Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967)

Director:

John Huston

Writers:

Chapman Mortimer (screenplay) and
Gladys Hill (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

13 October 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

Most women in her situation would do the very same thing! They just wouldn't do it as well- or as often!

Plot:

Bizarre tale of sex, betrayal, and perversion at a military post.

Plot Keywords:

Major | Nipples | Riding Crop | Homosexual | Peeping Tom

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Elizabeth Taylor	...	Leonora Penderton
Marlon Brando	...	Maj. Weldon Penderton
Brian Keith	...	Lt. Col. Morris Langdon
Julie Harris	...	Alison Langdon
Zorro David	...	Anacleto
Gordon Mitchell	...	Stables Sergeant
Irvin Dugan	...	Capt. Murray Weincheck
Fay Sparks	...	Susie
Robert Forster	...	Pvt. L.G. Williams
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ed Metzger	...	Pvt. Frank Brian
Ted Beniades	...	Sergeant (uncredited)
John Callaghan	...	Private (uncredited)
Jed Curtis	...	Accordionist (uncredited)
Frank Flanagan	...	General Sugar (uncredited)
Trent Gough	...	Soldier (uncredited)
Harvey Keitel	...	Soldier (uncredited)
Al Mulock	...	Private (uncredited)
Douglas Stark	...	Dr. Burgess (uncredited)
Friedrich von Ledebur	...	Lieutenant at Garden Party (uncredited)

Directed by
John Huston

Writing credits
Chapman Mortimer		(screenplay) and
Gladys Hill		(screenplay)
Carson McCullers		(novel)

Produced by
C.O. Erickson	....	associate producer
John Huston	....	producer
Ray Stark	....	producer

Original Music by
Toshirô Mayuzumi		(as Toshiro Mayuzumi)

Cinematography by
Aldo Tonti		(director of photography)
Oswald Morris		(uncredited)

Film Editing by
Russell Lloyd

Production Design by
Stephen B. Grimes		(as Stephen Grimes)

Art Direction by
Bruno Avesani

Costume Design by
Dorothy Jeakins

Makeup Department
Alexandre	....	hair stylist: Elizabeth Taylor (as Alexandre of Paris)
Paolo Borselli	....	hair stylist (as Paola Borzelli)
Agnes Flanagan	....	hair stylist
Amato Garbini	....	makeup artist
Frank La Rue	....	makeup artist (as Frank LaRue)
Phil Rhodes	....	makeup artist (as Philip Rhodes)

Production Management
Mario Del Papa	....	production manager
Frederick Muller	....	unit manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Vana Caruso	....	assistant director
Edward Folger	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
William Kiernan	....	set director

Sound Department
John Cox	....	sound
Basil Fenton-Smith	....	sound
Leslie Hodgson	....	sound editor

Camera and Electrical Department
Nino Cristiani	....	camera operator (as Michele Cristiani)
Frank Flanagan	....	gaffer (uncredited)
Alberico Novelli	....	electrician (uncredited)
Bob Penn	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Piero Servo	....	first assistant camera (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Anna Maria Feo	....	wardrobe (as Anna Maria Fea)

Music Department
Marcus Dods	....	conductor

Other crew
Angela Allen	....	script supervisor
Friedrich von Ledebur	....	horse master

Production Companies

• Warner Brothers/Seven Arts (as Warner Bros. - Seven Arts)

Distributors

• Warner Brothers/Seven Arts (1967) (USA) (theatrical) (as Warner Bros.)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1973) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• AFEX (1968) (Austria) (theatrical)
• Chapel Distribution (1997) (Australia) (theatrical)
• Seven Films (2008) (Greece) (theatrical) (reissue)
• Warner Bros. (1967) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)

Also Known As:

"Spiegelbild im goldenen Auge" - Austria, West Germany
"Antavgeies se hrysa matia" - Greece (transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title)
"Glimt i et gyldent øje" - Denmark
"Heijastuksia kultaisessa silmässä" - Finland
"O Pecado de Todos Nós" - Brazil
"Odbicia w zlotym oku" - Poland
"Pariltili gözler" - Turkey (Turkish title)
"Reflejos en tus ojos dorados" - Mexico (imdb display title)
"Reflejos en un ojo dorado" - Spain (imdb display title)
"Reflekser i et gyllent øye" - Norway (imdb display title)
"Reflets dans un oeil d'or" - France
"Reflexer i ett gyllene öga" - Sweden
"Reflexos num Olho Dourado" - Portugal (imdb display title)
"Riflessi in un occhio d'oro" - Italy
"Tükörkép egy aranyos szempárban" - Hungary (imdb display title)
"W zwierciadle zlotego oka" - Poland (imdb display title)

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

UK:15 (video rating) | UK:X (original rating) | Portugal:M/12 | West Germany:18 (f) | USA:Approved (Suggested for Mature Audiences) | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Long Island, New York, USA

Company:

Warner Brothers/Seven Arts

Trivia:

In the scene where Maj. Penderton gives a lecture on leadership, a subject for which he is ill-suited, Marlon Brando asked director John Huston for another take after delivering what Huston considered a superb performance. In the second take, Brando delivered a different line reading that was equally brilliant. When it came time to cut the film, Huston was baffled over which of the takes to use, as each was superb and relevant to the character.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Although movie is set in 1940s, all of Elizabeth Taylor's hairstyles, makeup and wardrobe are right out of mid-Sixties.

Quotes:

Leonora:[to Weldon] So, Firebird's alright, is he?
Leonora:[Lashes him across the face with her horse whip]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick (1989)

A Murder Was Committed on an Army Post in the Deep South..........

Reflections in a Golden Eye came out at an interesting transitional period for gay people. The Code that had dominated what could and could not be shown on the screen was just being lifted. That Code had succeeded in making gay people all but invisible by Hollywood standards. But it was two years before the Stonewall Rebellion which gave the gay rights movement a political voice.

Originally Montgomery Clift was scheduled to do this film with three time screen partner Elizabeth Taylor, but Clift died before the film started shooting. Marlon Brando took his place and in my opinion gave a very underrated performance as the repressed latent homosexual Major married to Elizabeth Taylor.

Brando and Taylor dusted off a couple of southern accents previously used in films, Brando from Sayonara and Taylor from Raintree County. But the characters here are vastly different from the characters portrayed in both of those other films.

Although certainly given Clift's background he was eminently qualified to play a repressed gay man, I'm not sure he would have been the type to have played an authority figure like Major Penderton here. Brando was far more the type. The part of the wife was Taylor made for Liz and she went to town with it.

I wonder what those people who want to keep gays out of the military would say about Brando. Brando's burgeoning homosexuality is finding an outlet in a raging crush on a handsome private played by Robert Forster. Forster during his off hours likes to walk and ride horses in the buff and sneaks into Brando's house to play with Liz Taylor's lingerie. Liz is having an affair with Brando's immediate superior Brian Keith who has an invalid and mentally disturbed wife in Julie Harris. And Harris spends most of her time with her very effeminate Filipino houseboy, Zorro David.

Of course this is a recipe for tragedy and tragedy does come. Author Carson McCullers, herself a lesbian, created some unforgettable characters here.

Reflections in a Golden Eye was way before its time. Today the film and Director John Huston would have gotten far better reviews than the film did in 1967.