Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Deluxe Edition) Reviews

• Every line filled with tension, and the acting is wondeful!

  
  By A17FLA8HQOFVIG on 2002-04-05
  This adaptation of a Tennessee Williams play was nominated for six academy awards in 1959. It stars Elizabeth Taylor as Maggie, rejected over and over by her alcoholic husband, Brick, played by Paul Newman. His father, Big Daddy, played by Burl Ives, has just returned to his Mississippi mansion after exploratory surgery. There's bitter rivalry in the family as they speculate about his death. Jack Carson plays the older son, who, with his pregnant wife, played by Madeline Sherwood and their five obnoxious children are determined to inherit Big Daddy's fortune. But Big Daddy despises him, as he does his own wife of 40 years, Big Mama, played by Judith Anderson.

  As this film was originally a play, most of it is sharp and cutting dialogue, every line filled with tension and double meanings. Close-ups reveal the artistry of the actors, all of whom are excellent. I especially liked Burl Ives, whose performance called for a wide range of emotions, showing his vulnerability as well as his strength. And as the characters battled with each other, the story, which I understand was rewritten to fall within the guidelines of 1950s censors, slowly revealed itself. Some critics say this ruined this movie adaptation. I can't comment on that because I though the story was great. Most of the film takes place inside a house and there's almost no physical action. Not necessary. The dialog does it all. And it does it well. Recommended.
  
  

• Powerful, though altered, version of the play

  
  By A152C8GYY25HAH on 2002-06-08
  Tennessee William's play, "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", was considered so controversial that its Broadway producers forced the playwright to alter the third act. Either in spite of or because of the changes, the play was a huge hit. Even with the changes, it had to be further watered down for Hollywood's 1958 movie version. Once more, it was a boxoffice smash. It went on to garner six Oscar nominations, including Best Actress for Elizabeth Taylor and Best Actor for Paul Newman. Despite the industry's timidity back then, the movie was a searing, powerful drama about a family in crisis. That it remains so to this day, despite massive changes in social values and mores over the years, is a credit to its brilliant cast and to its director, Richard Brooks.

  Brick and Maggie [Newman and Taylor] have come to his father's big plantation in Mississippi to celebrate the old man's 65th birthday. Everyone calls him Big Daddy, and as portrayed by Burl Ives, he truly is a larger than life figure. Brick's brother, Gooper [Jack Carson], his wife, Mae [Madeleine Sherwood], and their five `little no-neck monsters" are also there. Big Daddy has just returned from several weeks at a clinic where he was treated for cancer. He thinks he is cured, but the doctors have lied to him. He's unlikely to see his next birthday. Rivalry and intrigue abound among the siblings and their families as everyone fights over who will take over the plantation. Brick has major problems of his own. The former star athlete drinks too much, refuses the advances and affection of the gorgeous and calculating Maggie because he blames her for his best friend's suicide, and is bitter about his father, who doesn't seem to love him or anyone else. Brick is also hobbling around on crutches, having recently tripped while trying to leap a hurdle one drunken night. Through all the bickering and fighting, his mother, Big Mama [Judith Anderson], tries desperately to hold onto whatever happiness and dignity the family still possesses. But a storm of confrontations is brewing, and she's powerless to stop it.

  The `shocking' element that was changed was the revelation that Brick and his friend had been lovers and that Maggie's `crime' was her attempt to eliminate her rival. This was changed to the friend's killing himself because he was weak. I think when you know this, you can easily see what is going on underneath the surface between Brick and Maggie. It also makes the characters more understandable and believable. Their constant fighting makes more sense. The story becomes about more than greed, power, money and land. It becomes about the power of the human heart.

  "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" is highly recommended, script changes notwithstanding.
  
  

• symbolic crutch

  
  By on 1999-10-15
  Richard Brooks' 1958 screen adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof finds its greatest merit in its actors. Paul Newman, Elizabeth Taylor, Burl Ives, Judith Anderson, Jack Carson, and Madeline Sherwood give award winning performances as the members of the dysfunctional Pollitt family. Set at the plantation Big Daddy built from the ground up and centering around his sixty-fifth birthday celebration, Cat on A Hot Tin Roof delves into the "mendacity" surrounding this Southern family. All the family has gathered, not so much for the party, but for the news of Big Daddy's medical condition...and of course, to protect their share of the inheritance. Big Daddy has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, but is unaware of it. Oldest son Gooper and his wife Mae vie with youngest son Brick's wife Maggie for the biggest portion of the estate. The two sons and their wives are set up as a direct contrast to one another. Gooper has always tried to please his father, even becoming a lawyer at his suggestion. Mae has done her share to win Big Daddy's affection as well, giving birth to five children, soon to be six. Brick has stayed a child, having been a football hero in his youth and becoming an alcoholic during the film. Maggie also tries to please Big Daddy, but is genuine in her affection for him. Censorship in the 1950s did not allow such controversial things as homosexuality and vulgarity (which were in the play) to be in the film, but they are just beneath the surface. This is partially revealed by Brick's relationship with his friend Skipper. Some of the tension in his marriage to Maggie is assumed to be because she had an affair with Brick's friend. It is later revealed that this is not the case. Skipper's suicide the year before led to Brick's drinking and his problems with Maggie. One of the outstanding parts of the film is the symbolism of Brick's crutch. He used to lean on Skipper, now he leans on his crutch. Twice, he refuses to lean on others for support when they offer it. Maggie and Big Daddy both demand to know why he will not lean on them. Alcohol becomes another crutch for Brick. Big Daddy withholds his liquor and asks why Brick drinks. He says it is because of all of the mendacity in the world. Yet when Maggie demands that he face the truth about Skipper, he throws the crutch at her. The lies he hides from are his own. Big Daddy eventually gets him to explain the he hung up on Skipper just before he killed himself, and that the phone kept ringing and ringing. He says that when he drinks, he hears a "click" in his head and when he hears it, the phone stops ringing.
  
