"Suddenly, Last Summer" (1959)

They..consumed him!!!!

This film was delightfully bizarre!

They...DEVOURED...HIM!

Eldergay thread alert.

Sebastian and Violet.

Violet and Sebastian...

r4...dumb cunt alert.

The TCM Network had a film tribute yesterday in honor of Gay Pride month. This was one of the film. I recorded it because I'd originally watched the movie when I was around ten-years old. I'd caught just the last segment of the film then, and I've always wanted to see it ever since.

P.S. I'm not an elder gay; I just love well produced, classic movies.

r7--God forbid you'd be an elder gay. Better to be young and stupid.

Young and stupid and believes GCI and explosions are "art."

Monty was SO dreamy - but SO fucked up.

Liz, Kate and Monty - talk about a DL trifecta!

Nature is not made in the image of man's compassion.

R12 - I caught that line as well.

Great film.

" . . . Sebastian was a vocation, not a man."

Fed up with the dark ones. Famished for blonds.

I think really he was half-starved... ...from living on pills and salads.

SLS is really quite the shitshow, and was praised as art when it was released! Remarkable.

Not to say it isn't fun, but what a fucking hot mess!

I played George Holly in a production of this once.

IT'S NOT "JEALOUS". IT'S "ENVIOUS!"

Was the deal that the broads got the trade hot, then Seb finished them off? If the tricks were really straight, that wouldn't work. Or is it any old hole in a storm?

. . . It's the way he talked about people, as if they were items on a menu: that one's delicious looking; that one's appetizing . . .

R20 - Reaching far back in my memory of this movie, but I think Sebastian used "Catherine" as "bait," this is why he took her traveling everywhere with him.

Yes, that's the word, but I still wonder how that works.

Hepburn channeled Violet Venable, just a bit, when she played Eleanor of Aquitaine in "The Lion in Winter."

Did anyone notice the Stinking Corpse Lily in the big atrium scene?

Albert Dekker's real-life death. Ye gods, he was on the wrong side of the sanatorium door.

Williams hated the film, which made considerable changes in style and tone from his play.

They never show Sebastian, but he was apparently: endlessly magnetic and charming (but at one point "shy and sensitive") but also heartless and vicious/predatory when it came to other humans. It sounds like at the end of his life (in his fine white suits, etc.) he was more like a charming sociopath.

So.....if the movie had shown Sebastian and been more about his character etc., which actor--alive or dead--do you think could have best embodied Sebastian?

(You can pick an actor from the time the movie was made or one from now; the play is still performed, so the Sebastian character could be played by any current actor as well in this hypothetical scenario).

I'm going to go with a young Paul Newman (who could actually play really seedy and disturbingly charming) for the time the movie was made (runner up: Rock Hudson-- who showed real acting chops in "Seconds") and maybe either McBongo or Jude Law for the present day version of the movie (if there was one).

(Andrew Garfield could be a runner up if Sebastian was younger perhaps...). Oh, Leo D. might be good as a wealthy predatory middle aged gay guy too...

I love the son "Suddenly Last Summer" by The Motels.

I've never seen it. How is Elizabeth Taylor in it? I've seen most of her other big films, and am always surprised to remember she got FIVE Oscar nominations. Her best performance was in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, but in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Butterfield 8, Cleopatra, Raintree County, A Place in the Sun and many others, I just find her really shrill, actressy and annoying. Her voice was so thin and tinny, and she always seemed so pleased with herself. Is she any different in Suddenly, Last Summer?

Certainly a strange movie and can understand someone not liking it. I find it incredibly fascinating. I think Violet descing in the elevator sitting on what looks like a throne at the beginning sets the strange mood.

/Descending

I think "descing" deserves to become a thing, though.

What would "descing" describe?

Elizabeth Taylor at the HEIGHT of her beauty. That first reveal of her turning from the window is pretty insane

It's how they stereotyped gay people in the early 50's, be glad you never lived during that era.

From the beginning of the film, it obvious Violet not only knew of Sebastian's fate, but she also believed Catherine, the reality of which manifested into her own insanity. Her motivation for attempting to "silence" Catherine was actually her effort to "silence" the truth about Sebastian, and perpetuate her state of denial. Catherine's ability to finally articulate the events, with the assistance of the doctor, is what finally pushed forward Violet's full blown psychosis.

