BUtterfield 8 (1960) – full review!

BUtterfield 8 (1960) – full review!

Directed by Daniel Mann with a screenplay by John Michael Hayes (Peyton Place (1957)) and Charles Schnee (The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)) this slightly above average if dated drama earned Elizabeth Taylor her first Best Actress Oscar on her fourth nomination. The film’s Color Cinematography was also nominated. She plays Gloria Wandrous a wanton girl with the titled message service that models clothes occasionally. In fact it’s an ideal job for her because she gets to frequent bars where she seemingly knows all the male clientele from past liaisons. Enter wealthy Weston Liggett (Laurence Harvey) her latest pickup who insults her by daring to leave her money. Insulted by his gesture and because he’d ripped her clothes the night before she leaves his apartment wearing his "home with her mother" wife’s mink. Liggett’s problem is that everything has been handed to him once he married Emily (Dina Merrill) whose father set him up in the company business such that he’s never had a challenge. Even though he initially dismisses her as beneath him (in class) Gloria becomes his challenge.

Gloria’s problem is more serious and stereotypical – her childhood was fatherless and more (revealed near its end) plus her mother (Mildred Dunnock) who refuses to acknowledge what her daughter has become remains blissfully ignorant. However Gloria does have an old friend Steve (her real husband Eddie Fisher) that tolerates her even though he’s engaged to Norma (Susan Oliver) who’s not so understanding about her fiancé’s relationship with Gloria. Mrs. Wandrous has a straightforward neighbor (Betty Field) also her best friend who’s not too shy to "call a slut a slut". In fact the film’s best scenes are those in which Taylor’s character’s character is laid bare amidst snappy banter with Field’s and Oliver’s characters. Jeffrey Lynn plays a lawyer whose simple practice Harvey’s character covets. Kay Medford plays a roadside waitress Gloria sees as her horrible future; George Voskovec plays Gloria’s shrink.

*** SPOILERS ***

When Gloria tells Steve that a relative took advantage of her (sexually) at an early age and that she liked it it effectively convinces him to finally marry Norma. When Emily returns to her husband it’s coincidentally at the same time that Gloria realizes she has her coat and tries to return it. Weston is so messed up emotionally that he chases after Gloria who ends up killing herself when she drives her car off an embankment. It’s possible that he’ll return to Emily and they’ll live happily ever after.

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