Marlon Brando, Joanne Woodward, Anna Magnani

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 "...( read more  read more... )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.

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69% liked it

1,267 ratings

Critics

50% liked it

6 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 59 min.

Directed by: Sidney Lumet

Release Date: January 1, 1959

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DVD Release Date: November 8, 2005

Stats: 57 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (57)


  • August 27, 2008
    this film is only recommendable and only watchable because of amazing performances across the board, highlighted by a stellar performance by brando. but as usual, williams script was deplorably bad in most parts and the story didnt really mean anything. which i guess works beca...( read more)use williams nihilistic philosophy is as meaningless as his plays. there were a few interesting moments of diologue, but they were each followed by more incoherent silliness. watch it if you like brando, if you dont, stay away.
  • July 19, 2008
    "thr fugitive kind" is another terrific piece scripted by tennesse williams, and it is adequately casted with marlon brando and ann magnani as williams' two archetyped characters in his plays: sexually dissatisfied female with great willpower vs luscious male with stormy sex anta...( read more)gonism. the harsher extreme exemplification would "streatcar named desire" as brando's stanley is the central object of desire, perhaps williams' personal inclination does contribute to his various creations of "homme fatale" which is men who are the seductors casting or catalyzing doom to women.

    by this time, brando is the alluring drifter with snakeskin jacket and guitar by his side, a symbol of his uninhibited nature, an aloof poise which fascinates women with masochistic tendency. and two women become the prey under his charm: one lewd exhibitionist and one shrew with tangled past. somehow he's employed by the latter whom he also falls in love with. but the malice of the woman's invalid spouse brings forth catastrophe to everyone, nothing left but a snakeskin jacket remained from a fire disaster, another symbol of williams' poetric tragedy, and one fugitive kind seeks another to compensate.

    brando's male beauty has not been in the prime blossom as he was in 1951 "streetcar named desire", by 1959, he starts to bare some rugged ripeness. anna magnani, who makes her fame in "the rose tattoo", is perfect casting choice as the elder woman whose vigor of life is mighty enough to lure brando without being perished into pieces by him.

    "the fugitive kind" is one good example of the significance of the scriptor, and the movie's functionality all relies upon the pearly lines of tennesse williams and his metaphoric usage of lust and death which are frequent themes in his plays as well as the occasional dialogues of existential futility which are too lengthy to be mentioned here. "fugitive kind" requires your thorough attention to chew over the clever words of pessismistic wisdom, far from a mindless pleasure you could squander over.
  • July 14, 2009
    An unnecessary movie if you ask.I only watched it for Sidney Lumet.His directing was marvelous in "12 Angry Men".Directing is good too in "The Fugitive Kind" and acting was really good (I cant say bad to Marlon Brando) by two leading roles.But script is worthless.Still i congruca...( read more)late Sidney Lumet for making a good movie from this script.And it would be great movie there was another script with this cast.
  • January 17, 2009
    moral: git while the gittin's good.
  • June 15, 2008
    Not top notch Tennesse Williams, florid and over ripe with interesting if bizarre from Brando and Joanne Woodward, Anna Magnani and Maureen Stapleton do what they can with underwritten parts, Victor Jory is wonderful in a small but showy part practially dripping evil.
  • October 24, 2007
    This is by far one of the most unnerving and depressing films I've ever seen, and it's all the better for it. Marlon Brando was an unstoppable vessel for human emotion and insightful understanding of the human condition, and this performance is yet another piece of evidence. His ...( read more)range of sensitivity and brutality is downright amazing. The story, full of profound philosophy and unique character study, will require several viewings for complete justice. A fantastically directed and extremely underrated film.
  • March 20, 2007
    the acting & directing are excellent, but the writing/story is pretty vacant, full of ideas that seem to go nowhere.
  • March 5, 2007
    Great acting by all concerned. I don't think John Carradine has had a better part.
  • February 16, 2007
    Possibly the best inside look at pre-civil rights Mississippi ever. Brando made Anna Magnani burn. Superb cast and performances. Make like you're a freedom rider and take the trip. Tennessee Williams wrote the play and the script for this film.

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