  

• Dysfunctionalism before it was in vogue

  
  By AP0DQSDFSLP4P on 2003-03-17
  When the familial vultures hear that Big Daddy Burl Ives is dying of cancer, they flock to his southern Gothic spread for a supposed 65th birthday, and the Pollitt brood brings with it about every type of dysfunction that hadn't even been named when this scorching film version of Tennessee Williams' Pulitzer Prize play got the big screen treatment. Alcoholism, suppressed sexual yearnings, latent homosexuality, greed, "mendacity" and children who could be poster kids for the pro-choice lobby are all here, and a riveting cast combine to make this triumphant film a classic. Headed by a sultry Elizabeth Taylor as the sexually frustrated and angry Maggie the Cat and Paul Newman as her alcoholic and closeted gay husband, Brick, "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" explores the interpersonal traumas among husband and wife and a former acquaintance, Skipper, a washed up football player who throws himself out of a window in a Chicago hotel, and the impact his suicide has on Maggie and Brick's marriage. The hint of a gay atrraction between Brick and Skipper is obvious, and Maggie's anger at the physical and emotional distance imposed by her husband is magnificently projected. At the same time, in an overpowering performance by Ives, Big Daddy has to come to terms with his own mortality while baiting the wolves with his decision about who'll get what of his filthy rich estate. In the end, "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" is less a snapshot of a seriously dysfunctional family at a major crossroad and more an affirmation of life, the passion for it and coming to terms with the sometimes vicious pitches life can throw. As Maggie, Elizabeth Taylor is spellbinding, and her performance is all the more credible considering the filming of the movie was interrupted by the death in a plan crash of her third husband, Mike Todd. Paul Newman, as the cynical, alcoholic and sexually ashamed Brick, unleashes a performance worthy of an Oscar, and Burl Ives is no less than commanding with an awesome screen presence. Though more than 40 years old now, this film remains a classic and deserves a spot on virtually every "best of" list that can be developed.
  
  

• Newman proving decisively that he wasn't a second-rate Brando...

  
  By AGZVS6M8XJGN6 on 2006-12-23
  In "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," Newman is an ex-football player, trying to relive his college athletic glories... Drinking and staggering, he attempts to jump hurdles, resulting in a painful injury that has him hobbling around on crutches during most of the film...
  
  The role was certainly another demonstration of his widening range, for Brick is in many ways the antithesis of Ben Quick ("The Long, Hot Summer"). Although he too is cynical, cold and guilt-ridden, he manifests it by becoming moody, withdrawn, introverted... In addition, whereas Ben was strong and decisive, causing and participating in events, Brick is weak and passive, largely reacting to events around him... And he's anything but ambitious: while his greedy brother and sister-in-law await Big Daddy's death so they can inherit his huge fortune and plantation, and while his wife Maggie (Elizabeth Taylor) urges him to fight for his share, he merely broods and drinks... An emotionally crippled, "thirty-year-old boy," he refuses to face responsibility and truth, preferring to drown his memories in liquor...
  
  Newman and Taylor enact striking contrasts in temperament: she is fiery, loud, animated, sensual; he is cold, quiet, immobile, dispassionate... Brick and Maggie haven't been sleeping together, and she wants him desperately, but he keeps rejecting her advances... As she talks, he replies with sarcasm, contempt and mostly indifference, speaking in a dreamy, monotonous manner, as if only half-there...
  
  In conversations with her, as with Big Daddy (Burl Ives), he stares into space, or walks away (usually toward the liquor supply), turning his back on the other party and forcing the dialog to take place on separate planes... All of this places him in a private world, where he hides his torment and anxiety beneath a mask of detachment...
  
  If Newman is best at enacting Brick's unspoken thoughts and emotions, he's also effective in the more spirited moments, as when he screams at Maggie or Big Daddy, to prevent them from getting at the truth he wants kept buried... But exactly what the "truth" is remains unclear...
  
  In the play, Brick's fear of admitting a homosexual attachment led indirectly to his friend's death and explained his overall moodiness and passivity... But because of Hollywood's moral code, director-scriptwriter Richard Brooks had to eliminate this, and the character's motivations are considerably weakened... His hostility toward Maggie--understandable in the play--is especially confusing because it results from events that are unconvincingly outlined...
  
