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.

Blackboard Jungle

Blackboard Jungle. 1955 MGM/Turner Entertainment.
Starring: Glenn Ford, Anne Francis, Louis Calhern, Sidney Poitier, Jamie Farr (as Jameel Farah), Paul Mazursky, Vic Morrow
Director: Richard Brooks
Available at Amazon: Single DVD, or as part of the Controversal Classics box set.

Richard Dadier (Ford) is a teacher at North Manual High School, an urban school where many of the students are led by two rebellious students, Gregory Miller and Artie West (Poitier & Morrow, both of whom were closer to 30 than their actual teenage years). Most of the students engage in anti-social behavior in and out of class, essentially running the school, and the school staff meekly accept the fact that they've lost control. Dadier challenges both his coworkers and students, which earns him anonymous phone call threats aimed at his family, and rumors spread that he is having an affair with a female student. Can the teacher keep his cool and not stoop to the level of the students who don't care?

Blackboard Jungle also featured Bill Haley & His Comets' "Rock Around the Clock" in the opening credits, helping spark the so-called rock and roll revolution. The song attracted an enormous teenage audience for the film, which occasionally saw violence and vandalism at screenings.

Highly recommended.