Katharine Hepburn, as Violet Venable, was the most chilling part of this movie. She was actually relieved Sebastian was dead, along with his rejection of her, only seeing her as something that was once merely "useful":

" . . . I'm in mourning; white was my son's favorite color . . . Life is a thief; Sebastian always said life steals everything."

See how she destroys us with her tongue for a hatchet? You've got to cut this hideous story out of her brain.

Suddenly, Last Summer reviewed by Tired Old Queen at the Movies.

r26 If memory serves, I believe Laurence Harvey was at one point attached to the movie. Any DL'ers aware of this? If he wasn't, he'd have made a spot-on Sebastian: soignee, effete, condescending and snarky(now WHO might these attributes also describe?). I think it was better he was kept off-screen, it allows/allowed us to use out imaginations as to just how he would've conducted himself.

R22 Now I'm really reaching back in my memory, but I do have a recollection of Liz's character shamefully explaining how Sebastian forced her into the water while she was wearing a flimsy white swimsuit. To her humiliation, the suit became sheer when wet and attracted attention at the beach, which was exactly Sebastian's intent.

I love the opening credits when ELIZABETH TAYLOR / MONTGOMERY CLIFT / KATHARINE HEPBURN 's names appear (in that order) all at once. I nearly MARY'd myself the first time I saw that.

Having done the play I can say if you aren't one of the 3 leads its a pretty thankless exercise.

I heard Hepburn spit on the director after the shooting was over because she was disgusted by the way he treated Monty on the set. My respect for her grew hundred fold.

White as a color is important imagery in the play.

Besides the already mentioned references, there is also Catherine sitting in the doctor's chair in a dark grey suit as he's attempting to wrestle the truth out of her. Before she comes out with it he removes her jacket to reveal a pure white blouse underneath.

"The horror....!"

[quote]I just find her really shrill, actressy and annoying.

Yup, that pretty much describe her in S,LS.

I think it is such a preposterous reveal by a playwright just looking for something shocking.

I wahzzz procuuuuring for him!

The moment the doctor stepped into Sebastian's and Violet's garden, when he first meets her, was the moment he realized it was she, who was insane.

It becomes more apparent to him when Violet elaborates on Catherine's "insanity." He realizes she is actually describing her own insanity, using the third-person context,

. . . Madness. She torments herself with madness, obsession, and memory. She lacerates herself with memory, babbling, babbling . . . it all started last summer . . . Sebastian saw the face of God!

How does the play differ from the film?

I've never seen the play, but I assumed it was less coy about what was going on.

The last shot of Violet ascending on her Byzantine elevator is camp at its finest.

I agree with r17 the movie is a hot mess. But i love the movie poster

From wikipedia:

Critical response Several people involved with Suddenly, Last Summer later went on to denounce the film. Despite being credited for the screenplay, Tennessee Williams denied having any part in writing it. He thought Elizabeth Taylor was miscast as Catherine, telling Life magazine in 1961, "It stretched my credulity to believe such a 'hip' doll as our Liz wouldn't know at once in the film that she was 'being used for something evil.'"[15] Williams also told The Village Voice in 1973 that Suddenly, Last Summer went too far afield from his original play and "made [him] throw up."[16] Gore Vidal criticized the ending which had been altered by director Joseph Mankiewicz, adding, "We were also not helped by ... those overweight ushers from the Roxy Theatre on Fire Island pretending to be small ravenous boys."[17] Mankiewicz himself blamed the source material, describing the play as "badly constructed ... based on the most elementary Freudian psychology."[18]

photo of the actor who played Sebastian:

IIRC, I read there was a lot of rumors of the cast not getting along, fighting and bitching with each other, but it was not true. But for shits and giggles, they (Hepburn, Liz, and Monty) released a staged photo of the leads physically fighting with each other. I tried to find the photo via google and came up with nothing. Maybe it was another movie.?

It's an entertaining, oddball movie. Poor Monty....his beauty was long gone. It's sad to see him in later films after his disfiguring car accident.

