Psychological drama that starts with great potential. Huston/Taylor/Brando/Keith promise greatness. But unfortunately even this combination can't quite pull it off at the end. This film is one of the earlier film studio attempts to introduce a up front queer theme into the mainstream. A watchable film but ultimately sadly disappointing.

In February 2020, I showed this film at a dinner party with a group of friends from the LI Ravens MC. They overwhelmingly panned it.


"Was the movie so wretchedly bad that Warner Bros. decided to keep it a secret?
"Or could it be, perhaps, that it was too good? Perhaps it could. To begin with, somebody slipped up and did an honest screen play based on the novel by Carson McCullers. And then Huston and his cast journeyed bravely into the dark, twisted world of the McCullers characters, and nobody told them they were supposed to snicker. So they didn't." [Roger Ebert October 17, 1967]

The most memorable character is: she without the nipples - cut off with a pair of garden shears - ouch! Painful, agonising - that's exactly what this film is - from start to finish. Taylor reaches new heights with her butane-induced shrill - while Marlon mumbles his way through a script that eventually falls apart - there wasn't much keeping it together in the first place. Huston photographs beautifully and he directs without any apparent skill. TERRIBLE and very, very boring. It's a bloody awful affair to be honest." [CGiii Anderson Cutler]