#47 - A Streetcar Named Desire

Blanche DuBois: the ultimate drama queen. Played by Vivien Leigh (a.k.a. Scarlett O'Hara), this character is one of the most unforgettable in cinema in 1951's Tennessee Williams-written movie that made Marlon Brando a household name and a legend.

Brando and Kim Hunter play Stanley and Stella Kowalski, a couple who is visited by Stella's sister Blanche from Mississippi. What starts out as a harmless visit eventually leads to the crack-up of Blanch and the dissolving of the Kowalski's relationship after a strange act of violence.

What makes this movie so intriguing was the character of Blanche--the archetypal woman with a mysterious past. She says that her family's estate has been lost because of too much debt after everyone died or left home, but the truth is much more sordid, much more interesting, and much more cinematic.

Brando as Stanley Kowalski is brutish and lovable at the same time. He throws the girls around, but you can tell that there is genuine care for Stella and what she means to him. The most famous line from this movie is Stanley's beckoning for his wife: "Stella!" has become one of the most recognizable single-word quotes ever. Here is a video of the classic moment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1A0p0F_iH8

Just as his shirt is in tatters, so is his life. He had made his pregnant wife angry after acting violent and belligerent when she and her sister interfered with his poker game. A lot of the conflicts in the movie take place because the characters are drunk. The liquid courage loosens their inhibitions, causing Stanley to confront Blanche about her lying and her manipulative ways and causing her to begin an ill-fated romance with one of Stanley's friends Mitch, played with a beautiful sadness by Karl Malden, who died last July.

Where the movie most succeeds is its depiction of how life can become so overwhelming and claustrophobic with the simple addition of one element--in this case the element is Blanche. The results of her visit (which ends up lasting around six months) are like ripples in a pond; everyone is affected, in a negative way. Her toxic personality, her constant nit-picking, and her over-dramatic essence are what eventually lead to the downfall of all the major characters in one of the finest films out there.

Also, the movie supplied the inspiration for this, one of my favorite moments in "Seinfeld":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVrU0JNAgqI