same but different. While Lady does get shot by Jabe in both, Val, in the play dies in a building fire where as in the film Jabe sets him on fire reminiscent of how he and the Klan killed Lady's father. I thought that part was a homage, if nothing else. I could be wrong, though.
The powerful creativity of this film isn't the acting, or necessarily the direction, it's the poetry of the words which I am sure would come off confusing to some or just link it to one of the few weird films such as those directed by Lynch or Cronenberg. Personally I felt it's sort of like the 1982 film 'Deadly Drifter' (also known as 'Out' which is the title of the novel it's based on) which starred Danny Glover and Peter Coyote. Mainly in the way it moves around: entrancing yet subtle in certain ways. Michael Emerson had his TV & Film debut (played Benjamin Linus on the TV show 'LOST') in this film playing the clown toward the end of the film. It's a very small part and you won't recognize him but I thought it worth mentioning. It's a vibrant film. No lack of excitement. Very well written. As TV films go, it wasn't that bad overall.