speaks to the fugitive kind in many of us

If you can’t relate to Brando as an actor / a force of nature or to those of us who are “the fugitive kind” then I guess this movie will be a waste of time for you.
I hope you will forgive my ramblings. I watched this film last night and woke up at 4am and couldn’t get back to sleep – thinking about this movie (not to mention a lousy sinus headache) … I ramble.
I saw Fugitive Kind last night on TCM. Praise first, to Turner Classic Movies for making it possible for so many of us to be exposed / re-exposed to so many film treasures.

I’ve seen Fugitive Kind before, many years before, and perhaps it spoke then to me as a very young man (or was I a teen); I was well on the path to being a “fugitive kind” and to this day I’m a loner in my late fifties, not really fitting in anywhere.

On the Waterfront is my all time favorite film; his moments with Eva Marie Saint were enchanting.
(I even blogged about it at Brando’s passing: http://www.pglink.com/accidental/7-04.htm#film )
Maybe one has to be under the spell of the young Marlon Brando to be moved by this - The Fugitive Kind?

I don’t have to be a student of Tennessee Williams or Greek tragedy (alas, I’m far too lazy / busy to Google it and do the research) to enjoy this work.

Joanne Woodward’s character! What a force to be reckoned with; roaring into town in her well worn sports car. This may not be a completely accurate quote but, “Can’t you hear the dead talking? They are saying one word – Live.” I can’t complete my comments about this film without speaking to the cemetery scene; Carol on here knees in front of Snakeskin – her life grasping hands reaching for him; “… let me …” I’m amazed the censors of the time let that pass.

To label it a “soap opera”, to me, is tragically dismissive of the depth of this film.

I think that Brando, of his own admission, was bored with acting, but I think that boredom didn’t really take over until a few years later in his career.

His next film, One Eyed Jacks (a must see for Brando fans), was a very ambitious Western. I don’t think he would have taken on such a challenge (starring and directing) if he didn’t still care about his craft and film). I suspect the overwhelming challenges he faced as both director and actor on Jacks may have placed him on that downward career spiral.

Although I haven’t seen Street Car Named Desire in a lot of years, I just don’t think it is a very good film to compare Fugitive to; Fugitive is a force all unto itself.

I would prefer to compare this film to Cool Hand Luke. Newman’s character was a “fugitive kind”; a free spirit in the land of chain gangs and the repressive South of that era. Just as with Fugitive Kind; Luke (if I remember the words to the theme song) was “down here on the ground; wanting something better”.

Released in December of 59’, wasn’t this film daring if not ground breaking?
Snakeskins idolizes a black blues singer, Leadbelly (http://www.nps.gov/history/DELTA/BLUes/people/leadbelly.htm ); a fugitive in more than one sense of the word. At times I feel like Snakeskin is a surrogate club playing black stud, oozing with sexuality; you better hide your daughters and keep a close eye on your unsatisfied wives.
How about that scene in the shoe department with the young woman placing her shoe between Brando’s legs (hard to believe it was in 59’)?
Robert Osborn (http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/participant/participant.jsp?participantId=145504|0&afiPersonalNameId=null ) says that the film was not shot in the deep South out of fears – for safety of the crew and cast – I believe those fears were indeed well founded.

This film was on the eve of the racial revolution. The use of the fire hoses by the local sheriff was so telling.


***** slight spoilers ****

The ending; thank goodness for bad endings. Now-a-days I don’t think a film could get away with such an ending. Am I correct in stating that evil wins? Hell of a way to end a film (and I mean that in a good way)! Was this film a wake-up call for the people of the USA; truth goodness and beauty were under attack? Perfect timing; an entrance to a new decade focused on the fight for civil rights.

Thanks for your patience in my ramblings – even my headache is better now; the sun is rising; gonna be a hot one today.