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| Plot Summary: In this melodrama about a degenerate and wealthy Texan family, Rock Hudson plays Mitch Wayne who falls in love with his best friend’s wife, Lucy (Lauren Bacall). Lucy and Kyle Hadley’s marital bliss soon disintegrates when Hadley appears to be impotent and Lucy falls pregnant, raising suspicions - much to the glee of Hadley’s sister Marylee. The film displays Sirk’s penchant for split personalities, and there are plenty of objects and symbols of power and sexuality. (Summary from Cinema Goethe Montreal) |
| My view on the movie: The back of the Written on the Wind box calls it a stylishly debauched tale of a Texas oil magnate brought down by excesses of his spoiled offspring. I prefer to think of it as a stylishly debached film brought down by the excesses of its own crappy storylines and plot contrivances. Needless to say, I did not love this movie. The subtlities of character viewed in All that Heaven Allows are long gone. The use of the word "love" is almost as abundant as the amount of seats in the Comcast Center and yet, as empty as attendance to a Woman's Basketball game. The relationships aren't real. They're rushed and imcomplete. They're poorly developed. But they are most certainly not real. However, I think what displeased me the most about this picture was how obvious it was. That is to say, it was obvious who we should root for from the beginning. Rock Hudson's character Mitch was smart, attractive, and "genuine". Of course, we were supposed to want his character to win the prize female Lauren Bacall played. But I didn't. I felt like I was being force fed the "support Mitch" pitch. I liked Kyle, Mitch's spoiled, bumbling, alcoholic, violent best friend. Yes, his character was over the top. But at least he had character. Mitch could have been replaced with a cardboard cut-out for all I cared -- and that's saying something because I adore Rock Hudson. Kyle, played by Robert Stack, was desperate and sad. He "needed so much and had so little." He was a failure from the starting gates, and everyone seemed determined to keep him in that place. Albeit, some hope did spring from his father and wife. But neither character really respected him. I thought perhaps his wife did, but that thought was obliterated when she kissed his best friend for no apparent reason but to serve the shaky plot. All in all, this movie was no good. I did learn a few lessons though: 1) Sirk is masterful in his use of colors and sets. The beauty of the movie almost took away from the sourness of it all. And 2) Apparently, Texas is big on guns because every character in this story had one. |