FRIDAY MOVIE SUGGESTION NIGHT PRESENTS: "CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF!"

___

A very obvious oversight of me for "Friday Movie Suggestion Night" has been the absence of Elizabeth Taylor. That oversight ends as of today with the fifth Tennessee Williams play to reach the big screen in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF. The story revolves around a wealthy Mississippi plantation owner named Big Daddy Pollitt, unaware that he's dying of cancer. His source of despair over his favorite son, Brick, an alcoholic (Paul Newman) as his 65th birthday approaches is palpable. Maggie (Elizabeth Taylor) is a sexy siren wife to Brick who appears unable to reach him through the bottle that he uses to cope with the suicide of Skipper--his best friend. The fact that Brick's brother Gooper has children and Brick hasn't any with Maggie is the "tip of the iceberg" for this emotional story of greed and unspoken conflicted feelings. Fresh off The Long Hot Summer, Newman is paired with Taylor who had completed filming "Giant" with Co-Star James Dean and "Raintree County" with Montgomery Clift--for which she received an Academy Award Nomination for Best Actress. It is noteworthy that Taylor's then-husband Mike Todd was tragically killed during the filming of this movie and Taylor's despair was present throughout her role. This tense story has been on "the back burner" all too long. An incredible Cast includes: Directed by Richard Brooks is based on the play by Tennessee Williams and the Screenplay written by Richard Brooks and James Poe; Elizabeth Taylor is Maggie The Cat; Paul Newman is Brick Pollitt; Burl Ives is Harvey 'Big Daddy' Pollitt; Jack Carson is Gooper Pollitt; Judith Anderson is Ida 'Big Momma' Pollitt and Madeleine Sherwood is Mae Flynn Pollitt. Produced by Lawrence Weingarten with Original Music by Charles Wolcott, this movie swept the 1959 Academy Awards NOMINATIONS: Best Actor in a Leading Role Paul Newman; Best Actress in a Leading Role: Elizabeth Taylor; Best Cinematography, Color: William H. Daniels; Best Director: Richard Brooks; Best Picture: Lawrence Weingarten; Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium: Richard Brooks and James Poe. This one sizzles!

_____
ENJOY!