Review of The Fugitive Kind (1960) by Paul Z — 04 Nov 2010

Poker faced Brando turns in both a remarkable and over achieving performance as a 30 year old musician that has lost his way because he is just to old for the party types.

Agonizingly slow paced film.

This movie is all about Brando and he is just so good and intimate and thoughtful. But Tennesee Williams writes these plays that are so slow, and I mean REALLY slow that they just reak of rigor mortise. You can run round the block and come back and the next scene hasn't started.

Oscar winners Marlon Brando (On the Waterfront), Anna Magnani (The Rose Tattoo), Joanne Woodward (The Three Faces of Eve) and Maureen Stapleton (Reds) lead the stellar cast of this Southern Gothic "sizzler" (Los Angeles Times) based on the Tennessee Williams play Orpheus Descending. Thanks to "brilliant" (The Film Daily) performances, The Fugitive Kind "sets one's senses to throbbing" (The New York Times). Valentine "Snakeskin" Xavier (Brando) is a handsome drifter with a guitar and a past.

Taking a job as a store clerk in Two Rivers, Mississippi, his strong and silent demeanor attracts not only the local party girl (Woodward), but also the shopkeeper's exotic wife (Magnani). Soon, this explosive love triangle will ignite a powder keg of fury that could rock this small town to its very core.

For Brando fans of course, this black and white 1960's film is just too, too art cinema for anyone today, but young audiences may find it intriguing and a welcome relief from action films bombarding them every day.

Cast.

Marlon Brando.

Anna Magnani.

Joanne Woodward.

Victor Jory.

Maureen Stapleton.

Crew.

Producer: Martin Jurow.

Associate Producer: George Justin.

Cinematographer: Boris Kaufman.

Composer: Kenyon Hopkins.

Director: Sidney Lumet.

Editor: Carl Lerner.

Screenplay: Meade Roberts.

Costume Designer: Frank L. Thompson.

Art Director: Richard Sylbert.

Producer: Richard Shepard.