Saw this at the cinema in 69 and it was like a shot to the heart by way of the gut. Spare and splendid, it is the grand rot of Williams' Old South clinging by its very nails to the last crumb in the quiet before the storm. The cinematography and music caress the dream scape performances of this fine trio of actors as they nail every scene. Its been forty years and I'm still in awe. Didn't know it was still in print and I'm getting it immediately.

This movie is one of my top twentyfive movies. A movie that polarizes
the audience, and forces each and every one of the audience to explore
our own personal prejudices, and the outright racisim that this film
exposes.
The fans of Tenessee Williams may not agree with the way his story was
related to film. But does that matter, if the film brings the cancer
of prejudices and racisim to light, in a manner that even the most dull
among us could draw a conclusion, without commiting emotional or mental
battery on the audience. The film is done in what I would classify
as a dark comedy, comedy that acts as a vehicle for the message.
James Coburn represents old south, and he doesn't miss a mark or a trick,
he played the roll as a character you could sympathize with on many
levels, without portraying the character as a pathetic relic of the old
south. While Lynn Redgrave seem to represent those in the middle,
those who's opinion sways in the current of the shifting power struggle,
and she does it in such a delicious white trash affectation, it brought
a wonderful aspect to the film. Robert Hooks, who represents the new
south, is magnificent, bringing all the hope, pain and long suffering
of a long standing family dispute, with a wicked sense of humor and
a sense of what is and what is going to be.
The three main actors all did an excellent acting job, bringing these
characters to life, 3-dimensional, living and breathing life, and getting
the point of the film, which is the message, in a manner that made it
seem that these people lived one plantation over from you.

Well, until "Not About Nightingales" makes it to the screen, "Last of the Mobile Hot-Shots" will be the last of original, never-before-filmed Tennessee Williams scripts. Some parts of this movie are so slow, but the images are timeless. James Coburn descending the stairs in a wedding dress, Lynn Redgrave winning on a TV game show, the flooding of the Mississippi delta are all hard-wired in my mind. After this 1969 Lumet film, only retreds of older Williams scripts ensue. Critics of the play "Kingdom of Earth" complain that it is so derivative of earlier material that neither the play nor the subsequent film version are sucessful. I tend to agree with the previous writer from Australia--the movie is subversive in the best sense of the word. Like the flood, it will creep up on you and change the way you see some things in your life, forever.

I loved this film. I loved the story and the stars and the way out way that it was staged. I have not read the original play but I felt that this film caught the spirit that is Tennesee Williams not like the mess made of some of his other plays including A Street Car Named Desire. This film showed the sickness, the desperation and the lies that make up so many lives. I was so surprised to note that it has been unpopular and I cannot understand why, except that people missed the point. James Coburn always excellent, was a wonderful pick as the desperate, dying southern aristocrat living on hate and Lyn Redgrave was so loud and so lush that it was important to have a contrast in the half brother. This was well done and he was not just more of the same. It was in the colour of the film and the tension of the impending death and disaster (which would be first) that the film's tragedy was really felt.

Only one of the most dreadful movies ever made, especially considering the big-name talent involved in the production. It's the kind of movie Ed Wood might have made if he'd had any money.