Julie Harris

Reflections in a Golden Eye

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Marlon Brando and Elizabeth Taylor

Like a yard sale of the junk in Tennessee Williams’s mind, Reflections in a Golden Eye is a trawl of pre-loved Southern gothic artefacts in various states of disrepair. Directed by John Huston in 1967, it was adapted from a novel by Carson McCullers – a Williams protégé. Brace yourselves. What might you expect to find at that yard sale? Elizabeth Taylor for one. A range of variable Southern accents for another. Quite possibly a manly man who is secretly gay. Excesses of booze and other narcotics. Lonely people. The repressed. People who are victims of themselves. Self-harm. Sexual transgression. Broken patriarchy. A love of animals and a disdain for humanity. In beautiful, … Read more

Requiem for a Heavyweight

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Mountain Rivera next to a poster advertising his fight

There are two versions of Requiem for a Heavyweight. The original was a 1956 TV movie starring Jack Palance as the ageing, punch-drunk boxer finally hitting the existential canvas. This movie version from six years later swaps out Palance for Anthony Quinn. Ralph Nelson directed both and preferred Palance – “truer to the role” was his verdict in a letter he wrote to the press. That’s remarkable in itself, writing to the press to diss an actor. I have not seen Palance’s version but it must be pretty good to come in ahead of Quinn, who overdoes it a bit, for sure – Marlon Brando in “contender” mode crossed with Quasimodo – but … Read more