Countdown to 5K! – #49 – BUtterfield 8 (1960)

This is my 4974th Review

Original Rating prediction – 9/10

 

“Command performances leave me quite cold. I’ve had more fun in the back seat of a ’39 Ford than I could ever have in the vault of the Chase Manhattan Bank. ” – Gloria

Number of Times Seen – 1 (12 Feb 2019)

Brief Synopsis – A “kept” woman in New York City tries to get her life on track, but feels trapped in the world she finds herself in unable to get free.

My Take on it – This is a film that I chose for this series because it’s a movie that I’ve been interested in seeing for years because it was Elizabeth Taylor’s role that win her an Oscar for Best Actress.

I’d heard that this was a really enjoyable film and had high expectations that were completely shattered because the hype of this film is too great and it doesn’t live up to it at all.

The story is quite slow moving and meanders along too much throughout.

Taylor is ok in the lead, but this is not a performance that one would normally consider Oscar worthy and I’m a bit surprised that she won for this.

This kind of story has been done much better many times before and since this film was made and the fact that the plot line is pretty timeless helps it be recycled throughout the years.

There are a number of theme sin this film that are left quite ambiguous and are discussed in code instead of outright and that hurts this film’s appeal.

I realize that at the time this film was made, there were still certain subjects nit discussed in public, but things are much too ambiguous here and leave the audience questioning much more than it answered outright as the story moves along.

Bottom Line – Not as interesting as the hype makes it out to be. Taylor is fine in the lead, but I’m still unconvinced that this was a performance worthy of a Best Actress Oscar.  The story meanders along too much and this kind of story has been done so much better numerous times since the overall theme is quite timeless.  A number of themes in the film are not discussed outright and are mentioned in code which makes sense for the time this film was made, but that also takes away from things because they are left in a very ambiguous way instead of clear cut for the audience to know things as they should.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Elizabeth Taylor had stated many times over the years that she disliked this movie and felt she won the Oscar because of her recent illness rather than for the quality of her performance. (From IMDB)

Rating – BAFTA Worthy (5/10)

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