Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Movie)

Cat on a Hot Tin Roofis a 1958 American drama film directed by Richard Brooks, who co-wrote the screenplay with James Poe, based on the 1955 Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name by Tennessee Williams. The film stars Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Burl Ives, Jack Carson, and Judith Anderson.

I’ve got to say that Tennessee Williams’ ‘Cat On A Hot Tin Roof’ was one of the best Newman films. It’s one of those movies that grabs your attention in the first 10 minutes. The interactions between the gifted actors and actresses were stupendous. I really felt for Maggie (Elizabeth Taylor) “The Cat “, though and how she was able to keep her composure with her husband Brick Pollitt’s (Paul Newman) berating of her. We learn that he was a drunk trying to recapture his glory days of high school sports by leaping hurdles on a track field, dreaming about his moments as a youthful athlete, but suddenly he falls and breaks his leg, leaving him dependent on a crutch. During the film, he has some harsh words for Maggie. I felt that her character was treated unfairly by Brick and to make matters worse, his father Big Daddy (Burl Ives), shows nothing, but contempt for his son that he’s even violent towards him. I really understood why he was so angry with Brick and as you watch the verbal fight between the two, you really side with Big Daddy. Newman really was a great actor and was the best choice for this part. Taylor, on the other hand, is a big star And she played Maggie to a T! I really think the Hollywood scripts these days are dead weight compared to the 50s and 60s! The exchanges of dialog and the acting were definitely marvelous. Canadian actress Madeleine Sherwood, who played Mae Pollitt in the film, was the last one to pass away in 2016 at 93! they all left their mark in the acting world.

