Hammerman Ikon

Hammerman Ikon Film Guide

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
1966
****
Director: Mike Nichols
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal, Sandy Dennis

A riveting, emotionally drenching drama based on Edward Albee's award-winning stage play. On a college campus a middle-aged academic couple invite the new professor and his wife over for drinks. The guests soon discover the twisted nature of their hosts' relationship, which is based on emotional abuse and fueled by alcohol. It's very stagy, but the text and the performances are raw. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, an on-and-off real-life couple, are the obvious stars of this verbal sparring. Taylor and Dennis won two of the film's five Academy Awards.