BUtterfield 8 (1960)

People are voting emotionally.

I wanted to but couldn't!

Highly Overrated But Still Good

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

"BUtterfield 8" has to be one of the most undeserving movies to win an Academy Award (alongside the glorification of rich English people that was "Chariots of Fire"). I suppose that it's trying to make a point about child abuse, but it comes out as two hours of blandness. It truly goes overboard on trying to be a soap opera. It's well known that Elizabeth Taylor didn't like it; she and co-star Eddie Fisher (her then-husband) apparently called it "Butterball 4". The Best Actress Oscar should've gone to Shirley MacLaine for "The Apartment" (the story goes that they gave it to Liz basically as a get well present after her tracheotomy).The car chase and its shocking result turn out to be the only interesting part of the movie. If you're looking for a poodle skirt-era soaper that's at least memorable, I recommend "A Summer Place": it shows how the parents are (meanwhile, the Troy Donahue and Sandra Dee characters actually have a healthy, loving relationship but their parents insist on keeping them apart because they're "not right" for each other). As for John O'Hara, I haven't read any of his works, but a good adaptation of one of his works is the Paul Newman-Joanne Woodward movie "From the Terrace". Daniel Mann's good movies - that I've seen at least - are "Come Back, Little Sheba", "Teahouse of the August Moon" and "Willard".

The romantic life of a fashionable Manhattan beauty (Elizabeth Taylor) who is part model, part call-girl, and all man-trap.According to MGM records, the film made $6.8 million in the US and Canada and $3.2 million in other countries, resulting in a profit to the studio of $1,857,000 - making it MGM's biggest hit of the year. This is hardly surprising, given the subject matter. It is very much in the vein of "Breakfast at Tiffany's", though far more open about its main character. (One could watch "Breakfast" and never realize what Hepburn was if they weren't paying attention.) Elizabeth Taylor won a best actress Oscar, which is probably well-deserved. Maybe not her best-known role in retrospect (few today have probably heard of this film), but certainly a nice showcase of her talents.

I love BUTTERFIELD 8 but agree it's more good than great -- or, as the phrase goes, "great trash".I don't mind Eddie Fisher, but Harvey is too sleazy (and not in a good way) for my tastes in the role. I always recast him in my head with James Mason. I also believe Taylor very much deserved her Oscar for this, even if she didn't think so (and her bitterness stems from the fact MGM forced her to do the movie after telling Mike Todd she wouldn't have to make anymore pictures she didn't like before her contract expired in 1960). She's fabulous in this. Her "I loved it!" confessional scene is kind of jaw-dropping... And I can watch her to-period "tragic" car accident till I'm blue in the face from howling like a hyena. It's laugh-out-loud funny.Part of why the picture almost works is of course the era, that fresh, haunted, end-of-the-world, early-early-'60s thing going for it, albeit in Ektachrome or whatever the hell they were using... Funny how the pastels of the late-'50s/early-'60s were so much more vibrant: I loved the soft blue phone and the soft pink phone set against the pink bathroom tile -- those sooooo bring back childhood memories... It's hard to describe the look that these had from that period; they were almost child's playhouse floating-on-a-cloud colors. And the cars which were easter egg colors and even primary colors. Every car color has been so muted for decades now -- you never see a primary color for a car anymore.Semi-great sudser, lifted to a level of art by a defiant Taylor.

BUtterfield 8 (1960) * 1/2 (out of 4) Elizabeth Taylor won her first of two Oscars for this melodrama where she plays a prostitute who begins to fall in love with a rich client (Laurence Harvey) who just happens to be married. The troubled woman also has feelings for another man (Eddie Fisher) who is attached to another woman even though he may have feelings for the bad girl. The novel that this film was based on was about a true person whose troubled life eventually had her body washing up on shore during 1931 but this tragic tale has been watered down so that MGM wouldn't have any trouble with the production code but another problem is that they wanted to add that typical MGM polish but this is one case where it really killed the picture. Taylor went on record several times saying she hated this picture and thought she only won the Oscar due to her illness at the time and after watching this movie I Must say that I agree with her. This is especially true when you look at some of the other performances nominated. With that said, Taylor turns in a good performance but for an actress of her greatness you still can't help but say this is one of her lesser performances. It's also well-known that Taylor was wanting to finish off her contract with MGM so that she could go to Fox and pick up a million-dollar check for CLEOPATRA but I wouldn't say this effected the performance any. I think the actress was smart enough to see how poor this material was and it's fair to say that everyone was hampered with the screenplay. The screenplay is a complete mess as it really never seems to know what type of story it wants to tell and there are way too many times where a door is opened and something dark is about to come forward but for no apparent reason the subject and tone changes. If you pay attention during the first scene between Taylor and Fisher you'll notice what appears to be dubbed dialogue and I'm curious if this was done because the original was too "dirty" or if perhaps it was just that bad and they had the lines changed later. Either way, the problems continue from there because the screenplay doesn't offer up a single character that you like. I don't mind this when you have a hard film telling an ugly story but that's not the case here. The characters all come off rather unlikeable and when the film wants you to feel something for them you just can't because you don't care. Both Harvey and Fisher are decent in their roles but the screenplay gives them very little to do other than stand behind Taylor. Taylor, as I said, isn't great here but she at least manages to make you keep your eye on her. The minor sexuality in the film is brought to life by Taylor who looks as beautiful as ever. BUTTERFIELD 8 is a pretty poor movie from start to finish. There's not an ounce of life to be found, the story is a mess and you can't help but with some of the MGM shine had been removed so that the film could have dealt with the real subject at hand. As it is this film is certainly only for buffs who want to check out everything that has won an Oscar.