The Hays code was still in effect in 1958 when the film production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was released to theaters. Consequently several key plot points from the original Tennessee Williams play had to be softened or outright removed to satisfy the Hollywood censors. The subsequent “family friendly” script and final film displeased both the play-write and the lead actor, Paul Newman, who were vocal about their disappointment in the final result. Having never seen a performance of the play in its initial uncensored state I cannot speak for which is better but knowing what was altered I can say that the subtext is still there if you can read between the lines. It may not be spelled out like it was in the play but it’s still there, nevertheless.
Brick Pollitt (Paul Newman) drunk and trying to recreate his glory days of high school, sets up some hurdles and manages to break his ankle jumping over them. The next day he and his wife Maggie (Elizabeth Taylor) visit his family’s plantation in Mississippi to celebrate his father, Big Daddy’s (Burl Ives), birthday. Brick, depressed, has spent the last few years drinking and ignoring his wife’s pleas for affection. They remain married but childless and there is some speculation by his brother’s family, as well as his parents, as to why.
Big Daddy and Big Mama (Judith Anderson) arrive home, having just been discharged from the hospital where Big Daddy has been given a clean bill of health. However the doctor privately confides with Brick and Gooper (Jack Carson) that in actuality Big Daddy has an inoperable cancer and won’t likely live to see another birthday. The truth is being kept from him and his wife to spare them as much emotional turmoil as possible. Brick confides this with Maggie who is heartbroken by the news and urges him unsuccessfully to take an interest in his father for both selfish and unselfish reasons. Big Daddy eventually confronts Brick and the two fight heavily before Brick tries to drive off. In the fight he accidentally lets slip to his father that he is not healthy after all. This news destroys Big Daddy who retreats into the cellar where he keeps all his memories including a giant portrait of Brick playing sports, and a suitcase, the only thing his own father left him.
Watching Cat on a Hot Tin Roof filled me with a sense of dread. I knew it had a reputation for being one of the great films of the era but that wasn’t what bothered me. I had watched this film twenty years ago and my recollection was that it was about unhappy people yelling at each other for two hours. At that time in my life I was a newly wed young man who was going through the personal struggles of getting used to being attached to someone who was very different from me. We argued a lot during those early years, something I’m ashamed of in retrospect, and watching a film about family arguing and fighting amongst themselves was too much for me at the time. My wife and I had a very negative reaction to the movie then and I’ve never revisited it. I didn’t want to rewatch it and have the same reaction I did all those years ago and rate it poorly yet I had to be honest about my feelings about it even if those opinions were unpopular. So with trepidation I loaded up a copy of the film and pushed play.
I still see it as two hours of unhappy people fighting amongst themselves but now I can see beyond that and understand those emotions. Both of my parents are still alive, as are my maternal grandparents, so I have yet to go through the reality of seeing a parent with a terminal condition, let alone one that I harbored resentment for. That doesn’t mean I cannot comprehend those emotions. Late in the film there is a coming-to-terms moment between Brick and his father will both come to terms with what has caused the rift between them. This scene is another major change from the original play and adding it was a major factor in why Tennessee Williams was so disappointed with the film. But without this moment I feel this film would be too bleak and depressing.
Big Daddy was raised penniless but loved by his transient father. After his father died suddenly while trying to hop another train Big Daddy was determined to make sure his kids never wanted for anything the way he had. In making that happen he neglected them in another way, by not being there for them so that they grew up not feeling his love. Brick, whose only achievements in life came on the sports field, has turned to alcoholism after a close friend, Skipper, commits suicide. What isn’t spelled out in the film is that Skipper killed himself after revealing he had romantic feelings towards Brick that were not reciprocated. Brick, in turn, has been struggling with whether he is still attracted to his wife, Maggie, and his inability to be intimate with her and start a family. Skipper’s revelation has cast doubt on himself over his own sexual persuasion.
Brick has an expectation over his head to raise a family, something his older brother has already accomplished five times over. Confronting this, as well as his estranged father, has only exacerbated his drinking problem which led him to try and relive his glory days on the track only to end up with a broken ankle. Being forced to be around his brother and his family as well as the prospect of his father dying soon has made things worse. When he is originally told that his father isn’t dying after all, all he wants to do is pack up and leave again. He stays anyway when informed that in actuality his father is terminal and won’t be around much longer; the doctor lied to him to spare him the pain. Gooper, a lawyer, is aware of the true diagnosis and, alongside his contentious wife, Mae, wants their father’s plantation to themselves when he passes.
There is a great deal of shouting throughout the picture. Those overly sensitive to this may want to avoid watching this movie as it can be relentless at times. For the longest time we don’t really know why Brick is so angry with everyone constantly. He doesn’t want to see his father and refuses to even sign a birthday card for him. He yells at his wife when she tries to talk to him or show him any affection. She was raised poor and doesn’t want to always be so but at the same time she genuinely loves Bug Daddy and isn’t trying primarily to grab an inheritance the way Gooper and Mae are. She’s also desperate to have a family of her own and is frustrated that Brick seems to no longer be attracted to her and she doesn’t know why.
This is a film about complicated relationships and deep rooted emotional pain. Big Daddy is oblivious to what he has deprived his sons of until he is finally coerced into speaking about his own upbringing and what his own father actually left him. He believes all he got from his father was a cheap suitcase with his father’s old war uniform in it but in reality he got a lot of love and time with him. It takes a hard conversation with Brick to help him realize this and to realize that it was precisely that that he deprived his own sons of. It’s a humbling moment and a real turning point in this film. Once these two are able to set aside their grievances some real healing can begin. And that is what this film is headed for as it comes to a close, healing. It’s not there quite yet when the curtain figuratively closes, but it’s on its way.
Academy Award Nominations:
Best Motion Picture: Lawrence Weingarten
Best Director: Richard Brooks
Best Actor: Paul Newman
Best Actress: Elizabeth Taylor
Best Screenplay - Based on Material from Another Medium: Richard Brooks and James Poe
Best Cinematography - Color: William Daniels
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Release Date: August 27, 1958
Running Time: 108 Minutes
Not Rated
Starring: Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Burl Ives, Jack Carson, Judith Anderson
Directed By: Richard Brooks
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