This film hasn't aged well at all!! Gayness is perceived as something predatory, immoral and deserving of unseemly punishment. The boys represent Sebastian's desires, and his death at their hands represent a pervert being consumed by his desires.

Deplorable, but interesting on a camp level.

The best movie of all time.

R53,

Elizabeth Taylor and Joseph Mankiewicz, the film's director, were involved in an affair during the filming of this movie. She was 27, he was 40. At time of their affair, he was single, while Elizabeth was also involved with Eddy Fisher.

Mankiewicz and Taylor later worked together again on "Cleopatra."

I wonder how Hepburn felt about Taylor peddling her pussy to get better camera angels.

"Taylor...Mankiewicz....affair"

Highly unlikely

"Ex-sqeeze me," R60. The TCM film commentators who introduced the film talked about it, as background info on the film.

The nephew knows.

When I was in college I got to lick a guys cock while he was pumping a friends pussy. Then I gobbled up his jizz while it was leaking out of her twat as he was cumming. It was quite satisfying. That is what I imagine the movie to be about.

Well, that sure proves it.

Totally agree with R49. That ending speech of Hepburn's as she gets in the elevator is everything. Gay camp heaven.

Is the secretary Foxhill supposed to be lesbian? She was stacked.

Cute Gary Raymond was also in El Cid and in Look Back in Anger, in which he was gorgeous. Those eyes.

Mercy M played lesbo in Touch of Evil and Liz had the fling with Susannah York, in XYZ.

And Dekker died of autoerotic asphyxiation?

Why is Elizabeth billed ahead of Ms Hepburn?

R67 - She was eff-ing the director (see same topic, up thread).

r65 - Cuz Liz= Bigger B.O., Bigger Role, and (drum roll) Bigger Boobs!

Bigger box office then?

Gary Raymond is 82 and has been married to actress Delena Kidd since 1961! They have three kids, and actor Ben Miles is his soninlaw.

Wonder what Monty thought of Gary?

^for r67

I read somewhere that Mankiewicz and Spiegel had discussed firing Clift because of his erratic behavior, and they brought in Peter O'Toole (then a stage actor) to do a film test, but O'Toole didn't impress Spiegel. At least not that time (Spiegel would later produce 'Lawrence of Arabia').

I was surprised Hepburn took third billing. Wasn't she the bigger star of the three at that time? Or was her star fading a la Davis and Crawford

Wasn't Gary Raymond on the TV show "Rat Patrol"?

R73 Hepburn was still famous, but she was in a bit a lull. It was a long time between Oscars.

Hepburn was definitely in a lull in the late 1950s.

Her previous film Desk Set was a financial flop 2 years earlier and she didn't make another film after 1959's SLS until Long Day's Journey Into Night in 1962, which was considered somewhat of a comeback and might have garnered her her second Oscar if not for the furious competition of Bancroft, Davis, Page and Remick that year. And then it took her another 5 years to truly fulfill her comeback status with Guess Who's Coming to Dinner in 1967.

She spent most of her professional time on the stage in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Stratford, CT doing classic roles on stage.

So anyway, Taylor getting top billing in SLS was a no-brainer.

[quote]SLS is really quite the shitshow, and was praised as art when it was released! Remarkable. ...Not to say it isn't fun, but what a fucking hot mess!

This movie is one long "MARY!" from beginning to end.

Was it ever mentioned which country/city Sebastian got eaten? Looks like an interesting place to visit.

I think we can rule out Scandinavia and the UK.

Sebastian's "demise" took place in Spain.

Can someone answer the previous question: "How does the story differ in the movie from the play?"

I dislike this movie. One reason is I really dislike Hepburn and she is particularly annoying here.

Wasn't the beach scene filmed in Spanish Sahara? During the fifties, Spain still held a small colony on the NW coast of Africa. The boys who ate Sebastian were Moor (Berber) rather than Spanish.

About 10-15 years ago, someone found some great candid shots of Liz sunning herself on the set. One below.

Boom delivers MUCH BETTER Mediterranean themed Liz.

For cheap Freudian psychopop, I prefer A Summer Place, which is afterall sex positive, though no gay subplot.

