Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Rating:
Summary: Very strong, fresh production
Review: I thought this was a wonderful version of this play. Lange is a wonder to watch as she struggles to keep her marriage and her life from falling completely apart. Jones, while many thought he was a poor choice, brings a very refreshing interpretation of Brick. He comes across more as the broken man that he is, the drunkard he has become. A man afraid to face the truth, which Big Daddy forces him to face. Act II, the scene between Brick and Big Daddy, played by Rip Torn, is powerful and engaging. It is a very honest performance by the cast, making it an absolute delight to watch. If you are a fan of Williams' plays then I highly recommend this.

Rating:
Summary: Flawed would-be masterpiece
Review: In this 1984 production of "Cat On Hot Tin Roof" the play is allowed to retains some of Tennessee Williams original acerbic script. Yet some how lacks the intensity of the 1950's version. Perhaps because Jessica Lange, lacks sensuality and delivers her lines in a unconvincing high pitched Southern screech. She is both painful and irritating to watch because her acting skills are so mediocre. Beside her Tommy Lee Jones is totally convincing as the profoundly closeted ,grieving, and drunken former football hero Brick. ...

Rip Torn is excellent as "Big Daddy" delivering his lines with a wily humor that makes him more likable than perhaps his character should be. The reminder of the cast are able if not remarkable with Big Mama competing with Jessica Lange as having the most contrived performance on screen. I would have liked this film more if the sound quality had been better. It was simply horrible.

Although the play is about Brick's latent homosexuality and stubborn self-loathing. I feel that it is also really about "Maggie the Cat" and how Brick's sexual rejection of her leads not only to frustation but the risk of poverty to which she refuses to return. Her battle of wills over Big Daddy's inheritance with Gooper and his fertility monster wife May is at the core of the play. The play could be considered cruel towards women since Maggie the cat is portrayed as a bitchy harridan because of sexual neglect. She can not sexully compete with the homosexuality charged bond between her husband and his recently dead friend Skipper.

What rescues it from mocking the fertility linked sexuality of women is the fact that Big Daddy is so obviously embittered about his own life, inspite of having crawled his way out of the gutter into ostentacious wealth. He is still not happy and so takes it out on his wife Big Mama. Who's loyalty is breathtaking in the face of so much humiliation. Unable to squeeze any demonstrative love or respect from her husband and sons. You feel uncomfortable watching her feeble attempts to create a normal family celebration. Its contrived and you know she knows its fake but you can not fault her for trying anyway. Her efforts are beaten down verbally by Big Daddy as blatant hypocrisy but you sense that she has nothing else left to live for. So you don't criticize her. The fact that Tennessea Williams play is able to make you feel compassion for Big Mama is an indication of his great brillience as a playwrite and chronicler of his age. The story is a timeless one of unhappy people compelled to fraternize with each other because of material gain. Skeletons rattle out of the cupboards and closets because everyone has something hidden behind their rage. This production is worth watching because ...I would suggest renting it first.

Only three stars because of the sound quality.

Rating:
Summary: Lange at her best!
Review: This has got to be the best adaptation of a play I have ever seen. I was a five year old kid watching this when it first came out on Showtime! I loved it then, and now I love it even more and fully understand it! Lange has never been so sexy nor great. Besides being the best actress in the world, her performance in here really displays her dramatic talents. Jones was born to play Brick and he does a great job. The settings in this version are so well designed and set-up it makes you wonder if they are in a REAL plantation home! And the rest of the cast, particularly the wonderful Torn, do an outstanding job. Besides the scenes between Jones and Torn being overly long and you find yourself missing Lange's prescence, this is a high recommendation.