Watching all the movies on the Warner Bros. 50-movie box set that I bought for cheap. This week the random number generator gets all steamy and sweaty during A Streetcar Named Desire.

Here’s what happens: After losing all her wealth, Blanche Dubois travels to New Orleans, moving in with her sister Stella and Stella’s troublemaking husband Stanley. Stanley and Blanche butt heads in a big way, and there’s a whole lot of drama going on in that tiny apartment.

Why it’s famous: Tennessee Williams writes, and Marlon Brando, Vivian Leigh, and Kim Hunter act their way through the most dysfunctional of relationships.

Get your film degree: Marlon Brando was allegedly an unknown before this, and it’s easy to see why Streetcar made him an overnight movie star. He steals every scene he’s in. Also, he’s ripped! He has Affleck-as-Batman arms. Leigh and Hunter are both good, but this is Brando’s show.

Movie geekishness: The movie’s other big star is writer Tennessee Williams. Not only could Williams tear his characters apart so all their foibles and ugly sides are laid bare, but he did it with dialogue that is, for lack of a better word, poetry. Great script, is what I’m saying.

Thoughts upon this viewing: A Streetcar Named Desire can be a tough watch at times, as it really digs deep into these folks’ troubled emotions. That is, however, the makings of pure drama.

Next week: Not enough gun.

****

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