Ep #24 - Tennessee Williams in the '60s

Tennessee Williams was always a man out of time, but by the ‘60s his time was sadly up. As the ‘50s came to a close, his career began a descent from its utmost apex to such a low that Williams himself fell deep into the bottle. Cinema, however, was still playing catch up with all of his later hits. With the way the decade was front loaded you’d hardly believe how quickly these films dissolved to a trickle after 1962. Perhaps it was due to slackening standards regarding explicit and shocking themes on celluloid. Or perhaps Williams’ celebrity had just gotten too big for Hollywood to truly do justice to these highly personal and narrow character studies.

In this episode, Bart enthuses rapturously about even the most mediocre of Williams’ 1960s offerings while Jenna condemns a surprising number of his characters to burn in hell, just because of the misery these poor tortured souls inflict on everyone they encounter. Listen as they discuss the highs and lows of Tennessee’s movie career and gossip about which characters they think are in the closet. (Spoiler: basically all of them.) Plus, there’s a film in here that Bart and Jenna agree is arguably the greatest of all Williams adaptations. But you’ll have to tune in to find out which one!

The following films are discussed:

• The Fugitive Kind (1960)
Directed by Sidney Lumet
Starring Marlon Brando, Anna Magnani, Joanne Woodward

• Summer and Smoke (1961)
Directed by Peter Glenville
Starring Geraldine Page, Laurence Harvey, Rita Moreno

• The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961)
Directed by José Quintero
Starring Vivien Leigh, Warren Beatty, Lotte Lenya

• Sweet Bird of Youth (1962)
Directed by Richard Brooks
Starring Paul Newman, Geraldine Page, Shirley Knight

• Period of Adjustment (1962)
Directed by George Roy Hill
Starring Jane Fonda, Jim Hutton, Anthony Franciosa

• The Night of the Iguana (1964)
Directed by John Huston
Starring Richard Burton, Ava Gardner, Deborah Kerr

• This Property Is Condemned (1966)
Directed by Sydney Pollack
Starring Natalie Wood, Robert Redford, Charles Bronson

• Boom! (1968)
Directed by Joseph Losey
Starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Noël Coward