Product Description

In a sordid tale of faded dreams and family feuds, Tennessee Williams delivers perhaps his greatest play. Tommy Lee Jones and Jessica Lange star in this award-winning adaptation.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #90065 in DVD
• Brand: Image Entertainment
• Released on: 1998-08-05
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 144 minutes

Amazon.com
It sounds like perfect casting: Jessica Lange and Tommy Lee Jones do one of Tennessee Williams's most powerful works. But this filmed stage play doesn't quite fulfill the promise. Lange certainly has all the right ingredients: the sensual moves, the fluttering neuroses, the scheming-with-a-smile, but it doesn't quite ring true. It's as if the star and her director failed to make the full transition from stage acting to the smaller, more nuanced acting demands of film. Jones is badly miscast as Brick--the character is mopey and riven with insecurities, while Jones's forte is garrulous confidence. It feels like he's acting with a muzzle on. Rip Torn is terrific as Big Daddy (his scenes with Jones are the best in the piece) and the rest of the cast is all up to the game. Tennessee Williams reworked the script for this American Playhouse production, restoring some sexual frankness lost in earlier productions. The piece has some real fireworks, and not just in the places you might expect. Lange and Jones would team up again to better effect in the 1994 drama Blue Sky. --Geof Miller

Customer Reviews

Very strong, fresh production
I thought this was a wonderful version of this play. Lange is a wonder to watch as she struggles to keep her marriage and her life from falling completely apart. Jones, while many thought he was a poor choice, brings a very refreshing interpretation of Brick. He comes across more as the broken man that he is, the drunkard he has become. A man afraid to face the truth, which Big Daddy forces him to face. Act II, the scene between Brick and Big Daddy, played by Rip Torn, is powerful and engaging. It is a very honest performance by the cast, making it an absolute delight to watch. If you are a fan of Williams' plays then I highly recommend this.

The Story Finally Makes Sense
Of course everyone will compare this 1984 remake of one of Tennessee Williams' best plays with the 1950's version starring Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman. The director, actors and everyone else involved in this production have nothing to be embarrassed about for this is a fine movie indeed. In fairness to the Taylor-Newman movie, because of the censorship of that repressed era, the plot does not make a lot of sense. These actors though have the advantage of working with a story that Mr. Williams had revised so that the relationship that Brick and Skipper had that keeps interfering with Brick's marriage with Maggie now makes sense. ("A pure and true thing is not normal.") Additionally Taylor and Newman are so incredibly attractive that sometimes their good looks get in the way of their acting. Here we have really stellar performances by Jessica Lange as Maggie, Tommy Lee Jones as Brick-- he's a lot better than many of the critics say-- Rip Torn as Big Daddy and Kim Stanley as Big Momma. Tommy Lee Jones does some terrific acting with just his eyes and facial expressions alone. Jessica Lange continues to demonstrate that she is one of the best actresses of her generation. She gives a beautifully nuanced performance, expressing a wide range of emotions and can go from a vulnerable, lovable kitten to a clawing cat at the turn of a fan. The scenes between Big Daddy and Brick, through excruciating, are very moving.

While Mr. Willams as usual places his characters in the South, they resemble dysfunctional families everywhere. Greed, sexual repression, sibling rivalry, dishonesty, awareness of one's own mortality and family in-fighting know no geographical boundries.

Mr. Williams would be proud of this production.

Lange at her best!
This has got to be the best adaptation of a play I have ever seen. I was a five year old kid watching this when it first came out on Showtime! I loved it then, and now I love it even more and fully understand it! Lange has never been so sexy nor great. Besides being the best actress in the world, her performance in here really displays her dramatic talents. Jones was born to play Brick and he does a great job. The settings in this version are so well designed and set-up it makes you wonder if they are in a REAL plantation home! And the rest of the cast, particularly the wonderful Torn, do an outstanding job. Besides the scenes between Jones and Torn being overly long and you find yourself missing Lange's prescence, this is a high recommendation.