The Fugitive Kind (1959)

Director:

Sidney Lumet

Writers:

Tennessee Williams (screenplay) and
Meade Roberts (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

1 December 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

...and now the screen is struck by lightning !

Plot:

Val Xavier, a drifter of obscure origins arrives at a small town and gets a job in a store run by Lady Torrence...

Plot Keywords:

Drifter | Jacket | Small Town | Cemetery | Alcoholism

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

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
Janice Mars	...	Attendant's Wife
Debbie Lynch	...	Lonely Girl
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jeanne Barr	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Neil Harrison	...	(uncredited)
Herb Vigran	...	Caliope Player (voice) (uncredited)

Directed by
Sidney Lumet

Writing credits
Tennessee Williams		(screenplay) and
Meade Roberts		(screenplay)
Tennessee Williams		(play "Orpheus Descending")

Produced by
Martin Jurow	....	producer
George Justin	....	associate producer
Richard Shepherd	....	producer (as Richard A. Shepherd)

Original Music by
Kenyon Hopkins

Cinematography by
Boris Kaufman		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Carl Lerner

Art Direction by
Richard Sylbert

Set Decoration by
Gene Callahan		(as Eugene Callahan)

Costume Design by
Frank L. Thompson		(as Frank Thompson)

Makeup Department
Robert Jiras	....	makeup
Phil Rhodes	....	makeup (as Philip Rhodes)
Mary Roche	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Steve Bono	....	production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Charles H. Maguire	....	assistant director

Sound Department
James A. Gleason	....	sound recordist (as James Gleason)
Frank Lewin	....	sound editor
Dick Vorisek	....	rerecordist (as Richard Vorisek)
Philip Gleason	....	sound recordist (uncredited)

Stunts
Larry Duran	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Howard Fortune	....	head gaffer
Edward Knott	....	head grip
Saul Midwall	....	camera operator
Muky	....	unit photographer (as Muky Munkacsi)
Jimmy Gatland	....	grip (uncredited)
Harold Posner	....	assistant camera (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
George Newman	....	wardrobe
Flo Transfield	....	wardrobe

Music Department
Kenyon Hopkins	....	conductor

Other crew
Stephen Bono	....	production coordinator
Helen Burta	....	production secretary
Marguerite James	....	script supervisor
Mickey Knox	....	dialogue supervisor
Jud Taylor	....	dialogue supervisor
Robert Whitehead	....	producer: Broadway, Producers Theatre, Inc.
Mart Crowley	....	production assistant (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Pennebaker Productions

Distributors

• United Artists (1960) (USA) (theatrical)
• Key Video (1987) (USA) (VHS) (For CBS/Fox Video)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2010) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"Der Mann in der Schlangenhaut" - West Germany
"Jak ptaki bez gniazd" - Poland
"Käärmeennahkatakki" - Finland
"L'homme à la peau de serpent" - France
"Manden i slangeskind" - Denmark
"O Homem na Pele da Serpente" - Portugal
"O fygas" - Greece (transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title)
"Orfeusz alászáll" - Hungary (imdb display title)
"Pelle di serpente" - Italy
"Piel de serpiente" - Spain

Runtime:

119 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Brazil:14 | Australia:M (original rating) | Australia:PG (alternate rating) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

Milton, New York, USA

Company:

Pennebaker Productions

Trivia:

Of the cast of the 1957 Broadway production, Maureen Stapleton and R.G. Armstrong made the transition to the screen. While Armstrong reprised his role as Sheriff Talbott, Stapleton took the supporting role of Vee Talbot. Interestingly, Stapleton also was the original Serafina in Williams' "The Rose Tattoo," a role that also was played by Magnani on-screen.

Quotes:

Carol Cutrere:[Xavier and Carol are driving at night in her sports car. She tells him to pull over at what appears to be the entrance to the local cemetery, "Wisteria Hills"] Pull over here.
Valentine 'Snakeskin' Xavier:[Unaware of where they are] You live around here?
Carol Cutrere:[Slightly incredulous] Nobody lives around here! This is the local bone orchard!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "American Masters: Tennessee Williams: Orpheus of the American Stage (#9.2)" (1994)

Soundtrack:

Blanket Roll Blues

not Williams, Lumet, or Brando's best, but it's still pretty damn good!

The Fugitive Kind is a hot story of desire and loss and craving and heartbreak between a man and two women set in the deep south. Sounds like quintessential Tenessee Williams, and it is in spurts. Sometimes Williams leans towards being a little preachy, however true (little moments like when Brando and Stapleton have a quiet back and forth about racism via her painting kind of nails it on the head much), but it's his skills at doing melodrama that strike up the coolest beats. In fact, this is one of those super-cool movies of the late 50s that could have only starred someone like Brando, who looks at times disinterested in the scene but at the same time completely engaged, curious, smooth, harsh, and knowing of what life can bring with his trusty Ledbelly-signed guitar. It's not necessarily a towering work for the ages ala Williams collaboration 1 Streetcar Named Desire. But that doesn't mean it should be much under-looked either.

As an early effort for Lumet it's also a scorcher dramatically; he's so good with the actors that whatever little missteps the script might take in pouring on the poetic prose in how some of the characters talk (there's a scene between Brando and Anna Magnani's characters by some ruin of a spot where she says people used to make love that is actually quite boring) can be usually forgiven. Magnani especially is interesting because she should be a case of miscasting, which, apparently in later years, Lumet admitted to. She seems low-key at first, but her strengths bloom out tenfold when it comes time to act like the hard-knock-life kind of woman she is, who's in a crap marriage and had a horrible affair with a man who didn't do anything after the summer they spent together. Now she's put into a situation where she does and doesn't want this drifter, and vice versa, and she's sometimes just as cool (though also quite tough and demanding in that big Italian mama way) as her counterpart.

Meanwhile there's also Joanne Woodard, who has the kind of part many actresses love to chew on; feisty, outspoken, loud but also emotionally moody to the point that she admirably tries (and doesn't quite get to) the heights of Vivien Leigh with her classic Blanche Dubois. Overall, Lumet gets a good feel for the period- and shot in New York state no less- while working with good material and an even better cast. It won't ever be as revered as his other work, and at the same time it's much better than some would give it credit for, where the tragedy acts like another sweaty Southern caricature bemoaning existence and fitting on a bad pair of shoes.