Hammerman Ikon

Hammerman Ikon Film Guide

Cat On a Hot Tin Roof
1958
****
Director: Richard Brooks
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Burl Ives, Judith Anderson, Jack Carson, Madeleine Sherwood, Larry Gates, Vaughn Taylor

This grown-up drama about a troubled Southern family is based on the Pulitzer Price winning 1955 play by Tennessee Williams. The excellent Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor play Brick and Maggie, whose marriage is not built on solid foundations. This adaptation has all but removed the allusions to Brick's homosexuality, but what remains is a feisty, sexy and entertaining film full of great dialogue.