Paul Newman directed this moving adaptation of
Tennessee Williams' classic play The Glass Menagerie.
Joanne Woodward stars as aging Southern belle Amanda Wingfield, whose domineering parenting has driven her shy, timid daughter Laura (
Karen Allen) inward and has made her adventure-hungry son Tom (
John Malkovich) miserable. Newman hasn't tried to open the original stage play up at all, preferring to keep all of the action within the Wingfield apartment. The cast performed the play in a Broadway revival prior to the filming.
James Naughton appears as Laura's gentleman caller. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide