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It sounds like perfect casting: Jessica Lange and Tommy Lee Jones do one of Tennessee Williams's most powerful works. But this filmed stage play doesn't quite fulfill the promise. Lange certainly has all the right ingredients: the sensual moves, the fluttering neuroses, the scheming-with-a-smile, but it doesn't quite ring true. It's as if the star and her director failed to make the full transition from stage acting to the smaller, more nuanced acting demands of film. Jones is badly miscast as Brick--the character is mopey and riven with insecurities, while Jones's forte is garrulous confidence. It feels like he's acting with a muzzle on. Rip Torn is terrific as Big Daddy (his scenes with Jones are the best in the piece) and the rest of the cast is all up to the game. Tennessee Williams reworked the script for this American Playhouse production, restoring some sexual frankness lost in earlier productions. The piece has some real fireworks, and not just in the places you might expect. Lange and Jones would team up again to better effect in the 1994 drama Blue Sky. --Geof Miller
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
By Simba
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I had this movie on VHS and I am trying to replace all my VHS movies with DVD versions. It was quite cheap to purchase and arrived soon after I ordered it. I have played the movie and have found it in good condition. I am very satisfied with my purchase. I only wish I could find all the other VHS movies in my collection on DVD's at such a reasonable price.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
"Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" is a spectacular visual masterpiece about the human spirit.
Every character has three dimensions, and every line is perfectly written and delivered. Credit is needed for the original playright(although I am aware the plot was altered to please the strict critics of the time), who along with the screenplay writers are as important as the actors.
Speaking of actors, Liz Taylor, Burl Ives and Paul Newman were all flawless in their roles. They were human, and as a painting they were more real than reality. My opinions of the characters changed continually throughout the film. It was as if you were peeling away the skin layer by layer to find the truth. Annoyance turned into hate, hate turned into compassion.
The most important element of this film was feelings;emotions the players have, and have to deal with. As well as how you feel about them, and their situations.
Every character has three dimensions, and every line is perfectly written and delivered. Credit is needed for the original playright(although I am aware the plot was altered to please the strict critics of the time), who along with the screenplay writers are as important as the actors.
Speaking of actors, Liz Taylor, Burl Ives and Paul Newman were all flawless in their roles. They were human, and as a painting they were more real than reality. My opinions of the characters changed continually throughout the film. It was as if you were peeling away the skin layer by layer to find the truth. Annoyance turned into hate, hate turned into compassion.
The most important element of this film was feelings;emotions the players have, and have to deal with. As well as how you feel about them, and their situations.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Kim Robinson
Format:DVD
"Cat on the Hot Tin Roof"
Has so much tension, one can't cut it with a machete... Just another very dysfunctional family, which Tennessee Williams writes so brilliantly.
Has so much tension, one can't cut it with a machete... Just another very dysfunctional family, which Tennessee Williams writes so brilliantly.
You have Maggie (the cat) The only character in the extended family who is 'Normal' The only one who seems to be keeping the family from killing one another. Liz, of course plays her beautifully, superbly, very sexy as 'The Cat'
(Brick) Paul Newman plays her husband...A drunk with many devils he needs to let out, such as why he will not sleep with Maggie, why won't he stop thinking about his foot-ball buddy who killed himself. The viewer will wonder if his has other preferences... Because who wouldn't sleep with (The Cat)??
Big Daddy...played by Burl Ives... The GOD of the family, the one with all the money, Power, the one who's dying. (Excellent performance)
(Goober) Brick's brother and his wife wait impatiently for Big Daddy's fortune. The wife is appalling enough to make one sick. Continually taunting Maggie about not having children, having a bad marriage, not controlling Brick. Her kids run around the house like little, foul animals.
This family is a disaster waiting to happen...The pressure cooker is on high, baby, and when she blows
Watch out...All hell will break loose all over the place.
They don't make um' like this anymore.
MEEEEOOOOOW!
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4.6 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Superb
Acting doesn't come any better than this. Newman and Taylor have such chemistry its unbelievable, and although the movie may drag in certain parts, overall it is a great character... Read more
Published on Feb 28 2004 by D.W. Griffith
4.0 out of 5 stars
Strong stuff for its day. Children by Diane Arbus
Tennesee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" is a powerful play and here has been made into a powerful film. Read more
Published on Nov 30 2003 by abt1950
3.0 out of 5 stars
NOT WILLIAM'S AND A LOUSY TRANSFER TO BOOT!
It's a curious thing that Hollywood often tackled subject matter that it was forbidden to show on the screen. Read more
Published on Oct 25 2003 by Nix Pix
3.0 out of 5 stars
Lies.
"Cat on a hot tin roof" is a play that was filmed in an effort to customize it to the silver screen. Read more
Published on Aug 15 2003 by Eran Cohen
5.0 out of 5 stars
Incredible Piece of Filmmaking!!!
I don't think there is one bad thing I could say about "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof"! I love everything about it! Read more
Published on Jun 5 2003 by musiclover13
4.0 out of 5 stars
Paul Newman is sooo [gorgeous]!
I glanced through the other reviews for this movie, and everyone seemed to be raving about the powerful emotions and all that. Read more
Published on May 1 2003 by Carrie Elizabeth
4.0 out of 5 stars
Dysfunctionalism before it was in vogue
When the familial vultures hear that Big Daddy Burl Ives is dying of cancer, they flock to his southern Gothic spread for a supposed 65th birthday, and the Pollitt brood brings... Read more
Published on Mar 17 2003 by Christopher M. MacNeil
5.0 out of 5 stars
"You know what I'm contemplatin'? Pleasure."
This is a powerful film full of great acting, built on the play of one of our greatest writers: Tennessee Williams. Read more
Published on Jun 18 2002 by rballjones
5.0 out of 5 stars
Powerful, though altered, version of the play
Tennessee William's play, "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", was considered so controversial that its Broadway producers forced the playwright to alter the third act. Read more
Published on Jun 8 2002 by Matthew Horner
5.0 out of 5 stars
Maggie the Cat
This movie is wonderful! Elizabeth Taylor is stunning as Maggie, the cat, and Paul Newman as Brick is great. Read more
Published on Jun 7 2002 by Jimmel Brown
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