Can We Talk 2

A Streetcar Named Desire

         In the void of TV shows, I turned to TCM and watched A Streetcar Named Desire. The young, thin Marlon Brando is worth watching, although he wasn't quite the same as sexy guys in the movies today. Supposedly he made that t-shirt famous, but it didn't do anything for me.

         The older Vivien Leigh played the aging Southern belle quite well, giving us occasional glimpses of sensational Blanche DuBois in her younger days. The surprise for me was how hot Kim Hunter was. I've seen it long ago, but didn't remember the story line. (Maybe I didn't see all of it.) Blanche's younger sister, Stella, could go from poor and dowdy to sensuous in a split second.

         I'm accustomed to seeing Karl Malden in tough guy roles, so this one was a departure. His character was the only one with the remote possibility of saving Blanche, but his exalted view of his mother stopped him. He lived with the regret.

         As for Stanley Kowalski, Brando makes him intriguing and hateful all at once. He's violent and short-tempered. He has a lot of pride, and stands up for Poles like himself. While he is concerned about the way people perceive him and treat him, he treats other people harshly and bluntly. He is cruel to his friend, claiming he's helping him. He's cruel to Blanche and destroys her. He gets away with rape, and although no one wants to believe Blanche's claims, they all turn against him. All his male buddies, his wife, and his neighbors blame him for Blanche's final break down.

         Brando personifies the abusive husband. The t-shirt is now called a "wife beater". The one moment of victory is when Stella holds the baby and runs to a neighbor's house, saying she'll never go with him again. It ends with him bellowing "Stella" to no avail. He's robbed Blanche of everything, but he's lost everything in the process.

         My favorite line is the one Blanche tells the man from the "rest home in the country": "Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."

         The title is a puzzle answered right off. The streetcars all have regular words for names. The one that takes people to this down and out neighborhood in the Quarter is named "Desire".