And the grisly Franz Waxman jizzed up luridness of A Place in the Sun, for much better Liz and Monty.

In the film version of the play, "Violet" said Sebastian's "heart attack" occurred in Spain.

Tell mama everything.

I've always enjoyed this film but last time I watched it I noticed how bad it was. To have all those name stars in a 'quality' production and have it turn out rather cringeworthy.

At this point because of the dated, lurid subject matter and the clashing acting styles it's pure camp, which is unfortunate because I think Hepburn gives an awesome performance.

Agree with R88. Katharine Hepburn's performance was awesome. "Violet's" insanity-fueled monologue about the "flesh-eating birds' ravenously tearing at the newly hatched sea turtles in their desperate flight" was a metaphor for Sebastian's death. Hepburn's depiction of insanity while describing it is superb.

Hepburn gave a lousy performance, like a big glazed Connecticut Easter ham.

It's a hot mess. You can't look away.

[quote]I played George Holly in a production of this once.

Me too. Twice no less. I seemed to have a lock on southern asshole roles in college and grad school. I've always thought SLS would make a deliciously lurid one act opera a la Salome or Elektra. Too bad it's never been tried.

Wonderful scene.

The original off-Broadway production was a shorter one-act that was paired with another Williams play. I think the movie suffered from Gore Vidal padding out the script. I still adore it, but it's hard to sit down and watch the whole thing.

There was a version in the early '90s with Maggie Smith, Rob Lowe, and Natasha Richardson which was closer to the original play. Smith is great, as usual.

I don't think Liz is wearing sunblock!

Was Liz Taylor still in love with Monty at this time? I know they were close friends and Taylor is very loyal and protective of her friends.

R83, the village and beach scenes were shot on Mallorca and the Costa Brava. So the "natives" were Catalonians.

Love this movie, it is the definition of over the top but i,ve watched it countless times. Liz and Kate both give great performances. The movie is also deceptive as although there are 3 leads and doctor sugar is almost always on screen, his role is minimal, he's basically just listening to the women and feeding them their lines.

Patricia Neal, who drew raves playing Catherine in the London production of "Suddenly, Last Summer," thought she had the film role in the bag. She was bitterly disappointed when she was passed over for Elizabeth Taylor.

r99 I can't imagine Neal in that white bathing suit. Only Liz could have done it justice.

Joseph Mankiewicz was one of Judy Garland's lovers. Some say he was the great love of her life. She named little Joey after him. Supposedly it was he who encouraged her to try psychoanalysis. In Garland's case, that was a mistake. All it did was create an unwarranted hatred of her mother (her analyst told her that most people's problems stem from their relationship with their mother). She took that notion and ran with it. She blamed Ethel Gumm (and MGM and Louis Mayer and Sid Luft, among others) for everything that went wrong in her life.

I'm happy to see I'm not the only one who loves this movie. I'm not saying it is a good movie but ....

Something about it - not really badly acted, the plot wasn't ... totally ridiculous, but it just all came together in some ridiculous amount of entertaining cluster.

Serves Patricia right r99. Since she did the same thing to Barbara Stanwyck for the role of Dominique in THE FOUNTAINHEAD a decade earlier. Stanwyck was friends with Ayn Rand and got Warner Brothers to purchase the film rights to Rand's novel. Was a bit of a Pyrrhic victory, though, since the film bombed. As it should have; it was as unwatchable as the novel it was based on was unreadable.

....

We've always wanted the straight guys.

Not sure if it's a good movie, but it sure is entertaining, like a mix of tragedy and black comedy. Liz really did have a big head in relation to the rest of her body.

I finally watched this film after reading this thread and enjoyed how crazy and surreal it is. Katharine Hepburn definitely gives the strongest performance here. Elizabeth Taylor may have looked glamorous in her white bathing suit, but she's as shrill and mannered as always, and her VOICE! Has there ever been a Hollywood legend with such a thin, tinny, scratchy voice so unsuited to the big screen (or the stage, I'm guessing)? Patricia Neal would have given a much better performance.

I love to watch this and A Place in The Sun as a double feature. SLS is campier, but APITS has Shelly Winters in an absolutely camp role as the slattern who dies. And Clift and Taylor are just so damn beautiful.

