There's an inevitable staginess to Tennessee Williams' devastating portrait of delusion and cruelty, but director Elia Kazan catches the squalid, claustrophobic atmosphere of a New Orleans tenement just right.
2 Comments
11/14/08
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
98
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:46
Fresh:45
Rotten:1
Average Rating:8.5/10
Runtime: 2 hrs 11 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Tennessee Williams based his screenplay on Oscar Saul's adaptation of Williams' Pulitzer Prize-winning play set in a grimy New Orleans project. The story of the fragile sentimentalism of a former... [More]
Starring: Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, Karl Malden
Director: Elia Kazan
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Reviews for A Streetcar Named Desire
The camera has done greater justice to the Williams play, catching the nuances and reflected tragedy with an intimacy that is so vital in a story of this type.
02/13/01
This faithful picturization of Tennessee Williams' grim and depressing drama of Southern decadence will shock many regular picturegoers just as it will be widely praised and discussed by sophisticated patrons.
06/05/02
A Streetcar Named Desire features some of the finest ensemble acting ever offered on the screen, speaking some Williams's most vivid dialogue.
06/28/07
One of the most potent productions of the post-war years.
11/01/07
Between them Kasan, Brando and Leigh take all the blood, sweat and tears of Williams' text and create one of the most potent productions of the post-war years.
11/14/08
Has a permanent place amongst the classics, not only for the performances but for Tennessee Williams' raw writing about people raw with pain, fear, longing and complicated feelings
02/20/09
No review available.
08/01/02
Inner torments are seldom projected with such sensitivity and clarity on the screen.
05/20/03
No review available.
10/18/02
No review available.
04/16/04
The powerful performances remain untarnished by time.
01/01/00
This is a film about passion, and the movie positively oozes it.
04/10/06
No review available.
11/04/07
...if the hothouse style was ever justified, this is the occasion.
06/28/07
Top CriticClick to read the article
11/01/07
Top CriticLacks the poignancy you could almost swear was a given, considering it was adapted from an acclaimed Tennesse Williams play.
07/14/04
Thanks to the excellent text and superb actors, Kazan managed to create a very good film, but he still failed to turn it into genuine and everlasting masterpiece.
01/01/00
No review available.
06/29/05
Outstanding reading of a great story. Brando at his best.
06/25/04
Latest News for A Streetcar Named Desire
August 12, 2008:
Taylor Hackford Revisits Tennessee Williams' Early Years 
Taylor Hackford has signed on to direct Tenn, a Robin Shushan-scripted drama about the formative years of playwright Tennessee Williams. More...
June 22, 2007:
AFI Announces Top 100 Movies of All Time ... Again
Ten years ago the AFI gave us a list of the Top 100 American Films Ever Made -- and when that was done they churned out 15 other lists every few years. And then last night they... More...
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