A Streetcar Named Desire (1951): A Streetcar Named Desire depicts a culture clash between Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh), a pretentious, fading relic of the Old South, and Stanley Kowalski (Marlon Brando), a rising member of the industrial, inner-city immigrant class. Blanche is a Southern belle whose pretensions to virtue and culture only thinly mask her nymphomania and alcoholism. Arriving at the house of her sister Stella Kowalski (Kim Hunter), Stella fears Blanche’s arrival will upset the balance of her relationship with her husband Stanley, a primal, rough-hewn, brutish and sensual force of nature. He dominates Stella in every way, and she tolerates his offensive crudeness and lack of gentility largely because of her sexual need for him. Stanley’s friend and Blanche’s would-be suitor Mitch (Karl Malden) is similarly trampled along Blanche and Stanley’s collision course. Their final, inevitable confrontation results in Blanche’s mental annihilation.

Baby Doll (1956): Scandalous in its time, still steamy today: Tennessee Williams' ribald tale of a Mississippi child bride (Carroll Baker) and the men (Karl Malden, Eli Wallach) who lust after her.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958): "I'm not living with you," Maggie snaps at Brick. "We occupy the same cage, that's all." The raw emotions and crackling dialogue of Tennessee Williams' 1955 Pulitzer Prize play rumble like a thunderstorm in this film version whose fiery performances and grown-up themes made it one of 1958's top box-office hits. Paul Newman earned his first OscarO nomination* as troubled ex-sports hero Brick. In a performance that marked a transition to richer adult roles, Elizabeth Taylor snagged her second. Her Maggie the Cat is a vivid portrait of passionate loyalty.

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961): An ageing starlet is off to vacation in Rome with her husband when he suffers a fatal heart attack on the plane. Mrs. Stone stays in Rome where she leases a magnificent apartment with a view of the seven hills from the terrace. Soon, a contessa comes calling and introduces Mrs. Stone and a young man named Paola. A wary Mrs. Stone ultimately succumbs to Paolo's charms.

Sweet Bird of Youth (1962): Drifter Chance Wayne returns to his hometown after many years of trying to make it in the movies. With him is a faded film star he picked up along the way, Alexandra Del Lago. While trying to get her help to make a screen test, he also finds the time to meet his former girlfriend Heavenly, the daughter of the local politician Tom 'Boss' Finley, who more or less forced him to leave the town many years ago.

The Night of the Iguana (1964): Residing is a small hotel on the west coast of Mexico, Reverend T. Lawrence Shannon, a defrocked Episcopal preacher, hides from his lecherous past. He finds work as a tour guide for a group of American teachers, but soon comes under criticism from their prudish leader when an 18 year-old in her care starts lusting after him. Shannon also receives a good deal of attention from the seductive hotel owner. He spends most of his time, however, with an idealistic spinster and her 97 year-old grandfather. This wheel chair-bound poet claims that he will expire upon the completion of his final manuscript -- a literary endeavor he has been laboring on for the last twenty years.