After watching that clip in r93, I remembered something else noteworthy about the film: the overwrought score. But I, like many others on this thread, love the movie for the hot mess that it is.

When I was in junior high, these was a commercial on the local ABC nation in LA that showed super-quick clips of the upcoming movies they were showing, and one of them was SLS. All you saw was the part where Elizabeth Taylor is perched on a rock, head and hair tossed back, WAILING for dear life. I saw that little snippet so many times I still remember it. I was so intrigued by her outpouring of emotion. And that it was Elizabeth Taylor. "What is happening to her?" Back then, she was the most beautiful woman in the world. Or at least that's what the adults were saying, and for someone my age. I didn't beg to differ.

It is such a crazy fucking story, it's amazing that it made it to film during the height of the Hays Code. With all the ridiculous shit the Code was obsessed with, THIS got through?

But damn, Liz was stunning. She puts to shame what passes for movie stars the last couple decades, with their chiseled out noses and frozen faces.

Love this movie, always have. For me, it completely works in its own bizarre, surreal way (kind of like it exists entirely in its own world). There's no other movie quite like it.

The film completely owns its bizarro, batshit subject matter and keeps the camp turned up to 11 throughout so I can't not love it. And Taylor's monologue at the end was *kisses fingers*

I'll never understand the appeal of Monty Clift, though. He was very good in 'A Place in the Sun' but still got blown out of the water by Taylor and especially Shelley Winters.

Clift was at his most beautiful in "Red River".

The scene between his character of Matthew Garth and John Ireland's Cherry Valance (of Valverde) when they are comparing guns, while Walter Brennan watches:

The hideous, flesh-eating birds, diving down on the baby sea turtles

This movie is fabulous, you bitches. And Hepburn is fantastic.

[quote]The boys who ate Sebastian

Could be a great name for a novel. Or better yet, a rock band.

R64 Liz Taylor fell in love with Monty when she first met him she was upset when she found out he was gay but stayed loyal and became more protective of him. I don't think she ever got over him.

She clearly didn't--see R104...

Not all that amazing, R111--by '59 Breen had retired and the Code was losing its teeth, though SLS pushed the limits. Several cuts were required, as with Anatomy of a Murder that year. Some Like It Hot was a smash without getting the Code's certificate of approval. Psycho was just around the corner.

Poor Liz. The world's most desirable woman and the man you truly love unconditionally you can't have. It must have chapped her ass to no end.

If Taylor were male she'd look like Clift.

r104, her audio monologue in that sounds like a slightly medicated Martha talking about her son. Incestuous.

I imagine Liz and Martha were equally well medicated in their last years...

So beautiful seriously.

r106 - The head to body ratio of movie queens supposedly tended to skew that way. I remember the Norma Shearer biographer commenting on her large noggin and that the same was true of some of her peers.

r107 - I believe she worked pretty hard to train her voice for The Little Foxes. I don't remember any criticism at the time of her voice not being suitable for the stage. But yes, on screen, she wasn't at her best vocally for highly pitched emotional scenes.

r121, no truer words.

I had an old copy of the play that said Lilian Gish would play the Mercedes McCambridge role.

r129, that would have been a waste of Lillian Gish.

A friend had the drag name Lillian Gash

r131 - Did your friend have a sister named Dorothy?

Yes R132 she didn't approve.

There is that long monologue of Kate's where she, as Violet, goes on and on about her and her son's experiences traveling...

Hepburn does a wonderful job with it. I've only seen the movie twice, I think, at least 10 years between viewings, but I remember a terrific line spewed out by Kate, something like:

In that instant, DOCTOR, my son Sebastian SAW the FACE of GOD!!

Hepburn is fantastic. Really puts everything into it.

Yes, R134, we know.

Poor Liz. She fell in love with Monty and wanted to marry him, but he was gay. Did they ever attempt sex? Probably. What a fiasco that must have been.

Montgomery Clift is awful--like a somnabulist. All he does is ask obvious questions and repeat what someone else says. Maybe he was half-high, after that horrific car crash robbed him of his looks.

