Widely considered the most important American playwright of the post-WWII era, Williams wrote the "Teardrop Diamond" screenplay at the height of his late-50's heyday, amid such classic plays, (which themselves were adapted into classic films) as "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," "Suddenly, Last Summer," "Sweet Bird of Youth," and "Orpheus Descending." Set in the Roaring Twenties in Williams' (and Markell's) home town of Memphis, the film tells the story of Fisher Willow (Howard) a headstrong young heiress who chafes under the constraints of proper Southern society, and who rebels by asking the impoverished but handsome son of her father's caretaker, Jimmy Dobyne, (Evans) to escort her to the major social events of the season. The relationship is purely a business arrangement at the outset, with Fisher paying for Jimmy's time and attention, but when she discovers that she really loves him, she finds it impossible to re-write the rules and earn the affection she tried to buy.
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