  With the homosexuality cut out, Brick's dependence upon his friend is now explained by the failure of Big Daddy to provide strength and love, and this changed emphasis does make for exciting drama... The film's key scene--not in the play--is one in which Brick confronts his father with this painful truth... As they sit in a cellar disarranged with the old man's useless antiques, he tells Big Daddy that love cannot be bought... Newman moves powerfully from anguished looks to an eruption of emotion, smashing everything in sight, finally breaking down and crying: "All I wanted was a father, not a boss ... I wanted you to love me." Both are in pain--Big Daddy because of cancer, Brick because his crutch has (symbolically) been broken, and they need each other's he1p to get upstairs... Therefore the film ultimately becomes another statement of father-son alienation, and their coming to terms with it, as in "The Rack" and "Somebody Up There Likes Me," leads the characters to a new strength (and an upbeat ending not in the play).
  
  Despite its compromises, the film was still daring by 1958 standards, and was an enormous commercial success... It received six Oscar nominations, including one for Newman as Best Actor--his first. Newman had developed, at last, a really impressive acting ability, and a distinctive screen image...
  
  
  
  
• Cat in a hot, hot movie
  By A29FTXJQZRNP16 on 2000-04-01
  Playwright Tennessee Williams' genius and sympathy for the human condition is again evident in this brilliant, though censored, adaptation of the equally brilliant play. Incredibly, the censorship does not hurt the plot, and the acting is so spectacular one hardly notices. The characterization of Maggie, played to perfection by the incredibly beautiful Elizabeth Taylor, as a "cat on a hot tin roof" shows Williams' sympathy for the character, who is much, much more than a "money-grubbing sexpot" as one reviewer put it. She is "Unfulfilled Woman" personified, denied the love she hungers for from her husband, also played brilliantly by Paul Newman, who has turned alcoholic and cold toward her because of his own self-hate and disgust with "mendacity." Her need for love, security, and a future are contrasted with Brother-man and Sister-woman's out-and-out greed and desire for more than they need, like the brood of "no-neck monsters" they put on display "like animals at county fair" to try to win the favor of irascible, dying, and in-denial millionaire Big Daddy (Burl Ives). Big Mama (Judith Anderson) gives a superlative performance as the faithful wife who, like Maggie, is ever trying to coax warmth from her husband. (What's wrong with these men?) And Madeleine Sherwood as Sister-woman is the true perfect cat of this movie and played to feline ferocity. I actually like the ending of the movie better than the play's--and, judging by the palpable chemistry between Newman (who, unlike his play's character, comes off as very heterosexual) and Taylor in the movie, well...judge for yourself whether he preferred it too.
  
  
• "You know what I'm contemplatin'? Pleasure."
  By ABU7I2Z9M0Q5I on 2002-06-18
  This is a powerful film full of great acting, built on the play of one of our greatest writers: Tennessee Williams. Even if you're not from the South and it's long past the 50's, the territory he covers is still relevant: old resentments between parent and child, between husband and wife, a woman's role, the feelings that surface when someone close is about to die, insecurity, feelings of worthlessness, greed, failed dreams, new understandings.

  Yet we're not that far from the 50's when patriarchy was stronger, where there was a distinct double standard and only the men in the family were privy to important decisions--where women were sometimes measured by their ability to produce children, and where so many feelings were repressed and left unsaid.

  This film works despite its apparent diversion from Williams' original play in avoiding certain sexual taboos. When watching it I could not understand the problem between Maggie and Brick and Skipper, a plot twist that takes a while to surface and isn't quite resolved, but now that I've read a few reviews here the meaning is plain. It's just another element of depth in an already deep story.

  Burl Ives as Big Daddy puts on a fabulous performance as does Judith Anderson as Big Momma and Elizabeth Taylor as a beautiful Maggie. The names, like the characters, are slightly exaggerated for effect--an effect that works.

  The film has so many wonderful lines, it's a pleasure just listening to the words--especially when delivered by such fine actors. A small sampling:

  Big Daddy to alcoholic son Brick: "Truth is dreams that don't come true and nobody prints your name in the paper 'til you die."

  Brick to Big Daddy (talking about Big Momma in a basement full of European artifacts): "You gave her things, Papa, not love."

  Maggie (who's scared of losing Big Daddy's inheritance): "Outside of hunger, the first thing I remember is shame."

  Big Daddy: "We're through with lies and liars in this house. Lock the door!"

  And so some understandings some to pass. The film starts slowly but crescendos into a powerful ending. I recommend this film with great pleasure.
  
  

• MEEEOOOOW!
  By A1RXUJQRRD1YLK on 2004-01-27
  "Cat on the Hot Tin Roof"
  Has so much tension, one can't cut it with a machete... Just another very dysfunctional family, which Tennessee Williams writes so brilliantly.

