Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967)

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

Director:

John Huston

Writers:

Chapman Mortimer (screenplay), Gladys Hill (screenplay)

Stars:

Elizabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando, Brian Keith

2 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited 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
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ed Metzger	...	Pvt. Frank Brian

Storyline

US Army Major Weldon Penderton is stationed on a base in the American south. He and his wife Leonora Penderton are in an unsatisfying marriage. Weldon is generally a solitary man who in his time alone tries to bolster his self image as he feels less than adequate as a man and a major. He does not want to viewed like Captain Murray Weincheck, who has been bypassed for promotion time and time again solely because he is seen as being too sensitive. Self absorbed Leonora, when not focused on her passion of horses and riding, tries to maintain the facade of being what she sees an officer's wife should be while she carries on an affair with their next door neighbor, married Colonel Morris Langdon. Morris' wife, Alison Langdon, suffered a nervous breakdown three years ago after miscarrying, she still with that nervous constitution. Alison is generally drawn toward sensitive types, such as Captain Weincheck and their faithful flamboyant Filipino houseboy, Anacleto. Peripheral to the ...

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Plot Keywords:

voyeurism | peeping tom | stalking | fetish | gay soldier | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 October 1967 (USA)

Also Known As:

Reflections in a Golden Eye

Filming Locations:

Long Island, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$4,500,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$65,232

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros./Seven Arts

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In his memoirs, Marlon Brando revealed that he didn't enjoy working with John Huston during production. He wasn't particularly impressed by Huston as a director nor as a human being.

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Goofs

When Leonora is writing invitations to a party in her house, the amount of drink in her glass decreases between shots.

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Quotes

Alison Langdon: Alcoholics, paresis, senility. My God. What a choice crew.

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Alternate Versions

In the version of the film released in Brazil's cinemas in the late 1960s, it was Anacleto who announced that Mrs. Alison had cut off her nipples with the garden shears. But in the later VHS version, it is Leonora who makes the remark to Lt. Col. Langdon while they are playing cards.

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Connections

Referenced in Taxi Driver (1976)

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Soundtracks

Avalon
(uncredited)
Written by Al Jolson, Buddy G. DeSylva and Vincent Rose

User Reviews

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.