1967 dramaRating: 15/20
Plot: Captain Penderton lives with his wife Leonora at an army base. The captain is a closet homosexual and a weak man. Leonora emasculates him in public and cheats on him with friend and neighbor Major Langdon, a man married to Alison, a crazy woman who cut her own nipples off with garden shears. Alison threatens to divorce Langdon and run off to live on a shrimp boat with Anacleto, her effeminate Vietnamese helper with a fondness for watercolor and prancing. Meanwhile, Private Williams spies on the Pendertons, watching their arguments from their yard through open windows and even entering the house at night to watch Leonora sleep and fondle her lingerie. They all ride horses, but Williams does it in the nude and Penderton can't stay on the horse. There. I think I covered everything.
"Have you ever been collared and dragged out into the street and thrashed by a naked woman?"
This is a really strange movie. At times, I thought it was a tongue-in-cheek comedy. The performances (especially Zorro David as Anacleto and some of Brando's at times unintelligible dialogue) are odd, and the characters all seem tortured by their own dark secrets and quirks. Elizabeth Taylor, good here as Leonora, is probably the most normal character, but all the others seem completely off. Private Williams, in fact, I think goes through the entire movie without speaking, and the Lady Godiva horse rides aren't exactly normal. Brando's character keeps a spoon for sentimental purposes. And of course there's the woman who cut her nipples off. I found this movie to be impenetrable after one viewing. What's going on here? Something about sexual repression? Does Williams even exist or does he just represent Penderton's past? Or both? The movie's quite the riddle. It's definitely one of those movies where you feel like you're missing a bunch of pieces to the puzzle, things that you can't possibly understand because you weren't with the characters before the movie started. It's also one of those movies where what happens seems more important on a symbolic level instead of a literal level. But perhaps I'm reading too much into things. I liked all the performances in this but was especially impressed with Brian Keith as Langdon and even more especially impressed with Zorro David. It's an odd role for Brando who has to balance this tough guy side with this really vulnerable side, but it's a strong, appropriately restrained performance. The movie's also shot very well, a lot of it with a golden tint that sort of makes things unnerving after a while. And you almost have to give a bonus point here for a shot of Elizabeth Taylor's bum. Shut up! It is too her! A challenging but entertaining movie.
A Larst recommendation.
6 comments:
Thought you'd never get to this one. I think the over=the-topness is what I like best about this movie, and how taboo the themes were at the time. I find it fascinating that John Huston chose to direct this and Night of the Iguana. Too bad he did such a crap job on Wise Blood.
I find it troubling that I perceive most of the things you said about this movie as positive and most of things you said about "The Quiet Man" were negative but one measly point separates the two movies on your rating scale.
I'm excited for Cory to see this.
Maybe the anonymous dickfarter will rent a copy as well.
Sorry again, Larry. I think Shane is working very hard at making this mess deeper than it is. For me it was a lot of creepy and unseemly characters doing creepy and unseemly things, verrrryyyy slowly.
Southern accents come and go, and the unbroken sepia tone choice was as unpleasant as it was confusing. I missed greens, blues, and purples so much that I wished I had watched this during the day so could clense my color palate by running outside. Now I have to wait for five hours.
This has a bit of a "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" thing going on, but this is 1/100th the movie. Taylor's sripteasing did not make up for a nearly completely unlikeable role and overdone acting. Did Brando take this so he could see her ass up close? He is trying to convey some inner trauma and turmoil, but since there is no background, he just comes off as repulsive. Actually, most of the film is repulsive, led by one of the most annoying characters I have seen in film... Anacleto! Keith is fine, and Harris gave the best performance. And what in the hell was up with peeping Tom Private Williams? I kept expecting him to apply himself to Taylor's slightly chunky charms, but he just wanted to smell her undies. Like everything else in this film, no explanation is offered.
Finally, the ending was as laughable as any I have ever seen, with the camera shakily hopping about 10 times between dead perv, horny harpy, and clepto creep. At least it did make me laugh. I did not care for this at all. "Night of the Iguana" had a lot going for it. This does not. Clumsy exploitation of taboo subjects (and Taylor's ass!) is pretty offensive and ineptly done. I promise not to battle your point of view at all if you wouldn't mind telling me specifically what you like so much about this. I just don't get it. A 9.
meant palette
It's OVER THE TOP! Whether intentional or not, I just can't believe it was even made. That's what I love about it. Purely subjective here. And combined with Night of The Iguana John Huston made some strange subject matter detours. I love it more with each viewing. And as our tastes become more and more apparent with each movie I definitely didn't expect you to go for this one. Glad you finally saw it. I had quite a few cocktails the last time I saw it and gave it an 19, I'd probably give it an 18 now though.
Oh I see I already commented on this above and said the same thing. OTT
Like "Caligula", I could see getting fun out of watching such huge talent involved in such weirdness. "Subjective" is the magic word. I dislike it a little less now that I know where you are coming from. The only fun I could have had if we had battled over this one was the chance to use the phrase "not to beat a dead horse". Oh, well. Now that we are getting a sense of each others tastes, I would ask for a **subjective warning** on this kind of thing. For instance, "Rodan" would get a "subjective warning" from me.
I may be too involved in this blog. While trying to go to sleep I realized it should have been klepto creep.
I like that this one was off...characters were off, the tone was off, Elizabeth Taylor's clothes were off. Actually, I think I read that that wasn't even her.
Anacleto? Oh, man! I loved that guy!
A **subjective warning** is an interesting idea. So far, however, I've only recommended movies that are inarguably classic.
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