Details
Movie Description
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.
Synopsis
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.
Industry Reviews
"...Every exchange between Newman and Elizabeth Taylor is fraught with anger and sexual tension..."
Sight and Sound - Geoffrey Macnab (09/01/2001)
"...The best Tennessee Williams adaptation yet, thanks mainly to a set of wonderfully atmospheric performances..."
Total Film - Emma Rowley (10/01/2000)
Quotations
"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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