Brilliant and touching

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Based on the play "Orpheus Descending" by Tennessee Williams directed by Sidney Lumet with an exceptional cast: Marlon Brando, Anna Magnani, Joanne Woodward, Maureen Stapleton and Victor Jory. I saw it for the first time when I was still in my teens and I had an opaque, sticky memory of the film so when somebody suggested to see it on DVD I knew we were in for an opaque, sticky evening but, as it happens, I was dead wrong. "The Fugitive Kind" is riveting with an opening monologue by Brando that is astonishing. A 1960 Brando when he had still, I imagine. hopes to be the actor, the man he wanted to be. There is an animal innocence in his eyes in his moves. The magnificent Magnani, who learned her lines phonetically because she didn't know English presented Brando with a challenge as an actress and as a woman. I hear it wasn't pretty but the result is a feast for the eyes and the ears. The film may not be perfect but I don't think the original material was either so what we got here is a unique opportunity to see this enormous artists giving their whole. That alone makes it a collectors item.

I've liked some Tennessee Williams stories, from Rose Tattoo to the more obvious Cat on A Hot Tin Roof and Streetcar, saw the TV version of Bird of Youth, think there was another one of his I saw and liked.But this was terrible! Like some odd retelling of Sweet Bird that needn't have been done.And the performances certainly didn't manage to save it. Brando and Magnani couldn't bring any believability to each other if they tried. It was like they phoned them in. Absolutely terrible! If you like Williams, watch this one with some skepticism. It was just incredibly dull.And the ending was a total letdown. The wonderful jilted husband was the only one who showed any worth.You cheat on your husband with his window just right overhead like that, what do you expect? Terrible film.

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.

Mixing Brando and Tennessee Williams will always result in something both languid and explosive. "The Fugitive Kind" serves up the genuine article in this typically bizarre, implausible yet intensely watchable film. Sure, it's slow at points and some of drama is over the top, but the entire cast inhabits their characters with gusto even though most of them are more pathetic than sympathetic. I particularly liked Victor Jory's portrayal of the sinister sleazy perpetually-sweating Mr. Torrance.But the active ingredient here is Anna Magnani. Earthy, volatile and relentless in her ferocity. She tears up the scenery (almost literally) in every scene in which she appears, even when she's doing nothing more than staring at what she seemingly struggles to comprehend. It's abundantly apparent why she was a favorite of Williams. She's the one to watch!