Close to Clift's unfinest hour but he does catch glimmers in the hospital scenes with Taylor.

First of all, you bitches have really brought out your best in this thread!. Bravo! I love it when smart DL denizens dissect a movie like this. I learn so much.

Anyway, to add to the Elizabeth/Monty stuff, I want to add the ET saved Monty's life after his tragic car accident. I know lots of people love to rag on ET, but her steadfast loyalty to the people she's loved has always impressed me.

[quote]Elizabeth called out to Monty. He reacted to her voice and indicated to her that he was choking. Several of his teeth had broken off and had lodged in the back of his throat. Reaching inside his mouth, Elizabeth pulled the teeth out, one by one. Elizabeth saved his life. Monty could once again breathe.

[quote]It was nearly an hour before an ambulance arrived and, with it, a handful of frenzied photographers. Elizabeth positioned herself between the stretcher carrying Monty and the photographers’ cameras. “She was remarkable,” said McCarthy. She told the photographers that if they so much as snapped one photo of Monty’s bloodied face, she’d never allow her to take another photo of her. (That would never do. Elizabeth Taylor was one of Hollywood’s top actresses and would become one of the most photographed women in the world.) The photographers backed off.

[quote]The car accident left Elizabeth with persistent nightmares. She couldn’t get Monty’s bloody face out of her mind.

No one ever said Liz wasn't a chin up tits out kind of gal. We just sometimes critique her acting. It's fair.

r138 - Well, he was certainly no Rob Lowe!

Is that the movie where ET's character's hubby becomes a snack for the locals?

It was her cousin, [R143], not her husband.

R143 - Not quite. ET's character and "Sebastian" were cousins in SLS. MC's character was a doctor who was to perform ET's character's lobotomy, in order to erase her supposed "mania" caused by what had transpired SSL, that being the cannibalism of "Sebastian."

R138, Of course Clift was high. He was popping pills and drinking heavily. He was such a mess that he couldn't remember his lines and required many retakes. Mank wanted him fired, but Liz threatened to quit if he was let go. Sadly, Clift would remain this way for the rest of his life, effectively killing his career.

Suddenly Lust Summer

So St. Sebastian was martyred by arrows piercing him

Of course St. Catherine was rather elaborately martyred too.

Wasn't Violet's conservatory stocked with carnivorous plants? Or am I misremembering that?

I love over-the-top details and imagery like that.

I really wish they were showing this on the big screen *this summer* (like at the Egyptian in Hollywood)! I would buy my ticket in a hot minute!

DVD cover

(As you see, the Hollywood Reporter calls it, "electrifying and absorbing")

I've always thought that this would happen to George Clooney at Lake Como...

LOL, [R151]. I could *totally* see that happening pre-Amal ;)

Should Sebastian's story be on DL's infamous (and much treasured) "Scary Hookups and One Night Stands!" thread?

The iconic scene and photos of Taylor in the white bathing suit...

I have always mistakenly associated those photos with "A Place in the Sun," which is another great movie with her and Clift. But a rich girl at her parents' Adirondack lake house isn't as sultry as a "procurer" for a cousin on a beach in Spain.

I've always thought that this would happen to George Clooney at Lake Como...

—Anonymous

Being that Como is one of the wealthiest regions of Italy and the playground of the 1percenters from all over the world, it would be ridiculous to think there are herds of starving cannibals roaming the shores

This film is a bit too campy for me. A better version is the 1993 one with maggie smith. Much darker in tone. I love kate Hepburn but I think this is one of her weakest performances. She's so mannered and hammy. She did better work in Long Days Journey and the lion in winter.....and summertime.

We better not get started on Summertime. It will drive this thread off the wheels. I FUCKING LOVE THAT MOVIE.

"Being that Como is one of the wealthiest regions of Italy and the playground of the 1percenters from all over the world, it would be ridiculous to think there are herds of starving cannibals roaming the shores"

Talk about missing the point...

R157. Ok let's you and me discuss it. I love the scene where they are kissing on the bank with the sunset behind them. Kate has her hair down and really looks like she's come to life.

r158 is right.

