I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

one of films of Elizabeth Taylor. not memorable, not seductive, not so bad. only a simple story of a call girl and her fight to survive to social pressure, to her men, to the desire to be herself. only good point - the hard work of Elizabeth Taylor to create a credible character and the few sparkles who proves her talent. because she has the chance to drive Gloria Wandrous in the direction who transforms ordinaries clichés, the music of the period and the conflict mother - daughter in a realistic portrait of a young girl looking her personal way. and that is the basic virtue of a film who search to tell more than the moral of period permits. the game of suggestion, bizarre today, the manner to use it are the pillars of a rare performance of an actress who, in many occasions, was only the beautiful, eccentric woman or the second violin in films dominated by her partners.

The best thing about BUtterfield 8 is the performance of Elizabeth Taylor, it is a superb performance(especially during Gloria's rape revelation) that did deserve the Oscar it got and she to me has only been sexier in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. But that is not to say that she is the only good thing because the locations and costumes are just splendid and the whole film is very good-looking and rich in colour. The showdown between Taylor and Dunnock and especially the rape revelation scene(a very daring theme and scene for the time and still hits hard, the best line of the film is also in this scene) are very vividly done and are the dramatic highlights. Some of the supporting performances are good too, Mildred Dunnock is very touching, Betty Field has a ball and savours the catty dialogue she has and Kay Medford is always good value. BUtterfield 8 is a case however of the lead performance faring far better than the film itself, it's far from a terrible film but what is not so good about it comes across rather weakly. Laurence Harvey looks uncomfortable throughout, as you can see at the end and in the practically non-existent chemistry between him and Taylor, and Eddie Fisher is wasted, going through the motions in a thankless and confusingly-written role. Dina Merrill has next to nothing to do in a performance that manages to be overdone and underplayed. The music score from personal opinion was over-the-top and irritating as well as at times excessive, BUtterfield 8 would have benefited a little more from the score being used sparingly or not having one at all given the nature of the story. The pacing and direction like the film start off well but as the writing weakens the more lethargic both get. And the script and story didn't come off well to me, the controversial, daring aspects come across as tepid and out of date now and the script is as far away from naturally-flowing as you can go, has far too much talk and reeks of melodramatic soap opera complete with some of the catty dialogue sounding ridiculously over-heated. The ending came across as far too moralistic and the dialogue and Harvey's delivery of it in his very tacked-on final speech have to be heard to be believed. Overall, not terrible, not great but worth the viewing for Taylor and the production values. 5/10 Bethany Cox

This really is the definition of a "guilty pleasure". It is also sort of symbolic of Hollywood in the late 50's/early 60's and an ironic one in the career of Elizabeth Taylor's. Who would believe that two years after one of Hollywood's biggest scandals (with Taylor as the "other woman") she would play "the other woman" in a melodramatic soap opera? Nobody will ever accuse Laurence Harvey of being Eddie Fisher or Dina Merrill of being Debbie Reynolds, although the later is closer as her character is as noble on screen as the press made Debbie out to be in real life. Perhaps this is one of the reasons Taylor hated the film so much because it was a bit of a parallel, and maybe she was sick of the subject....But, I digress. Looking much like Maggie in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" in the opening scene wearing nothing but a slip, her character of Gloria is a slightly aging New York party girl. They say when Broadway babies say goodnight, it's early in the morning, and when Taylor wakes up, she finds everything around her in a shambles. Her dress is destroyed, she can't find a cigarette she likes, and Harvey has left her money, she later finds out, to replace the dress. Several years before the code changed, this opening scene is still pretty racy. So with no other way to get home, Taylor simply "borrows" a mink coat from Harvey's closet which is later revealed to belong to his wife Dina Merrill. Taylor is livid by the "insult". It is obvious that Taylor is not a prostitute, but she's not Donna Reed, either. (Unless it's Reed in "From Here to Eternity"!) You know right from the start that Taylor is one complex, neurotic woman. She obviously has a job (it seems wearing her outfits from some design firm around town to get them seen it appears), but for the women who know her (with the exception of naive mother Mildred Dunnock), Taylor isn't someone you leave alone with your husband. Susan Oliver is one of those women, the girlfriend of Taylor's pal, Eddie Fisher. In the early 30's, pre-code films like this were "warnings" to young ladies heading to the big city, but by 1960, the world was wise enough not to cry "danger, danger!" when showing us Gloria's plight. Taylor really isn't doing anything here she hadn't done in her recent successes, but her one key scene (unleashing her soul to Eddie Fisher about her past) is magnificent and perhaps what voters remembered when they voted her the Oscar. There is no doubt how this will end, but the lavish filming makes this truly fun to watch.I don't see this film being done in Louis B. Mayer's day at MGM, but with the permissiveness of this era, "BUtterfield 8" is not at all shocking. Harvey does what he can to make the louse of a husband likable. Some people may find Dina Merrill's wealthy socialite too good for words, but I truly empathized with her. She could have used her financial standing to be more controlling, but then she'd be labeled just another "rich bitch", which she certainly was not. I find this made her the most likable character in the film, although Kay Medford's brief scenes as the owner of the cheap road motel were filled with heart, humor and wisdom as well. Dunnock, too, was excellent as the close-eyed mother, and Betty Fields offers some amusing moments as her witty friend who pretends to hate Taylor but you know instantly actually can't help but like her. This is one of those lavish soap operas (much like "A Summer Place" and "From the Terrace") that you can't help but enjoy in spite of its triteness.

Elizabeth Taylor was amazingly candid about her winning the Oscar for her performance in "BUtterfield 8"--chalking it up to sympathy for recent near-death hospitalization. While I wouldn't say this is necessarily the case, it's certainly not one of her better films. Her character, though strikingly beautiful, was a bit too surly and bitter. While you could see men falling for her for her looks, even the ugly prostitutes might be preferable because of the character's nastiness. So when Laurence Harvey falls desperately (and rather sickeningly) in love with her you wonder why! He's handsome and rich and all she has to offer (other than her fantastic body) is meanness. You wonder why he doesn't just find a nicer 'professional girl'.I call Taylor a professional girl because this movie was made in the waning days of the production code so they didn't call her a call-girl or prostitute. Taylor plays a part-time actress, part-time high-priced professional girl who has clearly become jaded...and a serious drinker. The film begins with Harvey desperately following her and her male friend (played by real-life husband Eddie Fisher) amazingly ambivalent about her. Ironically, the Fishers were having marital difficulties at the time and the bizarre love-hate relationship between Taylor and Fisher seemed to be mirroring their lives.As I said above, it's not one of Taylor's better films. It's meant more as a titillating soap opera--much like a sleazier version of "Peyton Place". In other words, it's far from high-art and the writing is often rather bad. The characters are hard to believe and the dialog a bit silly. I particularly wonder if it pained Harvey to utter many of his rather simpering lines and double-entendres--he must have felt frustrated playing such a character.I'd say this film is interesting mostly to die-hard fans of Taylor or people who love soapy films. I'm not saying it's bad....it just isn't one of her better films.