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IMDb > The Fugitive Kind (1959)

The Fugitive Kind (1959) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
7.1/10   1,328 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 13% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers:
Tennessee Williams (play)
Tennessee Williams (screenplay) ...
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Contact:
View company contact information for The Fugitive Kind on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
1 December 1959 (USA) more
Genre:
Tagline:
...and now the screen is struck by lightning ! more
Plot:
Val Xavier, a drifter of obscure origins arrives at a small town and gets a job in a store run by Lady Torrence... more | add synopsis
Awards:
2 wins more
NewsDesk:
Birthday Suits 11/07
 (From FilmExperience. 7 November 2009, 8:45 AM, PST)

User Reviews:
film misses play's impact more (19 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Marlon Brando ... Valentine 'Snakeskin' Xavier

Anna Magnani ... Lady Torrance

Joanne Woodward ... Carol Cutrere

Maureen Stapleton ... Vee Talbot
Victor Jory ... Jabe M. Torrance
R.G. Armstrong ... Sheriff Jordan Talbott
Emory Richardson ... Uncle Pleasant, the Conjure Man
Madame Spivy ... Ruby Lightfoot (as Spivy)
Sally Gracie ... Dolly Hamma
Lucille Benson ... Beulah Binnings
John Baragrey ... David Cutrere
Ben Yaffee ... 'Dog' Hamma
Joe Brown Jr. ... 'Pee Wee' Binnings
Virgilia Chew ... Nurse Porter
Frank Borgman ... Gas Station Attendant
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Additional Details

Runtime:
119 min
Country:
Language:
Aspect Ratio:
1.66 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
Canada:PG (Ontario) | Brazil:14 | Australia:M (original rating) | Australia:PG (alternate rating) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved
Filming Locations:

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Anna Magnani was hot to sleep with co-star Marlon Brando, but he did not find her attactive. The tension that was created between the two co-stars did not help the film but subtracted from it, as her failure at conquest made Magnani unhappy. Tennessee Williams was angry with Brando, convinced that he was deliberately slurring his dialogue to punish Magnani, who did not speak English. Magnani was playing the role phonetically and had trouble picking up her cues from Brando. more
Quotes:
Carol Cutrere: Juking? Oh! Well, that's when you get in a car, which is preferably open in any kind of weather. And then you drink a little bit and you drive a little bit, and then you stop and you dance a little bit with a jukebox. And then you drink a little bit more and you drive a little bit more, you stop and you dance a little bit more to another juke box! And then you stop dancing and you just drink and you drive. And then, you stop driving. more
Movie Connections:
Version of Orpheus Descending (1990) (TV) more

FAQ

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5 out of 7 people found the following review useful.
film misses play's impact, 7 April 2008
6/10
Author: verbumctf from Lower Normandy, France

Years ago I saw Lumet's 'The Fugitive Kind' and more recently Peter Hall's 1990 film of the play (with its original title 'Orpheus Descending'). After seeing the Hall film, I went to Williams' text, then re-visited 'The Fugitive Kind', which I remembered as having brilliant moments but as finally somewhat confused.

Lumet's film differs significantly from the play: incidents mentioned in a line or less of dialogue, get acted out with (too) much variety of settings in the film; apart from the inevitable cuts, lines are transposed in different sequence in the film script and the play's pinpoint progression of human relations is blurred in the film.

The film credits are impressive: Williams helped prepare the screen adaptation. The two films that came after this one in Sidney Lumet's filmography were also adaptations of stage plays and both have terrific impact: 'Long Day's Journey into Night' and 'A View From the Bridge'. Brando and Magnini were great screen presences. I don't know what went on in behind the scenes, but to my mind more turns out to be less in this celluloid adaptation. Williams felt this play to be 'special' among his works. Some critics thought his perfecting it over very many years was an obsession that got him nowhere. The 1990 Peter Hall film can help us re-appraise William's work. The two main characters have a vulnerability (not in the Brando/Magnani version) which opens our receptiveness to the play. The bit of ballad Brando sings to no one is banal, for example, while Kevin Anderson/Valentine's songs send a haunting beauty to us the viewers and to characters in the drama: he is Orpheus descending--to the Hell of our world!

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Recent Posts (updated daily)User
How in the hell is this rated only 6.7? danser1
Joanne Woodward boarding_angel
Shocked (SPOILERS) ajimenezp
speaks to the fugitive kind in many of us AccidntlTourist
On TCM USA on July 18 at 10.00 PM EST + Aug 29 6.00 AM Lentejuela
chemistry creole_femme
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