  You have Maggie (the cat) The only character in the extended family who is 'Normal' The only one who seems to be keeping the family from killing one another. Liz, of course plays her beautifully, superbly, very sexy as 'The Cat'

  (Brick) Paul Newman plays her husband...A drunk with many devils he needs to let out, such as why he will not sleep with Maggie, why won't he stop thinking about his foot-ball buddy who killed himself. The viewer will wonder if his has other preferences... Because who wouldn't sleep with (The Cat)??

  Big Daddy...played by Burl Ives... The GOD of the family, the one with all the money, Power, the one who's dying. (Excellent performance)

  (Goober) Brick's brother and his wife wait impatiently for Big Daddy's fortune. The wife is appalling enough to make one sick. Continually taunting Maggie about not having children, having a bad marriage, not controlling Brick. Her kids run around the house like little, foul animals.

  This family is a disaster waiting to happen...The pressure cooker is on high, baby, and when she blows
  Watch out...All hell will break loose all over the place.

  They don't make um' like this anymore.

  MEEEEOOOOOW!
  
  

• One of the all time greats
  By A38IRL0X2T4DPF on 2006-02-20
  Mendacity fills the air and the script. Taylor and Newman have to be the sexiest stars to ever light up a screen and Ives is the scene stealer supreme. Visually its like a soap opera as 90% of the story is in the big house. But the words that come rushing out of these marvelous actors isn't about just sex, its about life and everything that makes life worth living. These classic faces and this classic storytelling put this film on par with the best art ever made.
  
  
• There's An Elephant In The Room
  By A9I40WFF40R4 on 2006-08-02
  This screen version of Tennessee Williams' play CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF was quite a success upon its release in 1958, earning Academy Award nominations for both Elizabeth Taylor (Maggie) and Paul Newman (Brick). Maggie and Brick are childless-- sleeping together was a requirement in those days for children to be conceived; these two do not do that anymore. Brick spends most of his time drinking while Maggie pleads for him to stop, to love her, to bed her, etc. Big Daddy (Burl Ives), who is worth about ten million dollars, at 65 is dying with cancer. His other son and daughter-in-law have reproduced themselves five times ("no-necked monsters" according to Maggie)and have another in the oven. If Brick is to inherit some of his father's money, he needs to be both sober and a father. He and Maggie are pitted against his brother and wife. Additionally there is his relationship with his father or lack thereof. Although the word wasn't catchy in 1958, there's obviously more than enough dysfunctionality to go around here.
  
  There is also an elephant in the room bigger than Big Daddy: what really was going on between Brick and his best friend Skipper who committed suicide for unknown reasons. This adaptation of the Williams play doesn't make much sense as to their relationship. They were friends, Brick only started drinking upon Skipper's death, and now won't sleep with Maggie. Since Ms. Taylor as Maggie was at the height of her incomparable beauty in 1958, that Brick does not find her sexually attractive is difficult to comprehend, given what the audience is told. The irony of all of this is that much is made about dishonesty ("mendacity") throughout the film. Certainly the writer here is less than forthright about what really went on between Skipper and Brick.
  
  Mr. Williams it is said did not like this film at all. He wrote the screen play for a later version that spells out that Skipper and Brick were in love with each other but that Brick rejected such a relationship, and Skipper then committed suicide. The plot at last makes sense.
  
  This version suffers from too much talk-- often loud talk; additionally the no-neck monsters are little more than caricatures of children. The film is saved, however, with the acting of Newman, Taylor and Ives, particularly Mr. Newman. It is also interesting to see how far movies have come in almost 50 years as to what can be discussed frankly by writers.
  
  
  
  
• Rich Characterizations Do Justice to Williams
  By A39U46YVMAEKKC on 2005-01-01
  No, this isn't quite the play, but I didn't have any trouble picking up on the theme of Brick's (Paul Newman's) struggle with homosexuality. In fact, I was surprised at the sensitivity with which the script and the actors treated the issue, considering it was 1958. More importantly (at least to me), I thought that the rich characters were true to the essence of what Williams wanted to do. Maggie (Elizabeth Taylor), has some of the "mendacity" of which Brick is so contemptuous, but has a great capacity for love, too; Big Daddy (Burl Ives) wields his wealth like a tyrant, but what he really wants (unbeknownst to him) is the connection with his family that his single-minded ambition has destroyed.
  
  Of note: Elizabeth Taylor would appear in so many not-so-great films later in life that it's sometimes easy to forget how good she used to be. This film is a happy reminder: her performance is luminous.
  
  
  
• -
  By A37MP17WCMEWUK on 2001-08-06
  Whatever Williams might have said in his Memoirs (which manage to be both revealing and unreliable at the same time), it is fairly well-known that he pretty well hated this popular film version of what is arguably his most perfect masterpiece - and with some justification. There's very little of his play left in Richard Brooks' slick adaptation. This is certainly partly a result of the puritanism of the era - the cinema of the Fifties was in no way as liberal as the stage when it came to matters of the flesh. But that doesn't necessarily account for the changes in plot and particularly character that Brooks made - changes that amount almost to emasculation. Paul Newman is eminently believable as Brick; it's not his fault that the character as conceived for the screen lacks the conflicted depth and complexity of his theatrical counterpart. Elizabeth Taylor is certainly fierce and sexy as Maggie, but what she - like the whole film - lacks is an understanding of the sensual rhythms of the dialogue; hardly surprising, I suppose, when there is so little of Williams' actual dialogue left. The elusive richness and tantalizing ambiguity of the play have been abandoned in favor of a more straightforward, simplified, and significantly altered reading of the plot - one that transforms Williams' savage and ironic and mysterious exploration of truth and mendacity into a more conventional postwar domestic drama that may actually have more affinites with the very different work of Arthur Miller. As it is, Brooks' version stands as a good movie in its own right. It just also happens to be a bad adaptation of a very great play.
  
