DIRECTOR: Edward Dmytryk
Laurence Harvey’s Dove Linkhorn and Jane Fonda’s Kitty Twist meet on a dusty Texas road during the Great Depression and decide to hitchhike together to New Orleans. Dove is searching for his lost love, Hallie (Capucine), and when they arrive in the Big Easy, he finds her working at the Doll House, an upscale French Quarter bordello run by Jo (Barbara Stanwyck). The film strongly suggests that Jo and Hallie share a lesbian relationship. Hallie, unhappy with her life but accustomed to its comforts, continues working for Jo and hesitates to risk everything for the married life Dove proposes.
Stanwyck—looking decidedly butch—and Capucine—radiantly femme—have several compelling scenes together, their dynamic far more charged than anything involving Harvey or Fonda. Harvey is wan, and Fonda, still early in her career, isn’t given enough to do. The result is a film with flashes of queer electricity but not enough narrative or emotional momentum to sustain it. It’s no fun.
The film also stars Anne Baxter as the owner of the diner where Harvey gets a job, as well as Joanna Moore (mother of Tatum O’Neill) and Juanita Moore (no relation).
Adapted by John Fante from the 1956 novel of the same name by Nelson Algren.
Music by Elmer Bernstein.
