Applause Meter
The movie is about a high-priced call girl. Elizabeth Taylor as Gloria Wandrous is a prostitute but Hollywood, in 1960, still bound by antiquated production codes couldn't reveal her real resume. This leaves the film uncomfortably constrained and contrived. The audience has to go with what's presented, a story line crafted to sanitize the world's oldest profession. So the censors have given us a character Gloria, who is a "club girl," a model paid to wear fashionable clothes and be seen in trendy watering holes. These gathering places are frequented by men in suits, the wealthy and influential whose hands are never empty of a glass, downing one drink than another, the highball or martini. Gloria, a "good time girl," is promiscuous, BUT what she's really selling and out to get is "true love." She herself is an elitist in her own line of work, not just a common gold digger, but also a girl with an elevated purpose. And then in comes one of the regulars Gloria has hooked, Weston Liggett played by Laurence Harvey. Harvey's an actor accomplished at playing characters practicing deception and enduring subsequent remorse, and he's able here to deliver this type of troubled personality. Liggett, we soon learn is suffering from a terrible malady. He is married to a wealthy society woman, and works for the family company where he feels undervalued and unproductive. With all the entitlements of the good life, he is still a wretch, enslaved to a life of dull, staid opulence. His wife Emily, played by Dina Merrill, is the ever suffering, understanding spouse, putting up with her husband's philandering. His wife's indulgence of his shortcomings only increases Liggett's self-loathing and guilt. What's a young, good-looking man with money to do when he's destined to endure such a banal lifestyle? Why take up with a fancy slut and then of course, fall obsessively, madly in love with her. Eddie Fisher, Taylor's husband at the time, is awkwardly positioned into this melodrama, giving less a performance than a "walk through." He plays Gloria's childhood friend Steve who serves as her devoted, unfailing confidante. He's always there for her when she is in need of emotional support, which for Gloria means an almost daily cry for help. Steve's jealous finance Norma hates his relationship with Gloria. Susan Oliver as Norma gives a serviceable performance as she has little to do but by turns look aggrieved and frustrated. Her confrontations with her boyfriend Steve are verbal jabs, inviting Steve to challenge her dramatic statements, ones usually centered around Gloria's cheap behavior: "Is she not the biggest tramp in the whole city!" Since Manhattan contains somewhere around 8 million inhabitants…this is certainly quite a distinction. Mildred Dunnock is Gloria's mother, a woman living a genteel life of denial. Her daughter is a "good girl." Mrs. Wandrous' one time man friend, and prospective husband, sexually abused the young teen-aged Gloria, a heinous exploitation over a protracted period of time. Whether the mother even knows of her daughter's childhood ordeal is never in fact made clear to the audience. Kay Medford, provides the most noteworthy, spirited performance in this otherwise dour production. She is the ironically named Happy, the owner of a popular motel, a rendezvous for illicit love. Happy, herself a "good time girl" in her younger days, maintains a cynical but upbeat philosophical outlook on life. She's a self-defined expert on male/female relationships, the guru ready to dole out wisdom and advice gained from her own hard luck lessons of life. Elizabeth Taylor reportedly disliked making this movie and her displeasure shows. Her portrayal is deficient in conveying the emotional and physical scars of misuse. Taylor gives us the emotional posturing of an uninspired acting technique. She's too much The Screen Goddess throughout, unblemished by any of the authentic grit and misery defining a victim of a sordid past and present. No piece of used merchandise, Taylor on screen is every inch the Movie Star. Liz got the best actress Oscar for this movie, purportedly the "pity vote," in acknowledgment of the illness that almost took her life. The win certainly couldn't have been for the undistinguished performance she gave in this movie.
Danny Blankenship
If you have to watch one old movie make sure you see from 1960 Elizabeth Taylor's "Butterfield 8" finally after many years I viewed this legendary classic of the screen queen, I must say it's near excellent work despite it's tragic end. Elizabeth Taylor stars as Gloria a young beautiful woman in Manhattan who moonlights secretly as a high class call girl and the agency she works for is "Butterfield 8". Gloria likes the lifestyle of money but underneath she feels guilt and amoral for sleeping around as her mother has a concern for her safety too. But it's the sessions of passion and love making with Weston Liggett(Laurence Harvey)that she enjoys the most it's tough and complex as it leads to love and drama as Weston a married businessman is ready to leave his wife for the beautiful Gloria and this all has Gloria to reconsider everything in life. This film has it all drama, love, passion and tension moments of decision that all lead to a tragic fate really this is one classic to watch.
nerdomatic10-937-667230
This is a fascinating flick, although probably not for the reasons MGM intended. The story goes that Elizabeth Taylor was forced into it to fulfill her contract and she fought tooth and nail to get out of it and that she hated it to her dying day. If true, then La Liz must've been the consummate professional from top to bottom because she gives a riveting performance and she must've gotten a laugh at the irony of her Oscar for it. Another part of the intrigue is the sheer strangeness of the flick itself. All the characters are weird and detestable or just annoying. Liz's Gloria is supposed to be a prostitute but due to the Hollywood censorship of the time, the script dances all around that fact while admitting it one minute and denying it in the next. It's all pretty bizarre, but Liz's performance is unfailingly superb all the way through. Her husband at the time, Eddie Fisher, plays Gloria's best friend, a guy who acts thoroughly gay but who actually has a girlfriend made to look exactly like his ex, Debbie Reynolds. Laurence Harvey's Wes is a repellent and slimy alcoholic and his wife (Dina Merrill) is a world-class WASP martyr that has to be seen to be believed. There is some great catty dialogue between Gloria and the girlfriend and Gloria and the best friend of Gloria's oblivious mother. Gloria never gives any ground in any catfight and it's fantastic to watch. Anyway, this movie is interesting for a lot of odd reasons, but Liz elevates the whole mess to a very watchable and amusing flick.
jlongstreth-1
This movie has not aged well. The score is distracting and overly bombastic, telegraphing with a heavy hand until the Morse code of the director's intent is tattooed on the viewer's forehead. Lovely mid-century fashion and buildings, terrific color and framing, but it all gets lost in the heavy-handed melodrama of a bygone time.Fortunately, Elizabeth Taylor is there to watch, and she makes the most of a horrid script, story, and denouement.Pass this one by unless you're a huge Taylor fan or feel like seeing something unintentionally hilarious. The five stars are for Liz and the sets.