• Brick is an alcoholic ex-football player who drinks his days away and resists the affections of his wife. A reunion with his terminal father jogs a host of memories and revelations for both father and son.
• The family of “Big Daddy” Pollitt (Burl Ives) convenes at his and Big Momma’s (Dame Judith Anderson’s). Among the attendees is alcoholic son, Brick (Paul Newman); an ex-football player, who spends his time drinking and avoiding the ministries of his libidinous wife, Maggie (Dame Elizabeth Taylor) – “the cat”. As this gathering isn’t so much as a gathering but a farewell (Big Daddy is terminally ill) a lot of memories and revelations which had been hidden come to the surface of both father and son.—Huggo
• In the opening scene, Brick Pollitt (Paul Newman), a former high school football star, spends a drunken night jumping hurdles on a school athletic field at Eastern Mississippi High School in a tragic attempt to recapture his glory days. He falls and breaks his right ankle.Some days later, Brick and his older brother, Gooper (Jack Carson), visit the family cotton plantation in eastern Mississippi to celebrate their father’s 65th birthday on a hot and humid August day. The family rumor is that the wealthy patriarch “Big Daddy” Pollitt (Burl Ives) may have developed colon cancer and would be forced to quickly settle his will, leaving his money and land to one of his two sons before he dies.Gooper, a lawyer who lives in Memphis and his shrew wife Mae (Madeleine Sherwood) have gone to great lengths to stay in Big Daddy’s good favor. Gooper has lived his entire life in accordance with his father’s casual instructions, and he and Mae have a “dynasty” of five children to carry on the Pollitt name. Brick’s wife Maggie (Elizabeth Taylor), a poor woman originally from New Orleans where they currently reside, is clever, intelligent and outspoken, and holds no small amount of contempt for Gooper and Mae’s entitled attitudes and five spoiled and obnoxious offspring (which Maggie frequently refers to as “no-neck monsters”) who run around the house unsupervised and cause physical damage to the house. Brick, recovering from his leg injury on crutches, spends all his time in his bedroom, drinking heavily and argues with Maggie about the dismal state of their marriage. Maggie still adores Brick, though she is troubled by his self-destructive behavior, and Brick is angry and sullen towards Maggie because of a yet unspecified incident involving his recently-deceased friend. Adding to the pressure is Gooper’s and Mae’s constant criticism of Brick and Maggie due to Brick’s alcoholism and the fact that they are childless.Big Daddy and his wife Ida (Judith Anderson) arrive home on their private airplane from the Oppenheim Clinic up north where Big Daddy received the news that he is not dying of cancer after all. They are greeted at the airport by Gooper, Mae, and their brood of kids, but Big Daddy ignores them and is driven home by Maggie. Big Daddy is openly dismissive of Gooper’s and Mae’s sycophantic attitudes, knowing that they fawn over him in an attempt to secure his money and plantation for themselves. Upon arrival back at the Pollitt plantation (which is frequently referred to as the largest and most successful post-Civil War plantation in the Deep South with 28,000 acres and has a property value of $10 million) Brick refuses to greet his father or come down for the party, and remains in his room, drinking.While the birthday celebration begins, Maggie runs upstairs to tell Brick of Big Daddy’s positive test results and entreats him to make an appearance at the party. Brick refuses and continues drinking. Disappointed, Maggie declares that she cannot live without Brick, but when she embraces him, he flees, locking himself in the bathroom. Moments later, Ida bursts in to the bedroom looking for Brick and demands to know if he is still drinking. She then remarks that Maggie’s continued childlessness and Brick’s alcoholism are indicative of a failed marriage. Dr. Baugh (Larry Gates) then intervenes, asking to examine Brick’s ankle. Once alone with Brick, Dr. Baugh confides that he has lied about Big Daddy’s condition, which is fatal. The doctor admits he privately told Gooper the truth during the drive from the airport, but decided to spare Big Daddy and Ida to let them enjoy the party. In reality, Big Daddy has terminal colon cancer and will be dead within a few months. The brothers initially keep the information to themselves, but Brick soon tells Maggie, who is deeply saddened.As the evening wears on, the party wines down as it begins to rain, forcing the few guests and family inside. As the last of the guests depart, Big Daddy soon grows annoyed with the party and his fickle family and ventures upstairs to speak with Brick, his favorite son. He chastises him for his excessive drinking, and for his cold treatment of Maggie. Brick grows defensive and even violent when Big Daddy brings up the subject of Skipper, Brick’s old football buddy who had jumped from a fifth-floor hotel window to his death a few years before. Realizing that there is more to the story, Big Daddy brings Maggie into the conversation. She explains that she hated Brick’s pro-football career because he always put it before her, and that she hated Skipper for distracting Brick from his marriage. (Note: there is subtle suggestion here that Brick and Skipper had been romantically involved.) Maggie describes a drunken episode between herself and Skipper in which she considered seducing him simply to spite her husband, but reconsidered at the last minute. Brick then explains that Skipper had telephoned him, seeming to think that he and Maggie had actually made love (though he had been too drunk to remember clearly). Skipper tearfully tried to apologize to his best friend, but Brick angrily hung up on him. Skipper killed himself soon after, and Brick blamed Maggie for the tragedy. Brick angrily leaves the house as the thunderstorm rages. Big Daddy follows him out into the rain and tries to prevent his drunken son from getting into the car and driving home to New Orleans, but Brick angrily reveals to his father that the doctor had lied… that his illness is terminal. A shocked Big Daddy goes inside the house and down to the basement to be alone, while Brick, emotionally exhausted, is escorted back inside by Maggie after he breaks his wooden crutch while slamming on the car door which the crutch gets caught in the car door frame and broken.During this time, as nearly all of the other guests have left the party, Gooper and Mae had been trying to convince Ida to settle Big Daddy’s will to give them the entire estate. Ida is still unaware of her husband’s condition. As Ida begins to feel stress from all the hub-bub, Mae lets it slip that Big Daddy’s cancer test was positive as Gooper told her minutes ago. The doctor has no choice but to admit the truth. Ida is at first overcome, but then firmly states that her husband will not be dying anytime soon, desperately trying to hold together the last traces of family unity. Maggie joins the conversation and speaks calmly to Ida to soothe her, whereas Gooper and Mae continue to hound Ida with demands. At this point, the personal rivalry between the two sisters-in-law, Mae and Maggie, becomes clear as they begin arguing with each other. Maggie reveals that she sees Mae as a dishonest, greedy, selfish, trailer-trash interloper who married Gooper solely for his parents wealth; Mae, who is pregnant with her sixth child, verbally counter-attacks with her belief that Maggie does not deserve any inheritance because she is childless and her husband drinks.Meanwhile, Brick has put on clean dry clothes and followed his father to the cellar. Big Daddy sits in silence in his bathrobe as the apologetic doctor explains that there is no use in hiding the truth. He gives Big Daddy morphine and a syringe for the pain, and returns upstairs which he offers his condolences before leaving. Brick and Big Daddy slowly begin to rehash the past, with Brick angrily pointing out that Big Daddy’s version of “family love” consists of showering his wife and sons with money and material possessions. Big Daddy admits that he indeed does not care for many of his family members, including his wife, and that he built his business empire to demonstrate the great things he was capable of.After further prodding, Big Daddy recollects his own father: a Spanish-American War veteran and boxcar tramp with no real job and no authority. Though he first speaks of his father with hostility, Big Daddy begins to smile as he remembers the fun he had as a child in traveling with his drifter father. He admits that he had loved his father more than anything, though he had been poor and overlooked by society. Brick becomes overwrought with emotion and trashes the basement, breaking the expensive items that his father had bought over the years to demonstrate hi

Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor are at the height of their glamor and performing prowess in this feverish adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ play, with a subtext of sexual repression providing an electric undercurrent.Read Critics Reviews

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What to KnowCritics ReviewsAudience ReviewsCast & Crew

Richard BrooksDirectorElizabeth TaylorMaggie PollittPaul NewmanBrick PollittBurl IvesHarvey “Big Daddy” PollittJack CarsonGooper PollittJudith Anderson