Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) Film Review

DIRECTOR Richard Brooks

BOTTOM LINE:

 Written (with James Poe) and directed by Richard Brooks, this very respectable adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play opens with gay ex-athlete and football player Brick Pollitt (Paul Newman in his superstar breakthrough) pining and drinking in his bedroom for the memory of his best friend (read lover) and teammate Skipper, who has recently committed suicide. So, who can blame his wife Maggie (“the cat”), beautifully played by Elizabeth Taylor, who clearly ain’t gettin’ any, when she says that feels like the cat in the movie’s title?

Meanwhile, downstairs, there is a party for Brick’s Daddy – that would be “Big Daddy” – played by Burl Ives in his most memorable movie role. With Judith Anderson as “Big Mamma”, Jack Carson as Brick’s brother, and Madeleine Sherwood as his awful wife and the mother of their five brats.

POST TITLE:  55 Queer Films Made Under the Hays Code (1934-1967) (Part 2)

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SUBCATEGORY: Queer Film

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