Rossano Brazzi was so gorgeous in Summertime

True, r161, and unfortunately in neither Summertime nor South Pacific nor any of his other films was he ever costumed like this:

....

One of the biggest unintended laughs my family and I ever got from a movie is when Katharine Hepburn's character in "Summertime" says she is a school teacher from Akron, Ohio.

I grew up there and no one, but NO ONE, talks like Katharine Hepburn! Not even when the calla lilies are in bloom.

If they did, they'd be mocked, at best. Slapped, at worst.

That wasn't affected, r165. That was her accent. She could've modulated it but it wasn't affected.

What exactly flies to Akron, either?

Except she was not a schoolteacher, but a secretary.

Maybe she grew up in Hartford, CT but moved to A K R O N to accept a job?

r164 - I've never seen Dragon Seed. Only her stills, and she's so very Anna May Wrong.

I always thought Hepburn was prettier than Taylor. Then again I'm from Connecticut. We don't really go for floozies.

This thread got me all hot to watch the film again - but I couldn't find my DVD copy. It wasn't in my Hepburn collection. Then I finally found it in my gay collection. Then the damn thing wouldn't play. So I had to settle for the Maggie Smith TV version. Here's a question - are the two photos of Sebastian in the movie? The ones in the TV version that Maggie shows Rob Lowe as evidence that Sebastian didn't age in 20 years.

r154 Yes, and I would say there is at least a thirty to forty pound weight difference for Liz between those two films.

r173, wasn't there a good 10 years between the filming of APITS and SLS?

I think you've exaggerated the weight gain but don't you think 10-20 lbs might be reasonable in that time? How much have you gained in the last 10 years?

r174 It was eight years between the two films, and I don't think I've exaggerated her weight gain. I've gained seven pounds in eight years. What about you sweetheart?

Liz's cleavage seemed more than adequate without the extra pounds....

r173 - WHAT........... 30 to 40 pounds gained???

At 5'2" that much weight would have made her totally fat.

No, she didn't gain much weight between the 2 films. You can tell from the skimpy (for it's time) bathing suit scene.

Sebastian was a role for nobody but Miss Bradley Cooper

It is a hot mess of a movie but it has the best movie title ever. Just the title is so over the top dramatic.

"Scary hookups?"

No, scary cookups.

No way she gained 40 pounds then. 20 at most, plus 3 kids.

My favorite scene.

A quiet moment. I'd forgotten there were any in that. I enjoyed, but too bad they broke the shot And WHO was that doctor?

Night-blooming dementia praecox!

R186 I think it's David Cameron, the DL web site link is limited to 225 characters can't post a link

R156 happy to read agreement about the Connecticut ham in this flick.

r186 try using tinyurl to shorten link

unrelated to the movie, but I've always liked The Motels 1980's hit single "Suddenly Last Summer"

[quote] ...but her steadfast loyalty to the people she's loved has always impressed me.

Other than to her husbands?

I still don't quite get the whole "decoy" thing. If the guys were attracted to Kate, then Liz, how did Sebastian end up with them? The guys were bi? Or just got so excited by the gals, that any hole presented to them (like Sebastian s) was acceptable?

They probably said "before you can fuck me you have to let him suck your cock".

Somehow, I have some difficulty imagining those words from Ms. Hepburn.

The latter, r103.

Sorry, the above was intended for r193.

It's on TCM (eastern) again now.

That one is appetizing...

[quote]I still don't quite get the whole "decoy" thing. If the guys were attracted to Kate, then Liz, how did Sebastian end up with them? The guys were bi? Or just got so excited by the gals, that any hole presented to them (like Sebastian s) was acceptable?

Honey, don't waste time thinking it through. It's a stupid play.

I like the song "Suddenly Last Summer" by The Motels.

I think I first saw this movie on cable when I was about 15, and was into Tenessee Williams because we had been studying "Glass Menagerie" in school. A video in class said that TW had a difficult relationship with his father because young Tenessee "wasn't interested in sports"!

Anyway, that little elevator chair device Kate as Violet rode on the spiral staircase in her stately home fascinated me. So dramatic.

I agree that this movie was pretty over the top but how in the world did Hepburn and Taylor get Academy Award nominations? Was it an off year?