A Streetcar Named Desire

Name: A Streetcar Named Desire
Genre: Drama
Released: September 19, 1951
Duration: 122 min
Rating: 97
Cast: Ann Dere, Karl Malden, Kim Hunter, Marlon Brando, Nick Dennis

1951

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 20 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 80 Ratings

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8.2

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8.2	User Score Universal acclaim based on 80 Ratings

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Streetcar Named Desire, A (Trailer 1)

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Movie Details & Credits

Warner Bros. | Release Date: September 19, 1951 | M/PG

Starring: Ann Dere, Karl Malden, Kim Hunter, Marlon Brando, Nick Dennis, Peg Hillias, Richard Garrick, Rudy Bond, Vivien Leigh, Wright King

Summary: Disturbed Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh) moves in with her sister in New Orleans and is tormented by her brutish brother-in-law (Marlon Brando) while her reality crumbles around her.

Director: Elia Kazan

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: M/PG

Runtime: 122 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Roger Ebert

You could make a good case that no performance had more influence on modern film acting styles than Brando's work as Stanley Kowalski, Tennessee Williams' rough, smelly, sexually charged hero. Read full review

100

Marjorie Baumgarten

Streetcar is always a wonderful screen drama and now, also, a study in film archeology. [Director's Cut] Read full review

100

Jay Carr

What makes A Streetcar Named Desire rewarding to watch today, especially on a big screen, is the same thing that made it so cherishable in the first place - Williams' heartbreaking lyricism, the titanic performances by Vivien Leigh's Blanche and Marlon Brando's Stanley, and Williams' most perfect realization of his ongoing central theme - the extermination of sensitivity and refinement by the brutes and carnivores of the world. [Director's Cut; 18 Feb 1994, p.37]

100

Pauline Kael

Elia Kazan’s direction is often stagy, and the sets and the arrangement of actors are frequently too transparently “worked out,” but who cares when you’re looking at two of the greatest performances ever put on film and listening to some of the finest dialogue ever written by an American? Read full review

Dave Kehr

They are also great performances, and Hawks could have taken heart from Kim Hunter's work, which provides superb, understated balance to the famous fireworks of Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh. Kazan's direction is often questionably, distractingly baroque, swelling up the considerable subtlety of the Tennessee Williams play, but if the hothouse style was ever justified, this is the occasion. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

Tennessee Williams' exciting Broadway stage play - winner of the Pulitzer Prize and New York Drama Critics award during the 1947-48 season - has been screenplayed into an even more absorbing drama of frustration and stark tragedy. Read full review

David Jenkins

Kazan’s direction simmers when it needs to boil, placing all its chips on the battered decor and ethereal lighting, leaving you to wonder what fun Hitchcock or Preminger would have with the sexually pulsating, pressure-cooker backdrop gifted to them in the source material. Read full review

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User Reviews

Onlyclassicvg1

Sep 17, 2022

This film noir portrait of corruption and morally-compromised obsessions stars Welles as Hank Quinlan, a crooked police chief who frames a Mexican youth as part of an intricate criminal plot. Charlton Heston plays an honorable Mexican narcotics investigator who clashes with the bigotedThis film noir portrait of corruption and morally-compromised obsessions stars Welles as Hank Quinlan, a crooked police chief who frames a Mexican youth as part of an intricate criminal plot. Charlton Heston plays an honorable Mexican narcotics investigator who clashes with the bigoted Quinlan after probing into his dark past. A memorable… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Douglasspompeu

Jun 10, 2020

A perfect combination of great written screenplay, magical acting and totally precise directing. It will touch the bottom of your heart, showing the fragility of human being and the eternal search for beauty.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

kyle20ellis

Mar 21, 2022

What can I say? A Streetcar Named Desire is a superb film, elevated especially by superb writing and performances. The film does look beautiful, the photography is very skillful especially. Alex North's music is nice and authentic, while the story is always gripping and the direction veryWhat can I say? A Streetcar Named Desire is a superb film, elevated especially by superb writing and performances. The film does look beautiful, the photography is very skillful especially. Alex North's music is nice and authentic, while the story is always gripping and the direction very good. As I have said already, the script and the acting drive A Streetcar Named Desire. Like with Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, the homosexual references are cut/not as prevalent, but I still cannot deny that the script was superb, dark, witty and tense. The acting is excellent too. Karl Malden is indeed great, but Marlon Brando gives one of his finest performances ever as the brutal Stanley, while Vivian Leigh also excels in a difficult role as Blanche and the pair while together sizzle with sexual tension. All in all, brilliant. 10/10 Bethany Cox… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

AndrewHord

May 29, 2020

I think,this film doesn`t deserve all the admiration of it.Besides Brando`s performance ,there is nothing to look for.It is good film,but very overrated

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

CodyZamboni

Sep 14, 2019

Brando's star making, ground breaking performance as the brutish Stanley Kowalski, is what I"ll remember most from this film. Vivien Leigh's fragile, damaged Southern belle provides the tragic heartbreak. Director Elia Kazan has stagy compositions, but it's his work the actors that makesBrando's star making, ground breaking performance as the brutish Stanley Kowalski, is what I"ll remember most from this film. Vivien Leigh's fragile, damaged Southern belle provides the tragic heartbreak. Director Elia Kazan has stagy compositions, but it's his work the actors that makes this flick fly.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

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