Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
by Richard Brooks
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Burl Ives, Elizabeth Taylor, Jack Carson, Judith Anderson, Paul NewmanDirector: Richard Brooks
Cinematographer: William H. Daniels
Writer: Richard Brooks
Editor: Ferris Webster
Producer: Lawrence Weingarten
Writer: James Poe
Writer: Tennessee Williams
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 108 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-01-27
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Movie Reviews of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Movie Review: Misogyny and Pain Run Deep
Summary: 5 Stars
"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.
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