| | | This is Maggie the Cat...
Features: DVD, Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 1.85:1, English, French, Spanish, Subtitled
I'm not living with you," Maggie snaps at Brick. "We occupy the same cage, that's all." The raw emotions and crackling dialogue of Tennessee Williams' 1955 Pulitzer Prize play rumble like a thunderstorm in this film version whose fiery performances and grown-up themes made it one of 1958's top box-office hits. Paul Newman earned his first OscarO nomination* as troubled ex-sports hero Brick. In a performance that marked a transition to richer adult roles, Elizabeth Taylor snagged her second. Her Maggie the Cat is a vivid portrait of passionate loyalty. Nominated for six Academy AwardsO including Best Picture* and also starring Burl Ives (repeating his Broadway triumph as mendacity-loathing Big Daddy), Judith Anderson and Jack Carson, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof sizzles. System Requirements:Running Time 108 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE
"...Williams' classic...still packing a wallop; entire cast is sensational." Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide
"...powerful, highly-charged, moving story..." Tim Dirks, The Greatest Films
Editor's Note
This is the classic cinematic version of Tennessee Williams's breathtaking play about a crazed southern family torn apart by greed. Larger-than-life patriarch Big Daddy (Burl Ives) lays dying, and the members of his brood clamor for the inheritance. Paul Newman is Brick, the alcoholic son struggling in the shadow of his powerful father, and Elizabeth Taylor is Maggie, Brick's lingerie-clad temptress of a wife who will do anything for the love of her cold husband. Brick's younger brother, Gooper (Jack Carson), and his wife, Mae (Madeleine Sherwood), strive for Big Daddy's approval, but even though they have children and a successful marriage, Big Daddy is dedicated to Brick, a former football star with his own personal demons. Tensions mount as the family is forced together under one roof, where secrets are revealed and relationships are lost and found. Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman's performances serve as cinematic icons; the heat and hatred between them ignites the screen, fueled by Tennessee Williams's insightful and brilliant dialogue.
Plot Summary
This blistering adaptation of Tennessee Williams's hard-hitting play features fiery performances from Paul Newman, Burl Ives, and Elizabeth Taylor that have become cinematic icons (Ives's Big Daddy in acres of suit, Taylor's Maggie sprawled in her slip). A dying southern patriarch (Ives) surveys the prospects for his legacy in the hands of his sons, one a neurotic weakling (Jack Carson) and the other an alcoholic conniver (Newman), and finds them sorely lacking. The film glistens with remarkable ensemble cast performances highlighted by Tennessee Williams's searing dialogue.
| Features | Audio Commentary By Biographer Donald Spoto, Author Of "The Kindness Of Strangers: The Life Of Tennessee Williams" | | Audio: English, French Dolby Digital Mono | | Dubbed: French | | Featurette: "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof: Playing Cat & Mouse" | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, French, Spanish |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Warner |
| Release Date: 5/2/2006 |
| Running Time: 108 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1958 | | Catalog ID: 66985 | | UPC: 00012569698529 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English [CC], English | | Available Subtitles: English, French, Spanish | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Golden Globe (1959) | | | Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Nominee, Best Motion Picture - Drama | |
British Academy Awards (1959) | | | Elizabeth Taylor, Nominee, Best Foreign Actress | |
Oscar (1959) | | | Elizabeth Taylor, Nominee, Best Actress in a Leading Role | | | Lawrence Weingarten, Nominee, Best Picture | | | Paul Newman, Nominee, Best Actor in a Leading Role | |
British Academy Awards (1959) | | | Paul Newman, Nominee, Best Foreign Actor | |
Golden Globe (1959) | | | Richard Brooks, Nominee, Best Motion Picture Director |
| Memorable Quotes| "But how in hell on earth do you imagine you're going to have a child by a man who cannot stand you?"----Brick (Paul Newman) to Maggie (Elizabeth Taylor) | | "Now, you keep forgetting the conditions under which I agreed to stay on living with you!"----Brick to Maggie|"I'm not living with you! We occupy the same cage, that's all."----Maggie to Brick | | "One of those no--neck monsters hit me with some ice cream. Their fat little heads sit on their fat little bodies without a bit of connection...you can't wring their necks if they got no necks to wring. Isn't that right, Honey?"----Maggie to Brick | | "You know what I feel like? I feel all the time like a cat on a hot tin roof."----Maggie to Brick | | "You said it yourself, Big Daddy, mendacity is the system we live in."----Brick to Big Daddy (Burl Ives) |
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| | Professional Reviews | Sight and Sound
"...Every exchange between Newman and Elizabeth Taylor is fraught with anger and sexual tension..." 09/01/2001 p.58Total Film
"...The best Tennessee Williams adaptation yet, thanks mainly to a set of wonderfully atmospheric performances..." 10/01/2000 p.114 DVD Times 8 of 10
What was considered daring in 1958 is now likely to seem rather quaint and Cat On A Hot Tin Roof is no exception. What was once shocking has now become passe and much of this heated melodrama plays more like black comedy 44 years on. But that's not to say it's a bad film, far from it. This is a brilliantly acted, surprisingly cinematic adaptation of Tennessee Williams' best play, and it still manages to be fairly provocative despite the severe censorship cuts made to the original text. - Mike Sutton
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