Rating: 
Summary: Mature viewer-BWG in Ga.
Review: I've seen this wonderfully layered movie many times, beginning with the first theater release in 1958. Though it's been at least 15 or 20 years since I saw it without interruption, I was able to see character traits within Maggie and Brick that I'd never noticed before. All the actors in this Tennessee Williams play give outstanding performances with the gut-wrenching dialogue and superb direction of Richard Brooks. The bottom line is that we all want to be loved and cared for, regardless of material possessions. I don't think I ever fully understood the Brick character so well as I did today. Maggie becomes his hero in a taut, satisfying movie ending...and Big Daddy's character is the one person on whom the play surrounds. I would have loved to see the original Broadway play, directed by Elia Kazan.
Rating:
Summary: Misogyny and Pain Run Deep
Review: If anyone is curious as to why women were desperately in need of liberation, look no further than "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," the magnificently-acted 1958 film that not only drips with Southern heat and repressed desire, but also with misogyny. The original script from Tennessee Williams was evidently toned down, although the steaminess is intact (largely due to the presence of the gorgeous Elizabeth Taylor as Maggie the Cat). It is a dynamic film with a superb cast, a portrait of a dying wealthy plantation owner, Big Daddy (a commanding and superb Burl Ives), and his troubled greedy family, all coming together in dysfunctional glory for Big Daddy's 65th birthday.
If ever there were male characters who treated their wives contemptuously and made them into scapegoats, these are it. Taylor is in the absurd position (given her ripe sexuality and looks) of being sexually rejected by her surly husband, aptly named "Brick" (Paul Newman), an ex-football hero whose leg is in a cast; he also repeatedly berates and verbally abuses her ostensibly because he blames her for a rumored affair with and the subsequent suicide of his friend Skipper. The latent homosexuality in regard to Brick's relationship with Skipper remains unexpressed subtext. With or without that insight into his character, he remains, to my mind, a loathsome, raging alcoholic, incapable of even speaking with Maggie about what actually happened and using her as the repository of his own self-loathing. Although she continues to scratch at him, trying to break beneath his stone and comports herself with fiery tenacity, she also remains sexually and emotionally tied to him. When in one scene, she tries to force him to listen to the truth and he threatens to hit her with his crutch, I longed for her to send him packing to Boots and Saddles and make room for any number of other ostensible admirers who would be happy to acquiesce to her demands. Although Paul Newman performs admirably as Brick, his character repulsed me; moreover, I've never been enamored with Newman's looks. But whether or not one finds Newman gorgeous is besides the point. In the 1950's, women had few opportunities to escape loveless marriages; they were encouraged to long for marriage as part of their identity as men were invited to scorn wives and settling down as "nooses" around their necks. Economic autonomy was not readily available for them. Brick, moreover, seems like a more handsome yet equally brutish version of Stanley from "Streetcar."
Aside from Brick there is Big Daddy who professes to be living with a woman for over forty years that he doesn't love. Big Daddy wants to get to the bottom of why Brick and Maggie have no children, whereas brother Gooper (Jack Carter) has sired five "no necks," as Maggie terms them, with his wife. In the high voltage scenes, Big Daddy cuts through the "mendacity" crippling Newman and the family. In spite of verbally insulting and maltreating their wives, said wives remain doggedly loyal and ready to return to Big Husband at the snap of his fingers.
Performances here are multi-layered, powerful and superb, particularly Taylor as Maggie the Cat. A must-see for movie lovers, but also reminder of why women needed to claw out of the cage.
Rating: 
Summary: NOT WILLIAM'S AND A LOUSY TRANSFER TO BOOT!
Review: It's a curious thing that Hollywood often tackled subject matter that it was forbidden to show on the screen. The net result - a good many stage plays often had more than a bit of doctoring going on before making it to the big screen. "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" is no exception. The original story concerns itself with Brick's homosexuality and his resulting inability to find his lovely wife even remotely attractive - at least enough to impregnate her with an heir to his father's plantation fortune. However, homosexuality was a big NO, NO in the movies. So instead we get Brick (Paul Newman) as a sexually frigid prig who thinks that his wife Maggie (Elizabeth Taylor) has been having an affair with his best friend, Skipper (whom we never see). Thus the balance of power and the resulting confusions which are straightened out in the end don't seem to make much sense. Nevertheless, "Cat" is a compelling piece of 50's kitsch. Richard Brooks ably directs what's left of the plot and the relationship that he fleshes out between Big Daddy (Burl Ives) and Brick is genuinely touching. Dame Judith Anderson gives a poignant and heartbreaking performance as Big Daddy's dopey wife.
TRANSFER: YUCK! Colors are weak and not well balanced. Flesh tones are often jaundice. There's a decidedly green tint to most indoor scenes and an overly blue tint to outdoor scenes. Age related artifacts are everywhere! Contrast and black levels are fairly accurate, though a few darker scenes appear to be suffering from less than 'black' blacks. Edge enhancement rears its ugly head now and then and is somewhat distracting. The audio is MONO but nicely balanced.
EXTRAS: FORGET IT! Not a one!
BOTTOM LINE: The story already distilled - the transfer, pretty much a mess - this really isn't the way I want to remember Tennessee Williams.
