A Streetcar Named Desire

I’ve always been a little ambivalent about Marlon Brando. Sure, I love "The Godfather" as much as the next person, but I’ve also seen Brando at the height of his phoning-it-in phase and it isn’t pretty (at least Edward Norton was awesome in "The Score"). However, after seeing "A Streetcar Named Desire," I get it. I get why everyone from Paul Newman and Jack Nicholson modeled themselves after this guy. I get why he’s credited with revolutionizing acting. And if you give "A Streetcar Named Desire" a chance, you’ll get it too.

The movie opens on Blanche DuBois, played by Vivien Leigh, an aging and neurotic Southern belle who flees personal trouble in her native Mississippi for New Orleans. She moves in with her sister Stella, played by Kim Hunter, and Stella’s husband Stanley, played by Brando, but has a hard time adjusting to the less cultured lifestyle. Especially difficult to bear is Stanley, whose rough ways and inconsideration lead to frequent clashes.

Blanche enjoys relative stability once she attaches herself to a gentler friend of Stanley’s, Mitch, played by Karl Malden. However, as her past begins to catch up with her, Blanche’s happiness and sanity is threatened.

Though Leigh’s more theatrical style of acting is tough to swallow at first, as the movie progresses it becomes clear that it’s the only way to play the complex and equally theatrical character of Blanche. She gives an excellent performance, but this is unquestionably Brando’s movie. He is absolutely riveting as Stanley. You can’t look away whenever he’s onscreen (though trust me, sometimes you want to) and whenever he’s off-screen, you’re anticipating his return. It’s especially interesting to contrast his groundbreaking display of method acting with Leigh’s now largely extinct classical approach. The differences don’t take away from either actor, but they do show an important cinematic shift that few movies spell out so vividly.

Tennesse Williams of course deserves much praise for his fantastic source material. My only gripe with the movie in fact, is that they didn’t include his original ending. It would have been impossible given the censors of the time, but Williams’ finale would have made the movie so much more powerful and haunting. The less depressing Hollywood ending seems far too convenient, almost unrealistic. As much as we might want it to be true, it’s sugarcoated in the context of an otherwise unsentimental movie.

Yet that relatively small flaw does not diminish the movie’s greatness. It’s truly a landmark of cinema, and the perfect introduction to the legendary Brando.

Written by: Kristin Hunt

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