People are voting emotionally.

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

When an actor like Geraldine Page or even an old timer like Una Merkel gets to sink their teeth into those inimitable, poetic, deliriously 'over the top' Tennessee Williams lines of dialogue one cannot help but share in their thrill. Gerry Page never 'moons' over her Buchanan boy - that is why she is so powerful here where so many other revivals of the play have failed. Rather than having Alma acting like a 'love-struck teenager', Page plays Alma as fiercely engagé with Buchanan in an adult and complex way. Few people mention the cruelly ironic aspect of the ending in that the now 'respectable' bourgeois Dr. Buchanan is Alma's 'drug dealer'. "You'll be surprised how infinitely merciful these pills are. The prescription number is 96814. I think of it as the telephone number of God!"

nothing new . at the first sigh. the atmosphere, the final fall, the love as ambiguous desire, the ordinary too late for the essential gesture. at the second sigh, a revelation. because Geraldine Page and Laurence Harvey are the perfect interpreters of a story who represents a fascinating game of nuances. a love story in the Williams style who conquest new nuances in the performances of the lead actors.Alma by Geraldine Page is fragile and tender and the perfect victim of her feelings, family and illusions. she is one of many victims from the Williams plays but the great familiarity with the role on the stage imposes the right tone for each gesture and word and decision. the transformation , the profound change of Alma is more than dramatic. it becomes the fall who remands so many from every day stories . and this could be the detail for impress.

I love Tennessee Williams' plays and Geraldine Page is one of the best actresses ever in my opinion. I remember this movie from my childhood and loved finding it the other night on one of the classic movie stations. I've seen it many, many times.The Long Hot Summer is another fabulous film, but there are so many good films from the 60's! If you're young and think the movies from decades ago have nothing to offer, think again. There are some great performances and performers out there you might enjoy. Don't reject them just because they are "old". They are not old news.

Tennessee Williams is at his best here in this great play made into a startling motion picture.The phenomenal Geraldine Page is absolutely brilliant here as a repressed spinster who finds love with the doctor next door only to throw it away.Williams continues his never ending attack on religion, rebelliousness, drug addiction and dysfunctional love.Una Merkel, who received a supporting Oscar nomination for her role as Alma's (Page's) mother, is excellent here. She is weird, a manipulator and pulls out every stop in a very good performance. Too bad that her role was concentrated solely at the beginning of the film.Laurence Harvey has what it takes as the wild doctor brought down to reality when his lifestyle causes the tragic demise of his father.Miss Page exhibits every nuance in playing the part that made her such a great actress- a neurotic woman, in conflict with society, or is she a victim of it?