  
• Maggie the Cat
  By A2CUP34WSXH7NC on 2002-06-07
  This movie is wonderful! Elizabeth Taylor is stunning as Maggie, the cat, and Paul Newman as Brick is great. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is a great movie that at times will leave you laughing. Maggie loves Brick, but Brick cant forgive Maggie for something that happened in the past. Brick confines himself to the bedroom in his pajamas and always with booze in his glass. He's cold to the loving and sexy Maggie but she wont give up on them. Meanwhile Brick's father Big Daddy comes home from the hospital with a new leash on life so he thinks, and Brick's brother and his family are itching to get their hands on Big Daddy's fortune. This movie is one of my favorites and I highly recommend it.
  
  
• NOT WILLIAM'S AND A LOUSY TRANSFER TO BOOT!
  By A1M9DQDGE07Q0U on 2003-10-25
  It's a curious thing that Hollywood often tackled subject matter that it was forbidden to show on the screen. The net result - a good many stage plays often had more than a bit of doctoring going on before making it to the big screen. "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" is no exception. The original story concerns itself with Brick's homosexuality and his resulting inability to find his lovely wife even remotely attractive - at least enough to impregnate her with an heir to his father's plantation fortune. However, homosexuality was a big NO, NO in the movies. So instead we get Brick (Paul Newman) as a sexually frigid prig who thinks that his wife Maggie (Elizabeth Taylor) has been having an affair with his best friend, Skipper (whom we never see). Thus the balance of power and the resulting confusions which are straightened out in the end don't seem to make much sense. Nevertheless, "Cat" is a compelling piece of 50's kitsch. Richard Brooks ably directs what's left of the plot and the relationship that he fleshes out between Big Daddy (Burl Ives) and Brick is genuinely touching. Dame Judith Anderson gives a poignant and heartbreaking performance as Big Daddy's dopey wife.
  TRANSFER: YUCK! Colors are weak and not well balanced. Flesh tones are often jaundice. There's a decidedly green tint to most indoor scenes and an overly blue tint to outdoor scenes. Age related artifacts are everywhere! Contrast and black levels are fairly accurate, though a few darker scenes appear to be suffering from less than 'black' blacks. Edge enhancement rears its ugly head now and then and is somewhat distracting. The audio is MONO but nicely balanced.
  EXTRAS: FORGET IT! Not a one!
  BOTTOM LINE: The story already distilled - the transfer, pretty much a mess - this really isn't the way I want to remember Tennessee Williams.
  
  
• Misogyny and Pain Run Deep
  By A3A03ETOTJRR0T on 2005-02-11
  "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" is a magnificently-acted 1958 film that drips not only with Southern heat and repressed desire, but also with misogyny. The original script from Tennessee Williams was evidently toned down, although the steaminess is intact (largely due to the presence of the gorgeous Elizabeth Taylor as Maggie the Cat). The dynamic film is a portrait of a dying wealthy plantation owner, Big Daddy (a commanding and superb Burl Ives), and his troubled greedy family, all coming together in dysfunctional glory for Big Daddy's 65th birthday.
  
  Taylor is in the absurd position (given her ripe sexuality and looks) of being sexually rejected by her surly husband, aptly named "Brick" (Paul Newman), an ex-football hero whose leg is in a cast; he also repeatedly berates and verbally abuses her ostensibly because he blames her for a rumored affair with and the subsequent suicide of his friend Skipper. The latent homosexuality in regard to Brick's relationship with Skipper remains unexpressed subtext. With or without that insight into his character, he remains, to my mind, a loathsome, raging alcoholic, incapable of even speaking with Maggie about what actually happened and using her as the repository of his own self-loathing. Although she continues to scratch at him, trying to break beneath his stone and comports herself with fiery tenacity, she also remains sexually and emotionally tied to him. When in one scene, she tries to force him to listen to the truth and he threatens to hit her with his crutch, I longed for her to send him packing and make room for any number of other ostensible admirers who would be happy to acquiesce to her demands. Although Paul Newman performs admirably as Brick, his character repulsed me. Brick seems like a more handsome yet equally brutish version of Stanley from "Streetcar."
  
