The Fugitive Kind

Synopsis: Having fled New Orleans to avoid arrest, the undeniably alluring Valentine "Snakeskin" Xavier (Val), a trouble-prone guitar-playing drifter, wanders into a small Mississippi town aiming to go straight and lead a quiet, simple life. He gets a job in the dry goods store owned by a sexually-frustrated middle-aged woman named Lady Torrence, whose sadistic elderly husband, Jabe, is dying. With an obscure past and passions of her own, Lady finds herself attracted to Val, pulsating with passion anew, as he presents an arousing antidote to her bitter marriage and small-town hum-drum life, but also vying for Val's attention are the alcoholic, sex-crazed Carol Cutrere and the unhappily-married Vee Talbot. Each bring their share of problems into Val's plans, himself equally tempted by these women though he succumbs to the charms of Lady. But the jealous Jabe is friends with Sheriff Talbot, who's also Vee's wife - things can't possibly end well for Val and Lady. The screenplay by Meade Roberts and
Genre: Drama, Romance
Director(s): Sidney Lumet
Production: United Artists
  2 wins.
 
IMDB:
7.2
Rotten Tomatoes:
60%
APPROVED
Year:
1960
119 min
1,283 Views


Tell the clerk your name.

- Xavier.

- With an "x" or an "s"?

I told you before,

but you just don't remember me.

I remember you though,

you're also known as Snakeskin.

Now, Xavier, will you give...

an account to this court of the precise

offense that led up to your arrest?

Well...

my guitar was in hock...

down at

the South Rampart Street pawnshop.

It was on display...

in the loan shark's window.

It's my life's companion.

- And...

- Are you drunk?

No, just...

I'm tired.

You want to rest for six weeks

in the house of detention?

No, sir, I don't want to do that.

My guitar was in hock...

and it was the first time in my life.

And, you know,

it gave me a real bad feeling.

I can't explain it to you.

But everybody has...

something that's very important to them.

With me...

it's my guitar.

And you know it was...

a gift from a very great man, Leadbelly.

I ain't asking no questions

about your guitar.

What happened the night

before the party was raided?

Well, I had to find some way, you know,

to get my guitar out of hock.

- So I ran into Charlie Five.

- Charlie who?

Well, his name is...

Cinque, Charlie Cinque,

but they call him Charlie Five because...

"cinq" means five in French...

and you can hit on him for $5

if you really need it.

And so he came up to me

and approached me in the Starlight Lounge.

It was about 6:
00 that day...

in the p. m.

And he came up and approached me

and offered me the job.

What job?

I thought you already knew about the job.

You know, the court could hear you better

if you'd hold your head up when you talk.

I am.

What did he ask you to do?

He asked me to...

Well, he wanted me

to entertain at this party...

and I told him my guitar is in hock.

He says, "It doesn't matter,

you don't need your guitar. "

And he says, "All you got to do is just,

you know, be part of this...

"you know, party. "

He offered to pay you for taking part

in this party which was raided the night...

on the premises of Bourbon Street,

over at the Club Rendezvous?

- Is that it?

- Yeah.

And you started this disturbance

at this party?

Yes, sir, I did. I just...

I was fed up. I got disgusted.

I was sick and...

I felt like my whole life

was something sick on my stomach...

and I just had to throw it up.

So, I threw it up...

and I started to bust up the joint.

- You smashed up the place?

- Yeah.

Well, Snakeskin, if I let you go...

how soon can I expect you back here again?

I'm never coming here again.

I'll never be down here again, Your Honor.

It's about time for the...

pawnshop to open there

on South Rampart Street...

and I'm going down there

and get my guitar out of hock...

and I'm going to split out of this city...

and go for good.

All that, you know, bunch, all the people

that know me or thought they'd known me...

they're never going to see me again.

Well... And I'm all through

with those parties, too.

And that's the truth.

That's the truth.

Eddie!

Ed!

I thought you were that boy

that broke out of the lockup.

No, ma'am.

My car quit on me down the road

and this is the only lighted window I seen.

Well, my husband's Sheriff Talbot.

He's out with the posse

tracking down that poor boy.

Yes, ma'am.

- Your car quit on you?

- That's right, ma'am.

Come in.

Well, I don't know who to call at this hour.

I'm just looking for a little dry place

to sleep, ma'am.

I don't need a bed or nothing...

just a little dry place.

If it wouldn't make you too nervous,

you could sleep in the lockup.

I don't want to put you

to any trouble, ma'am.

No. No, it's no trouble.

Did somebody break out of here tonight?

Yes. Eddie.

I'm rarely disappointed

when I put trust in people...

but I was this time.

Tonight, when I brought him his supper...

instead of putting it

through the slot in the door...

I unlocked the door of the lockup...

and he just shoved past me and he ran out.

And he said, "Excuse me. "

I think they got him.

Stop now.

It's all over, ma'am.

I think I'd like a cup of coffee.

- Would you care for a cup?

- Yes, ma'am.

I've been painting all night.

There's nothing more exhausting...

than that kind of work

on the face of the earth.

It just leaves you burned out inside.

Still, but when you're finished

with a picture...

you feel elevated.

- Is this the picture?

- Yes.

Yes, that's the Church of the Resurrection.

The church supposed to be blue?

No, that's how I felt it.

You see, I paint a thing how I feel it.

Thank you, ma'am.

- You know what I mean, Mr...

- Yes, ma'am. Xavier is my name.

Valentine Xavier.

Are you a musician, Mr. Xavier?

Well, I used to be a sort of

entertainer in nightspots in New Orleans.

Well, if you're looking

for that kind of work...

you won't find

that kind of work around here.

No, ma'am, I quit it. I'm...

Today's my 30th birthday, and I...

- Thank you.

- Here.

That's nice.

- I'm not young anymore.

- You're young at 30.

You're not young at 30

if you've been on a party since you were 15.

You mean...

that you want to turn over

a new leaf in your life?

That'd suit me perfectly.

If you're sincere, and you're really through

with night places...

I think I could help you to find a job.

- Well, what kind of work would that be?

- It'd be clerking.

That's at the Torrance Mercantile Store.

Jabe Torrance is coming home

from the hospital in Memphis tomorrow.

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Tennessee Williams

Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983) was an American playwright. Along with Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the three foremost playwrights of 20th-century American drama.After years of obscurity, at age 33 he became suddenly famous with the success of The Glass Menagerie (1944) in New York City. This play closely reflected his own unhappy family background. It was the first of a string of successes, including A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), and Sweet Bird of Youth (1959). With his later work, he attempted a new style that did not appeal to audiences. Increasing alcohol and drug dependence inhibited his creative expression. His drama A Streetcar Named Desire is often numbered on short lists of the finest American plays of the 20th century alongside Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.Much of Williams' most acclaimed work has been adapted for the cinema. He also wrote short stories, poetry, essays and a volume of memoirs. In 1979, four years before his death, Williams was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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