Noutions Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Matho The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

classicsoncall There are two kinds of people in the world says Val Xavier (Marlon Brando) - buyers and those who get bought. He immediately qualifies that somewhat by including those who have no place to be at all. It's his perfect description of himself, purposely trapped in a run down, racist small town in which his unforced, smoldering sexuality begins to take it's toll on the film's inhabitants.Xavier 'Snakeskin', at once shiftless and ambitious, arrives with an inconsolable lament - "I'm not tired. I'm just fed up." Those who get close to Xavier are put on notice that he's a 'peculiar talker', and Tennessee Williams' brilliant screenplay explores all manner of insightful dialog. When Brando's Xavier launches into his 'birds with no legs, sleeping on the wind' symbolism, he provides further insight into his directionless character, while confounding Lady Torrance (Anna Magnani) with his subversive sounding language. What's to make of this drifter with a guitar as his life's companion? As fascinating as the story line is, this isn't one that will lead to a happy ending. The movie is filled with a stark desperation, exemplified by the county's scandalous Dolly Cutrere (Joann Woodward), who at one point despairs, "I tried to pour oblivion out of a bottle but it wouldn't come out". The principal characters are all off and running into their own personal train wreck without ever seeing it coming.It appeared to me that the film's principal theme had to do with Xavier's quest to determine if existence by itself makes any sense at all. His affair with Lady doesn't require passion or love but mere convenience, while her desperate need to be loved plays out in ultimate tragedy for both. The imagery of Dolly disappearing following the destruction of the confectionery is eerily striking, and is it more than ironic that in death, Val Xavier finally sheds his snake skin?

museumofdave When I first saw this film during it's initial release in 1959, I was magnetized by the odd chemistry between the moody, semi-articulate Marlon Brando in his snake-skin jacket and the searching intensity of Anna Magnani, playing the frustrated wife of sweaty Victor Jory, a grinning, sweating mask of Death, incapacitated upstairs. There was nothing quite like the mixture of poetic symbolism, the fevered acting styles from the cast, and the evocation of a dusty little Southern town.The critics at the time didn't know what to make of this film, probably looking for the happy predictability of the usual 1950's time-passer, and it went largely ignored, certainly by the public, and pretty much by everyone else. As time has passed, the intensity of contributions from everyone on the set is palpable, especially the wonderful lighting effects that make this oddball Tennessee Williams play (on stage it was Orpheus Descending) especially cinematic. It is a distinctive and fascinating portrait of the oddball strain in a changing nation and rich with some memorable encounters. How can you not want to go "jukin" with Joanne Woodward, looking as she does like Blanche Dubois after she escaped the asylum? I think the film only gets better with time, but would caution those who want realism or expect sweet resolutions to stay away from the film. It is vintage Tennessee Williams, with life's fragile losers the focus, the tale heavy with symbolism, the climax certainly not a cheerer-upper.

Bob Taylor I am not the man to give a long analysis of Tennesee Williams's career, or assess his stature in the American theatre. All I can do is give an account of what I felt watching this movie. Time weighed heavily on me through most of the running time. I could not care very much about Val and Lady, their travails with the corrupt social system of the south. Jabe Torrance is a monster, that much I was able to understand, but he seems more a Victorian villain than a store owner of the 1950's. Brando's heartfelt musings, aided by Boris Kaufman's sensitive cinematography, left me feeling hungry for more satire and sleaze.Fortunately (or I would have abandoned watching the DVD), satire and sleaze are amply supplied by Victor Jory as the rascally Torrance, R. G. Armstrong as the jovial and vicious sheriff, and the magnificent Joanne Woodward as Carol Cutrere, a "church-bitten reformer" who has been forbidden to drive her sports car in the county, and hankers after Val. Her unbridled sexuality and destructive whimsy make the movie take off; pity she has only a few scenes. The juking monologue is a classic. What's juking? "Well, that's when you get in a car, preferably open in any kind of weather. And then you drink a little and you drive a little..." For a moment I was thrust forward to the Warhol world of the Sixties, with the likes of Edie Sedgwick, Ultraviolet and Viva!

MartinHafer Marlon Brando plays a drifter that wanders into town in this Tennessee Williams film. As soon as he arrives, he receives some help but a nice but addle-brained lady (Maureen Stapleton), is repeatedly the object of a nympho's attentions (Joanne Woodward) and meets a sad and tired lady (Anna Magnani) whose husband is dying of cancer. Magnani's character is rather pitiful, as her husband (Victor Jory) is a cancerous man in personality, too. He is cruel, coarse and just plain nasty. And, after a while, Brando and Magnani begin an affair.This might just be my least favorite Tennessee Williams film. I think most of it is because the chemistry between Magnani and Brando seems forced. It also is because the film is rather talky and slow--and with less fireworks than you'd expect from a Williams script. Yes, it's tawdry, but not nearly as tawdry as films like "Baby Doll", "Sweet Bird of Youth" and "A Streetcar Named Desire". I am about to say something that I am sure will ruffle a few feathers--and it's the biggest reason why this movie doesn't work for me. Although Anna Magnani was a huge star for a few years in the US (with this film and her Oscar-winning performance in "The Rose Tattoo"), I have never understood her appeal in these films. While she supposedly exuded sex appeal, I just never saw this at all nor did I understand comments about how great her acting was, as she could barely speak English. And so, the idea of her character having an affair with the much younger Marlon Brando just made no sense to me--and the chemistry wasn't very convincing. I know this sounds harsh--but I think this makes her films age poorly. If you want to see a better Magnani movie, try finding one of her earlier Italian ones--they can be quite good.With a different cast, this would have worked a lot better. And, despite the odd casting and some overacting by Woodward, it's still a decent film. There's enough hypocrisy and sleaze to make Tennessee Williams fans happy and Brando gives one of his better performances. Plus, the ending is a corker.