  Aside from Brick there is Big Daddy who professes to be living with a woman for over forty years that he doesn't love. Big Daddy wants to get to the bottom of why Brick and Maggie have no children, whereas brother Gooper (Jack Carter) has sired five "no necks," as Maggie terms them, with his wife. In the high voltage scenes, Big Daddy cuts through the "mendacity" crippling Newman and the family. In spite of verbally insulting and maltreating their wives, said wives remain doggedly loyal and ready to return to Big Husband at the snap of his fingers. In the 1950's, women had few opportunities to escape loveless marriages; they were encouraged to long for marriage as part of their identity as men were invited to scorn wives and settling down as "nooses" around their necks. Economic autonomy wasn't available to them; men like these remind of us why we needed the women's movement.
  
  Performances here are multi-layered, powerful and superb, particularly Taylor as Maggie the Cat. A must-see for movie lovers with an ace cast, but also reminder of why women needed to claw out of the cage.
  
  
• "The truth is something desperate."
  By A2CW9IQAPFEYLM on 2005-09-08
  Mendacity is the theme of this excellent movie (and Tennessee Williams play). Paul Newman is a drunk and won't sleep with his wife (Elizabeth Taylor) because he thinks she's slept with his best friend years before. (She is beautiful; he must be crazy!) Burl Ives plays Big Daddy, who is dying of cancer and has everyone sucking up to him for his inheritance (except Newman, of course). He and Newman go mano a mano in the basement filled with junk and old memories, and both discover what love is. The film is filled with symbols (Newman's crutch, for example), and although it's obviously based on a play, the movie is not as stagey as it could have been. Worth a watch.
  
  
• "We occupy the same cage, that's all."
  By AV5G37VFE5NVD on 2006-07-22
  Though Elia Kazan's A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE ranks as the greatest screen adaptation of Tennesee Williams' plays, CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF follows closely behind. Like STREETCAR, CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF is filled with tension, much of which arouses from the harrowing confrontations between Brick (Paul Newman) and Maggie (Elizabeth Taylor). Brick, once a great football player, is now an alcoholic. He hangs around in his room at his family's home, refusing wife Maggie's consolation and pleas for Brick to love her again. Brick believes that Maggie slept with Brick's best friend; when she tries to bring up the subject, Brick will hear nothing of it. When Brick is reunited with his father, Big Daddy (Burl Ives), who is dying of cancer, he finds himself forced to confront the truths of his life while forcing his father to confront the truths of his.
  
  As I haven't read the original stageplay, I can't vouch for this adaptation's faithfulness to the source material. I know that Williams himself despised this adaptation to the point of urging audiences not to see it. Despite that, Richard Brooks' CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF has gone on to become a classic, thanks largely to outstanding performances from Newman, Taylor, and Ives. Despite Newman's cruel attitude toward Taylor, we never really think of him a jerk, perhaps because the film makes the point very early on of showing that there's still good within him after Newman's arms automatically rise up to hold Taylor before his rage takes hold of him once more. Taylor looks more beautiful than anyone in cinematic history. Ives' gruff performance as "Big Daddy" is delightful, particularly toward the end of the film. All in all, the cast is terrific.
  
  Due to a musicians' union strike, there is no original score in the film, only a few bits of library music. The strike turned out to be a good thing, as the lack of music makes the more tense scenes even more powerful. The director, Richard Brooks, does a spectacular job, comparable even to Elia Kazan's superb work on his adaptation of A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE. To top it all off there's excellent color cinematography by William Daniels and taut editing by Ferris Webster.
  
  CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF is another stellar Tennesee Williams adaptation and one of the finest and most tense dramas in movie history. If you consider yourself a movie buff it's essential viewing, and even if you're not I would highly recommend it.
  
  
• Paul Newman is sooo [gorgeous]!
  By A1VP9TBSMVLMB8 on 2003-05-01
  I glanced through the other reviews for this movie, and everyone seemed to be raving about the powerful emotions and all that. I haven't read the play yet, so maybe that will help me appreciate the movie more. I mean, it's great and all, I just don't see what other people who are more familiar with Mr. Williams' work see.
  However, Paul Newman was sooo hot when he was younger. Josh Hartnett ain't got nothing on him!
  Even though they didn't get along much in the film, I thought Liz and Paul looked good together...two of the best looking actors of that time! (Of course, Paul and Joanne Woodward are adorable together!)
  Anyways, sorry for the rambling. I guess it isn't as great of a review as the others. I just wanted to say I liked the movie, and I LOVE Paul Newman.
  
  
• Superb
  By ASSS5KQQMJ1YP on 2004-02-28
  Acting doesn't come any better than this. Newman and Taylor have such chemistry its unbelievable, and although the movie may drag in certain parts, overall it is a great character study.
  Taylor is heartbreaking as the sexually deprived wife as Newman, a hardened man who suspects his wife of infidelity. Once again the theme of homosexuality is present ( as it is in all of Williams' plays), but in the movie it is thankfully downplayed and subtle. The definitive film version of the play, whose highlights are pretty much every scene in which Maggie and Brick are alone in their room bickering.
  