Rating:
Summary: The best performance Burl Ives ever gave
Review: Most people cite this one as memorable because of the performances of Taylor and Newman, and while both are excellent, I think it's Burl Ives as Big Daddy who literally steals the show (he and Madeleine Sherwood, who is also excellent, were reprising their Broadway roles). Taylor gives what I feel is her best performance on the heels of personal tragedy (as many film fans know, her husband Mike Todd was killed not long before this movie in a plane crash) - this is probably her most subdued performance and to me, she's always better when she keeps herself under control (as compared to, say, "Reflections in a Golden Eye," "Cleopatra," or "Boom!"). Madeleine Sherwood definitely deserved an Oscar Nomination as "Sister Woman" May, one of the screen's most hideous harridans, the "monster of fertility" (you just want to give this woman some birth control tablets). It's hard for me to concentrate on symbolism when I watch this movie - I get engulfed in some of the humor and the general family warfare that prevails, but like all Williams plays / films, it features a fragile Southern woman who ends up getting trounced on ("Big Mama" Judith Anderson) and a whole slew of characters who are hiding things about themselves and are too scared to face reality (I think every character could be put under this umbrella in one way or another). Without a doubt, my favorite Tennesee Williams drama and the best one adapted to film (yes, I remember "Streetcar.")
Rating:
Summary: Rich Characterizations Do Justice to Williams
Review: No, this isn't quite the play, but I didn't have any trouble picking up on the theme of Brick's (Paul Newman's) struggle with homosexuality. In fact, I was surprised at the sensitivity with which the script and the actors treated the issue, considering it was 1958. More importantly (at least to me), I thought that the rich characters were true to the essence of what Williams wanted to do. Maggie (Elizabeth Taylor), has some of the "mendacity" of which Brick is so contemptuous, but has a great capacity for love, too; Big Daddy (Burl Ives) wields his wealth like a tyrant, but what he really wants (unbeknownst to him) is the connection with his family that his single-minded ambition has destroyed.
Of note: Elizabeth Taylor would appear in so many not-so-great films later in life that it's sometimes easy to forget how good she used to be. This film is a happy reminder: her performance is luminous.
Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful looking and moving.
Review: One can always be sure to find something moving in any of Tennesee Williams' plays. There are several places in this film where the sheer intensity of feeling, well conducted, well timed, make up for all flaws one could find in it. The movie had an "scandalous" appeal to audiences in 1958: A man refuses to go to bed with his wife, and accordingly she feels like a cat on a hot tin roof! The need to pass censure harmed the film, provinding a happy end and a very confused plot just at the core: we are left without understanding Paul Newman's character, what happened between Maggie and Skipper and why Skipper killed himself. Of course, everything is clearer in the play. Another flaw in my view is the fact that some characters and situations look more like caricatures than sound real persons. Too much fuss is made with the children. And the occasion shouldn't be missed to see Liz Taylor beautiful and sensual, more than ever. Beauty was never exactly Mrs. Taylor strongest asset. She was young and pretty then, and very appealing. And in this particular movie, the camera loves her. As to Paul Newman, he was too handsome to play realisticaly his part. Granted, his acting his excellent, probably unsurpassable, what is otherwordly are his good looks -the same could be said about Marlon Brando in "A Streetcar named Desire". Newman doesn't match physically with Burl Ives as son and father, although he does in dramatic intesity, for example in the excellent discussion they have under the rain, when the son tells the father that the latter is going to die of cancer and everyone else has been lying to him.
Rating:
Summary: Good adaptation of the play
Review: One of the best adaptations of T. Williams according to his own account in his Memoirs. Although the references to homosexuality are hinted at; a person not familiar with the play may not catch them. Otherwise it is an excellent movie. Gore Vidal says This is a movie where Ms. Taylor made a white slip one of the most noticeable pieces of underwear. "This is not a direct quote, but more or less accurate of what Mr. Vidal says.
Rating:
Summary: BIG DADDY ATE THREE HE'PIN'S OF ''HOPPIN' JOHN''!
Review: One of the best Tennessee Williams plays adapted for the screen. Liz Taylor is perfect as Maggie, and Burl Ives is unforgettable as Big Daddy. Paul Newman give a focused, anguished portrayal of Brick, and Judith Anderson is magnificent as Big Mama. And Mae and Gooper's kids are no-neck monsters because "their fat little heads are set right on their fat little bodies"!
Rating:
Summary: A Classic
Review: Paul Newman, Elizabeth Taylor and Burl Ives. What more does one have to say? This movie is marvelous.
Rating:
Summary: Cat in a hot, hot movie
Review: Playwright Tennessee Williams' genius and sympathy for the human condition is again evident in this brilliant, though censored, adaptation of the equally brilliant play. Incredibly, the censorship does not hurt the plot, and the acting is so spectacular one hardly notices. The characterization of Maggie, played to perfection by the incredibly beautiful Elizabeth Taylor, as a "cat on a hot tin roof" shows Williams' sympathy for the character, who is much, much more than a "money-grubbing sexpot" as one reviewer put it. She is "Unfulfilled Woman" personified, denied the love she hungers for from her husband, also played brilliantly by Paul Newman, who has turned alcoholic and cold toward her because of his own self-hate and disgust with "mendacity." Her need for love, security, and a future are contrasted with Brother-man and Sister-woman's out-and-out greed and desire for more than they need, like the brood of "no-neck monsters" they put on display "like animals at county fair" to try to win the favor of irascible, dying, and in-denial millionaire Big Daddy (Burl Ives). Big Mama (Judith Anderson) gives a superlative performance as the faithful wife who, like Maggie, is ever trying to coax warmth from her husband. (What's wrong with these men?) And Madeleine Sherwood as Sister-woman is the true perfect cat of this movie and played to feline ferocity. I actually like the ending of the movie better than the play's--and, judging by the palpable chemistry between Newman (who, unlike his play's character, comes off as very heterosexual) and Taylor in the movie, well...judge for yourself whether he preferred it too.
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