Synopsis
Mitch Wayne is a geologist working for the Hadleys, an oil-rich Texas family. While the patriarch, Jasper, works hard to establish the family business, his irresponsible son, Kyle, is an alcoholic playboy, and his daughter, Marylee, is the town tramp. Mitch harbors a secret love for Kyle's unsatisfied wife, Lucy -- a fact that leaves him exposed when the jealous Marylee accuses him of murder.
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Cast
- Rock HudsonMitch Wayne
- Lauren BacallLucy Moore Hadley
- Robert StackKyle Hadley
- Dorothy MaloneMarylee Hadley
- Robert KeithJasper Hadley
- Grant WilliamsBiff Miley
- Robert J. WilkeDan Willis
- Edward PlattDr. Paul Cochrane
- Harry ShannonHoak Wayne
- John LarchRoy Carter
Recommendations
- 100
Chicago Sun-Times
In countless ways visible and invisible, Sirk's sly subversion skewed American popular culture, and helped launch a new age of irony. - 100
TV Guide Magazine
The ultimate in lush melodrama, Written on the Wind is, along with Imitation of Life, Douglas Sirk's finest directorial effort, and one of the most notable critiques of the American family ever made. - 100
Entertainment Weekly
Boiling over with heated acting and schmaltzy scores, Douglas Sirk’s ’50s melodramas tap neatly into our collective trash psyche. Penetrate the surface, however, and they’re as serious and heartfelt as their director was. - 100
Chicago Tribune
The movie, one of Sirk's most popular, is impeccably designed and shot but also gaudy, garish, full of jukebox colors and feverish emotions. It's about the "broken" screen characters Sirk says he loves most--and it really gets to you. [14 Apr 2006, p.C6] - 90
Time Out
The acting is dynamite, the melodrama is compulsive, the photography, lighting, and design share a bold disregard for realism. It's not an old movie; it's a film for the future. - 89
Austin Chronicle
This oil-family story is way, way east of Eden. Were I asked to choose, Written on the Wind would blow in as my favorite Sirk film. - 80
Variety
Tiptop scripting from the Robert Wilder novel, dramatically deft direction by Douglas Sirk and sock performances by the cast give the story development a follow-through. - 80
Empire
Though glossy, Sirk's film is tightly structured, with a creative manipulation of light and reflection, and heavy with the symbolism of male destructiveness. Unflinching in its often ugly revelation of character and consequence, it's an intense and powerful film.
