Taglines: Most women in her situation would do the very same thing! They just wouldn’t do it as well- or as often!
Reflections in a Golden Eye movie storyline. U.S. Army Major Weldon Penderton (Marlon Brando) is stationed on a base in the American south. He and his wife Leonora Penderton (Elizabeth Taylor) are in an unsatisfying marriage. Weldon is generally a solitary man who in his time alone tries to bolster his self image as he feels less than adequate as a man and a Major. He does not want to viewed like Captain Murray Weincheck (Irvin Dugan), who has been bypassed for promotion time and time again solely because he is seen as being too sensitive.
Self absorbed Leonora, when not focused on her passion of horses and riding, tries to maintain the façade of being what she sees an officer’s wife should be while she carries on an affair with their next door neighbor, married Lieutenant Colonel Morris Langdon (Brian Keith). Morris’ wife, Alison Langdon (Julie Harris), suffered a nervous breakdown three years ago after miscarrying her child, she is still with that nervous constitution.
Alison is generally drawn toward sensitive types, such as Captain Weincheck and their faithful flamboyant Filipino houseboy, Anacleto (Zorro David). Peripheral to the Pendertons’ lives is brooding Private L.G. Williams (Robert Forster), who Leonora knows as the enlisted man who works at the stables, and who Weldon asks to do some work around their house. While Weldon secretly becomes fixated on Williams, Williams in turn becomes secretly fixated on Leonora. The question becomes what emotions, many of those emotions being latent, will dictate what actions each of these people will make.
Reflections in a Golden Eye is a 1967 American drama film directed by John Huston based on the 1941 novel of the same name by Carson McCullers. It deals with elements of repressed sexuality, both homosexual and heterosexual, as well as voyeurism and murder. The film stars Marlon Brando and Elizabeth Taylor. The film was unsuccessful at the box office.
About the Story
The film tells of six central characters, their failures, obsessions and darkest desires. Set at a U.S. Army post in the South in the late 1940s, it features Major Weldon Penderton (Brando) and his wife Leonora (Taylor). Other central characters are Lieutenant Colonel Morris Langdon (Brian Keith) and his depressed wife Alison (Julie Harris), the Langdons’ houseboy Anacleto (Zorro David), and Private Ellgee Williams (Robert Forster).
Major Penderton assigns Private Williams to clear some foliage at his private officer’s quarters instead of his usual duty of maintaining the horses and stables. Penderton’s wife Leonora prepares to go horseback riding with Lt. Col. Langdon. Their affair is revealed, as well as Leonora’s strong bond with her horse Firebird. Williams is shown to be sympathetic to all the horses in the stable. One day while riding, Langdon, Leonora and Penderton see Williams riding nude and bareback on one of the military horses. Penderton is critical of this to Leonora but his secret interest in the free-spirited Williams is clear.
Leonora and Penderton have an argument that same night, in which Leonora taunts Penderton and strips naked in front of him. Williams watches them from outside the house, and from then on spies on them. He eventually breaks into the house and watches Leonora sleep at night. (She and Penderton have separate bedrooms.) As he continues this practice, Williams starts to go through Leonora’s belongings, especially her lingerie and perfume.
Penderton takes Leonora’s horse and rides wildly into the woods, passing the naked Williams at high speed. Penderton falls off, catching his foot in the stirrup, and is dragged for a distance. In a fit of uncontrollable rage, he beats the horse. Williams appears still naked, and takes the horse. As Penderton stands mute in the woods, Williams brings the horse back to the stable to tend its wounds. Penderton returns to the house, locked in his room while the party goes on outside. Upon finding out about her horse, Leonora interrupts her party and in front of the guests repeatedly strikes her husband in the face with her riding crop. Penderton becomes infatuated with Williams and starts to follow him around the camp.
After her newborn infant died, Alison Langdon mutilated herself while deeply depressed. Alison’s only bonds now are with her effeminate Filipino houseboy Anacleto and with Capt. Murray Weincheck, a cultured and sensitive soldier who is being harassed out of the army by his superiors. Aware of her husband’s adultery, Alison decides to divorce him. However, after witnessing Williams in Leonora’s room, she becomes traumatized. When she tries to leave him, Langdon commits her to a sanatorium. Langdon tells Leonora and Penderton that Alison was going insane.
Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967)
Directed by: John Huston
Starring: Marlon Brando, Elizabeth Taylor, Brian Keith, Julie Harris, Zorro David, Robert Forster, Irvin Dugan, Fay Sparks, Gordon Mitchell, Ed Metzger, John Callaghan
Screenplay by: Gladys Hill, Chapman Mortimer
Production Design by: Mario Del Papa
Cinematography by: Aldo Tonti, Oswald Morris
Film Editing by: Russell Lloyd
Costume Design by: Dorothy Jeakins
Art Direction by: Bruno Avesani
Music by: Toshiro Mayuzumi
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures, Seven Arts
Release Date: October 13, 1967
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