Must have seemed like a sure fire thing - Brando, Magnani, Lumet, Williams, Woodward.
But it doesn't work. It's so long - two hours and feels it. Lots of chat. A small town in New York stood in for the South - that doesn't really work.
I mean, it's interesting to watch these actors. But it's not sexy. Magnani feels off. Brando seems a little too old - he's meant to be thirty, ageing... but he's not trying. The opening scene where he talks is interesting.
On a basic level the film doesn't work - it's not sexy, we don't feel a sense of impending doom about the town. The material isn't the strongest- there's a reason the play flopped - but it has inherent sex and violence so could work on a base level but doesn't here. Maybe Lumet was the wrong director.
This movie has its fans. I just wasn't in to it.
Brando only did it for the money - oh the days when he'd sell out making a million dollars to appea in a Tennessee Williams adaptation directed by Sidney Lumet!
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