Cat On A Hot Tin Roof Reviews

LA LIZ DOES IT AGAIN.

PERHAPS THE FINEST PERFORMANCE IN A LONG AND AMAZING CAREER FROM LIZ TAYLOR.

PAUL NEWMAN IS SUBLIME IN HIS PERFORMANCE OF A MAN COMING TO TERMS WITH HIS HOMOSEXUALITY, UNABLE TO SATISFY HIS BEAUTIFUL WIFE, WHILE OVERCOME WITH THE GUILT OVER THE DEATH OF HIS BEST FRIEND AND LOVER.

A TRUE CLASSIC.

WHAT CAN I SAY!!!!!

A classic with wonderful performances by Burl Ives. Elizabeth Taylor and of course Paul Newman. The story set in Louiseanna is about Paul Newmans'character coming to terms with the death of his close friend and lover skip. Unable to satisfy his beautiful young wife this leads to tension. Big daddy maybe dying no one knows but all the family gather forhis 65th birthday. Guther newmans' older brother his wife and neckless monsters all gather to find out who will inherit the family fortune. What happens next you will have to watch the dvd to find out. But a wonderful film superb acting.

Family Matters

The inheritance of the family 'land' is being fought over by two sons. The elder son and his ambitious wife try to discredit the younger son Brick (Paul Newman). The sychophancy of the wife is sickening to the Father, Big Daddy (Burle Ives). Brick the younger son is tormented by the memory of 'skipper' an old football buddy. Skipper died, suicide perhaps after a late night hotel room meeting with Brick's wife who is played by Elizabeth Taylor. Big Daddy has tests to see if he has terminal cancer - the doctors and family members collude to hide the truth from Big Daddy. Brick wants no part of it. He doesn't want the land, he doesn't want to join in with Birthday celebrations he has contempt for his wife and is angry at the lack of love from his father. He wants the truth and he wants love. As the plot is resolved he gets the truth and the love and of course it is Brick, the brother pure in heart who inherits the land. Sharp script based on the Tenessee Williams play set in the Deep South. Southern rural values of women being good breeding stock and the menfolk ruling the roost are examined. It is easy to forget how good film acting was in the 1950s. This is as good as it gets!

Masterpiece

Cat On A Hot Tin Roof is a Masterpiece in film making. The undercurrents of powerplay and inuendo keep you riveted to the edge of your seat. The monologue by Elizabeth Taylor when talking to 'Big Daddy' is breathtaking. there are very powerful perfomances from all of the actors including the little monsters (children). Definately do not miss this film!

theatrical timepiece

A southern family is having a get together for the birtday of the patriarch Big Daddy and the wife (Liz Taylor reminding us how beautiful and what a strong actress she was) of the younger son (Paul Newman looking handsome but playing the part too mechanically) is fighting with the older sons wife over future control of the land. What would have been shocking and sultry back in 1958 is your average daytime soap today but its worth watching as a slanted window of the times.

a classic

A film about a southern family getting all of their feelings and motives out in the open. Liz Taylor looks fantastic, perfect for this role, as was Burl Ives, and the rest of the clan including 'sister woman'. The film is quite funny in some parts. I didn't think that Paul Newman's character had a homosexual background although I gather that might have been in the original story - I've watched the film many times and felt that his sense of loss of for his friend Skipper was just that he had lost the fatherly figure that he had never had in his life, someone to look up to, since his own father had neglected him. Anyway, I prefer to see the film in that light, irrespective of the original book.

Great film

You can feel the tension in this film immediately. Superbly acted by a beautiful Taylor and handsome Newman. These are real stars compared to the actors we have today (Colin Farrel and the like? What A Joke)

Hollywood at its best

Taylor & Newman are a tour-de-force, and of course, extraordinarily beautiful. The premise is superb (see other reviews) although I failed to see any homosexual connotations at all: just a guy overcome with guilt over the death of his best mate, his failed career, and his inability to satisfy his wife. It is a wonderful depiction of a marriage on the rocks and family interactions. Every character is superbly drawn; Big Daddy is everything you would imagine a Southern plantation-owning patriarch to be. Set in the steamy deep south, where emotions run high, the scene is immediately set for one of the best family showdowns in cinematic history.

Classic Williams On The Big Screen

"A Streetcar Named Desire" may be the most famous Tennessee Williams adaptation to hit the big screen, but this film is just as good and makes for an authentic and gripping version.

Sometimes when a play gets filmed, it's origins betray it by making the action too limited but if you knew nothing about Williams or the theatre, you would never know it was a theatrical play.

Stunning stuff.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Hot to trot

Although it betrays its stage origins by barely venturing out of its main set, this is nevertheless a vibrant and enthralling study of a dysfunctional Southern family, filled with memorable performances. Of those, the main attractions are Taylor (never sexier) as Maggie the Cat, desperately trying to reignite her husband's interest in her, Newman (also never sexier) as said husband, struggling with his sexuality, and Ives, wonderfully imperious as the bullish Big Daddy.