Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Based on the Tennessee Williams play, the 1958 film version of Cat on the Hot Tin Roof was nominated for Best Picture. It was, befitting the times, a sanitized version of the play. The implication of the main character's homosexuality is played down to near nonexistent levels, and ends with said character dimming the lights so he can knock up his wife. Despite this, it's still a strong film with some good acting.

Directed and co-written by Richard Brooks, the film had some high-powered casting. Elizabeth Taylor was Maggie, the hot-blooded woman who is married to Brick Pollit, played by Paul Newman, who at that time was on the verge of super-stardom. Taylor, of course, was already a big star, and endured a tragedy during filming when her husband, Mike Todd, was killed in a plane crash.

If you read between the lines, and know about Tennessee Williams, it's easy to understand what's going on. Brick is the alcoholic ex-football star who is limping around on a broken ankle (sustained by attempting to jump hurdles in a three A.M. visit to his old high school athletic field). Maggie wants to knock boots with him, but he will have nothing to do with her, and the sore spot between them is his old teammate Skippy, who has killed himself. The film suggests that Brick's problem is that he suspects Maggie slept with Skippy, but those who know better will see that Brick and Skippy had the special relationship.

All of this is set on the Mississippi plantation of the patriarch, known as Big Daddy (Burl Ives). Big Daddy has cancer, but the doctor has lied to him. It's Big Daddy's birthday, and his family has gathered for the occasion--Brick and Maggie, and Brick's older brother Gooper (Jack Carson) and his sniveling wife Mae (Madeleine Sherwood) and their five children. They are angling to inherit the plantation, and Sherwood mocks Maggie's childlessness. Over the course of the evening, a lot of conflicts arise, and secrets are revealed.

At first there is an adjustment process, as all of the Southern accents need some time to be believed, but as the drama builds some momentum there are some powerful scenes, none so much as when Brick and his father hash out their relationship. Brick is a difficult role to play, as he is largely ineffectual, almost always has a drink in his hand, and literally has a crutch, but Newman gives him some spine in the confrontation with Ives, who's blustery demeanor cracks when he recalls how he loved his father, who was a hobo. Ives, interestingly, won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar that year, but not for this film (it was for The Big Country) but could have easily won for this role.

Taylor's role was toned down, though there are a couple of scenes of her walking around in a slip. In the second half of the film she's relegated to the back of the room. Sherwood is deliciously monstrous as a parody of a good Christian Southern women.