  
• Histrionic Marathon
  By A2UUWETDYA2EKV on 2006-02-20
  This is what passed for adult fare in the repressed 1950's-- Elizabeth Taylor walking around in her underwear while Paul Newman broods darkly about something or other, nobody can figure out what. Few films date as badly as this one. Nor do many from that decade illustrate its afflictions more vividly than Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Pitched about 10 decibels too high so that the audience can confuse loud talk with superior acting, the result is more annoying than thought-provoking or even, perish the thought, entertaining. For a screenplay that prides itself on honesty, what could be more "mendacious" than excising playwrite Williams' homosexual theme from the endless palaver, leaving the audience of that day and this pondering just what is Brick's problem. This is two hours of sound and fury that finally boils down to the tritest of messages-- boys need fatherly love. And how transparent are several of the characters, especially the luckless no-neck clan who make even a Gene Autry B-Western appear sophisticated by comparison. Only Newman manages to come through with professional dignity intact. To think that a slew of Academy Award nominations went to this overheated gab fest proves once again that the awards are more about investments than artistic invention. So pass this one up unless you have a yen for a punctured eardrum and a headache.
  
  
• The best performance Burl Ives ever gave
  By A1IOM171PPQ2U8 on 2000-04-23
  Most people cite this one as memorable because of the performances of Taylor and Newman, and while both are excellent, I think it's Burl Ives as Big Daddy who literally steals the show (he and Madeleine Sherwood, who is also excellent, were reprising their Broadway roles). Taylor gives what I feel is her best performance on the heels of personal tragedy (as many film fans know, her husband Mike Todd was killed not long before this movie in a plane crash) - this is probably her most subdued performance and to me, she's always better when she keeps herself under control (as compared to, say, "Reflections in a Golden Eye," "Cleopatra," or "Boom!"). Madeleine Sherwood definitely deserved an Oscar Nomination as "Sister Woman" May, one of the screen's most hideous harridans, the "monster of fertility" (you just want to give this woman some birth control tablets). It's hard for me to concentrate on symbolism when I watch this movie - I get engulfed in some of the humor and the general family warfare that prevails, but like all Williams plays / films, it features a fragile Southern woman who ends up getting trounced on ("Big Mama" Judith Anderson) and a whole slew of characters who are hiding things about themselves and are too scared to face reality (I think every character could be put under this umbrella in one way or another). Without a doubt, my favorite Tennesee Williams drama and the best one adapted to film (yes, I remember "Streetcar.")
  
  
• Hot Stuff
  By on 1999-09-20
  How did they do it back then? No nudity, no cussing, not much in the way of explicit anything, yet this has to be one of Taylor's sexiest roles. Everybody in the piece does a good job.

  Guess all they had was a good story and a lot of talent and effort in telling it.
  
  

• All Steam
  By ACIBQ6BQ6AWEV on 2002-01-05
  Being from Mississippi, and actually born in the same town as Williams himself, I have a cultural right to be extremely picky about this film, so I must begin with two down-home criticisms. A Mississippi delta accent is a very, very specific sound, and most of the cast miss it by a mile--with Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman the worst offenders of the lot. That aside, the Mississippi delta simply doesn't look like the brief bits of landscape we're allowed to see in the film, and the archetecture of the big house is also extremely unlikely for that area. So if you're actually expecting to find any sense of the region, you're out of luck. Most viewers probably won't notice these problems, but they are a drawback, for William's work is always as much about place as about character and plot, and the film's failure to accurately capture it is a diservice to both audience and creator.

  That said, the big problem with CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF is 1950s censorship: it simply wasn't possible to film a play about an unconciously homosexual man's inability to forgive his oversexed wife for her role in his pseudo-lover's death. As a result, the film sidesteps the entire issue and focuses on the sub-plot of just who is going to inherit Big Daddy's estate when he dies. Accents aside, the cast does quite well, with supporting players Anderson, Carson, and Sherwood particular standouts--but the end result is just so much steam without substance, well done but not particularly meaningful.
  
  

• Strong stuff for its day. Children by Diane Arbus
  By A2IVCG4IILTY6O on 2003-11-30
  Tennesee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" is a powerful play and here has been made into a powerful film. Family ties, lies, power, money, death, sexual troubles and even sibling rivalry coalesce as the troubled Pollitt family deals with the terminal illness of its patriarch. Although the gay subtext has been muted to fit 1950's sensitibilities, it's still there, adding resonance to the film. There's a bit of the mannered approach common to movies of the period, which gives the film a more theatrical feel than many movie adaptations of plays. In some ways, "Cat" comes across as an early, Southern version of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf."

  The acting in this film is superb, if a little over-the-top at times. "Maggie the Cat" is a plum dramatic role, and Elizabeth Taylor more than does it justice. In her hands, Maggie's basic humanity alternates with her greed to eventually define her. Paul Newman likewise turns in an excellent performance as the troubled Brick. Burl Ives steals the show as Big Daddy, the larger-than-life dying patriarch. Jack Carson and Madelaine Sherwood play the elder, less-favored son and his fecund wife, Mae. Mae and her brood are played as wonderfully grotesque charicatures, greatly enhancing the oppressive atmosphere of the film. If you think of Diane Arbus shooting a movie, you'll get an excellent idea of what Mae and her little "no-neck monsters" are like.
  
