Tennesse Williams’ play Orpheus Descending follows “Snakeskin” (Marlon Brando), a wanderiing musician who washes up in a small southern town and lands a job working in a store owned by Lady Torrance (Anna Magnani) and her bed-ridden husband. Snakeskin is pursued by a tipsy admirer (Joanne Woodward) who encourages him to cut loose but he’s more interested in Lady…
Sidney Lumet’s movie brings together two of the greatest actors of the period (three, if you count Woodward), reason enough to check out this underrated poetical drama. Then there’s the teasing detail that Brando’s role inspired the character of the snakeskin-jacketed Sailor Ripley (Nic Cage) in Wild at Heart. In fact, the line “”A prayer for the wild at heart, kept in cages” comes from this movie (and provided Angelina Jolie with a tattoo).
Tragic, operatic and signature Tennessee Williams, The Fugitive Kind remains a forgotten gem of American cinema.
Nicholas Bell, ION Cinema
Sidney Lumet
Marlon Brando, Anna Magnani, Joanne Woodward, Maureen Stapleton, Victor Jory, R. G. Armstrong.
USA
1960
English
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Credits
Screenwriter
Tennessee Williams, Meade Roberts
Cinematography
Boris Kaufman
Editor
Carl Lerner
Original Music
Kenyon Hopkins
Art Director
Richard Sylbert
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