review for A Streetcar Named Desire on AllMovie

This 1995 television adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire reunites the stars of the poorly received 1992 Broadway adaptation, Jessica Lange (Blanche DuBois) and Alec Baldwin (Stanley Kowalski). After it debuted on network television, it fared better with critics than the stage production, garnering Lange and Baldwin Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. Lange generally excels as the traditional stage DuBois: clever and coquettish, then pitiful and hapless, while descending ever deeper into a fantasy world of Old South gentility. Whether Lange's portrayal has enough verve to rival Vivian Leigh's nuanced performance in Elia Kazan's heralded 1951 film adaptation of the play is arguable. Lange's co-star, Baldwin, performs well enough to make his character believable, but he lacks the viscera to match the earthy brutality of Marlon Brando's tour de force portrayal of Kowalski in the 1951 film. Consequently, the collision between the real world of Kowalski and the make-believe world of DuBois jars but does not shock, weakening the outcome of the play. Diane Lane (Stella) and John Goodman (Mitch) received mixed reviews in supporting roles. Perhaps, in the end, the success or failure of actors negotiating the emotional maze of a Tennessee Williams play lies entirely in the eyes and ears of the beholders--not infrequently befuddled beholders. One clear advantage, though, that the 1995 adaptation has over the 1951 film is that it gives viewers the whole play, including controversial scenes and dialogue censored out of the earlier version.