  

• Humanity at it's best...
  By A8KXTFN2EZIRL on 2004-06-12
  "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" is a spectacular visual masterpiece about the human spirit.
  Every character has three dimensions, and every line is perfectly written and delivered. Credit is needed for the original playright(although I am aware the plot was altered to please the strict critics of the time), who along with the screenplay writers are as important as the actors.
  Speaking of actors, Liz Taylor, Burl Ives and Paul Newman were all flawless in their roles. They were human, and as a painting they were more real than reality. My opinions of the characters changed continually throughout the film. It was as if you were peeling away the skin layer by layer to find the truth. Annoyance turned into hate, hate turned into compassion.
  The most important element of this film was feelings;emotions the players have, and have to deal with. As well as how you feel about them, and their situations.
  
  
• Breaking the walls!
  By A16CZRQL23NOIW on 2005-10-25
  There were three outstanding and bold films that faced without hindrances that thorny subject in the crudest possible way, resisting the attacks of the Moral league: Baby doll, Anatomy of a murder and this one. In the Fifties Decade: the most of filmmakers bet for one of these three options: science fiction, Noir Film or dense emotional conflicts. Of course, there were exceptions: Billy Wilder left behind his sarcastic irony with Sunset Boulevard in 1950 and decided to smile with Stalag 17 and Someone like it hot (curiously The Best Comedy in the Century), but Stanley Kramer, Otto Preminger, Elia Kazan , Samuel Fuller, Nicholas Ray and Richard Brooks were the most relevant social scalpels of the society along that dark decade.
  
  Superb, complex and mature existential conflict around a woman who wants to be loved and her extremely heat and soul wounded husband, whose inner demons have him struggled swimming in alcohol; add to this hell the familiar pressure. Burl Ives gives an outstanding performance featuring the father in law of the grieved Miss Taylor.
  
  Another sonorous adaptation of Tennessee Williams, who naked the soul of the North American society in the most intimate details.
  
  Bernard Shaw wrote once: "There are married women who have not husband, while there are single women whom seem to surplus them; and one asks oneself what is better or worst: if not being corresponded by a legitimate right that belongs her or being corresponded by many rights that do not belong her."
  
  
  
  
  
• Excellent theater
  By A33OK6YYYARC53 on 2006-03-19
  Just an excellent story of strife, catharsis and redemption that is as potent today as it was in the 50's. Great play to begin with, and the movie retains it's theatrical ellements which i find personally gratifying. Excellent cast and acting. Love Maggie the Cat. Deffinately a fave.
  
  
• The Great Movie!
  By A23IMCPNB7PGAK on 2001-06-15
  I watch movies all the time. I have seen many of Elizbeth Taylor movies. And I believe this is her best one, although she did very well in GIANT (with rock hudson). I enjoyed this film for various reasons. One I like Burl Ives he was so true and was great to see him come alive in this wonderful movie about truth, love,passion,and how much the truth means. THis movie was facinating. With the wonderful story about a woman determined to get back "the man she married and loved" but Brick ( Paul Newman) will not forget the awful "truth" Brick becomes drunk and injured wand he has to stay at his fathers house while his dad (burl Ives) is returning from the doctors. Brick does not care for his father on the outside. But with the surrounding stuck up and greedy Sister -in-law and brother who try to steal everything away from brick and maggie( Liz Taylor) But Maggie refuses to go down without a fight. Brick becomes closer to his fatehr who later recieves the truth that he only has a short time to live. Brick and Big Daddy ( Burl Ives) learn to len oneachother for help. They help eachother through what is really tourmenting them. For the rest of the story you will just have to watch. But this is truly a classic to watch. This movie is not a movie about something unreal such as ALiens or not human behavior. This movie seems real. It deals with serious problems that affect people everyday. This is truly a live "living" film.
  
  
• ONE OF THE BEST MOVIES I HAVE EVER SEEN
  By ACRH8KU8ANF1Q on 2002-03-14
  I had just seen this movie for the first time, and I probably played it 8 times before I had to take it back to the video store. This movie is a story about love and "so-called" betrayal. It leaves you on the edge of your seat waiting to see what happens in the end. It's a story that you'll want to see over and over again. Paul Newman is gorgeous in this movie! Elizabeth Taylor portrays so much class and elegance. I walked away wanting to be just like her. You have to see this movie. It actually has a plot that you can't figure out in the first 5 minutes of the movie.
  
  
• Masterful Acting.
  By A34PAZQ73SL163 on 2004-08-11
  This is true drama as opposed to melodrama. The Tennessee Williams play releases its plot slowly and builds tension until the climax in the last 15 minutes. I've seen it a few times but the unbelievable talent of Paul Newman never stops amazing me; although, one would be hard pressed to say that Burl Ives along with Elizabeth Taylor are not every bit of Newman's equal. This is one of my favorite films and it will soon be one of yours.
  
  

• The Long, Hot Summer
• Hud
• Cool Hand Luke (Deluxe Edition)
• The Sting
• The Hustler (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)