Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. 1958 MGM/Turner Entertainment.
Starring: Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Burl Ives, Judith Anderson, Jack Carson, Madeleine Sherwood, Larry Gates, Vaughn Taylor
Director: Richard Brooks
Available from Amazon as a deluxe edition DVD, as part of the TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection, or part of the Tennessee Williams Film Collection.

The Academy Award nominated film based on Tennessee Williams' play of the same name. Williams despised the finished film, though.

Brick Pollitt (Newman) drunkenly gets involved in a pick-up football game late one night, which sees him hobbling around on crutches after he injures his ankle. He and his wife, Maggie "the cat" (Taylor), are also visiting his family in Mississippi, just in time for Big Daddy's (Ives) 65th birthday. However, Brick spends most of his time inside, boozing it up, and resisting Maggie's affections, who is teasing him about the inheritance of Big Daddy's wealth. Big Daddy, who just returned from the hospital, unaware that he's dying from cancer because neither his doctors or his family will tell him or Big Mama (Anderson).

Eventually, Brick's issues are finally brought out into the open, and it's revealed that Maggie was jealous of Brick's best friend Skipper, who had committed suicide a year earlier, sending Brick on a path of alcoholism. Maggie planned to end their friendship by seducing Skipper, but didn't go through with it, and Brick still believes they did have an affair. Henceforth, Brick blames his wife for his best friend's suicide. Pretty soon, Brick comes to terms with his problems, having been confronted with Big Daddy's mortality. It's decided that the bulk of his fortune will be left to Maggie, because she is "full of life".

For the movie, the relationship between Brick and Skipper, which suggested that Brick was in love with Skipper in the stage play, had to be toned down considerably. Regardless of the times, this film adaptation is highly recommended.