Directed by Elia Kazan • 1956 • United States
Starring Carroll Baker, Karl Malden, Eli Wallach
One of the most controversial films of the 1950s, this scorching black comedy was condemned by the National Legion of Decency and singled out as “just possibly the dirtiest American-made motion picture that has ever been legally exhibited.” As in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, director Elia Kazan and writer Tennessee Williams (adapting one of his own plays) broke new ground in depicting sexuality on-screen in this torrid tale of the love triangle that develops between a Mississippi cotton miller (Karl Malden), his nineteen-year-old virgin bride (Carroll Baker), and the romantic rival (Eli Wallach) who sets out to seduce her.
Up Next in Southern Gothic
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The Paperboy
Directed by Lee Daniels • 2012 • United States
Starring Nicole Kidman, Zac Efron, Matthew McConaugheyLee Daniels’s follow-up to his breakthrough feature PRECIOUS is a deliciously pulpy, swamp-steamy slice of Southern gothic delirium featuring an all-star cast led by Matthew McConaughey, playing...
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Wild at Heart
Directed by David Lynch • 1990 • United States
Starring Laura Dern, Nicolas Cage, Willem DafoeDavid Lynch throws pulp melodrama, THE WIZARD OF OZ, surreal-kinky violence, and Elvis into a cauldron and brews this nightmarish soap opera in which outlaw lovers Sailor (Nicolas Cage) and Lula (Laura...
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Written on the Wind
Directed by Douglas Sirk • 1956 • United States
Starring Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, Robert StackThe Technicolor expressionism of Douglas Sirk reached a fever pitch with this operatic tragedy, which finds the director pushing his florid visuals and his critiques of American culture to their sub...
