Movie Review: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

So I saw the movie Cat on a Hot Tin Roof a while ago. It was directed by Richard Brooks and released in 1958. The leading actors are the late Paul Newman*, Elizabeth Taylor and Burl Ives. Although it was nominated for six Oscars, it didn’t win any. The film is based on Tennessee Williams’ play of the same name. The play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1955.

The plot is about Maggie trying to win back the love of her estranged (gay?) husband, Brick. And about everyone trying to get the fortune of Big Daddy who is dying of a tumor. The main theme is probably "mendacity".

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is carried by a myriad of interweaving motifs such as male camaraderie vs. homosexuality, mendacity (lies), the father-son relationship, the cat on edge, the defendants (wives and children), exotic lands, and so on. In the movie, unlike the play, the homosexuality theme is downplayed.

It is the dialogue that makes Cat on a Hot Tin Roof so beguiling. Take for instance these four excerpts:

Big Daddy: What's that smell in this room? Didn't you notice it, Brick? Didn't you notice the powerful and obnoxious odor of mendacity in this room?

Maggie: I'll win, alright.
Brick: Win what? What is the victory of a cat on a hot tin roof?
Maggie: Just staying on it, I guess. As long as she can.

Maggie: I'm not living with you! We occupy the same cage, that's all.

Big Daddy: Why do you drink so much?
Brick: Gimme another drink and I'll tell you.

I really enjoyed the acting in the movie. Paul Newman isn’t just a pretty face. In this film he uses great subtlety and comic timing to portray his character. The same goes for Liz Taylor.

These old classics has something that I miss from many contemporary movies, and that is a good story. Not merely a suspenseful story, or a story with some twist at the end, or a fantastical story, but a good story. A story that does not require special effects or gross humour to drive it.

* Scott Raab wrote a nice narrative on Paul Newman (with lots of foul language - so be warned) for Esquire in the May 2000 issue. They recently published it again. Read it here.