How others will see it. The Glass Menagerie is among the Tennessee Williams plays respected by a former generation of college professors. It's better known as a title than as a performance. And true to Williams style, it is a downer. After an extended period of unhappiness, hopes are raised that lovely Karen Allen will find the man who deserves her. These hopes are dashed. Sorry about that.
Audience sympathy is certain to be focused on Allen, since the other two characters are less interesting. Malkovich's character is a lisping latent homosexual, whose decision to become a sailor only confirms the sentiments of the old Village People song. Woodward's eternal anguish over her children's future neglects their present, which is also important. After all, if Allen is married off, her husband is likely to become her tyrant, given the human nature of exploiting another's weakness.
How I felt about it. Paul Newman, better known for his work in front of a camera, is the director. But it would be more accurate to state that Tennessee Williams is the director, dead as he already was in 1987. A true Hollywood production would have tampered with the source material, devising a happy ending that involves a teary-eyed wedding and a better (and local) job for the malcontent Malkovich.
The "gentleman caller" is mentioned in the opening monologue as the most realistic character in the play. In fact, the only unrealistic character is Malkovich, who in real life would never have lived with his insufferable mother into adulthood. Allen is a different story, since her inferiority complex is bound to place her under someone's thumb.
The film's unhappy tone, supported by Woodward's mettlesome nature and Allen's nervous breakdowns, finally is briefly broken by a meaningful conversation between the gentleman caller and Karen Allen. For awhile, we have a dialogue that consists of supportive, gentle exchanges. And we have hope of a better life for Allen, whose family dream is to meet a sympathetic and self-supporting person who wants a docile human pet to treat gently.
Woodward's strident match-making could instead saddle Allen with a presentable man with a hidden mean streak, who sees Allen as the ideal target for spousal abuse. These things happen when you have no regard for yourself and fear the outside world, as Allen does.