"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 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".