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.

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.

Playwright Tennessee Williams so disliked the cleaned-up adaptation of his play that he told people in line waiting for the movie, "This movie will set the industry back fifty years! Go home!"

Presented originally on the stage by the Playwrights-Catinroof Company.

Elizabeth Taylor's husband, Mike Todd, was killed in a plane crash during the filming of CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF.

Excerpt: "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)

DVD Features:

Region 1
Keep Case
Widescreen - 1.85
Audio:
Dolby Digital Mono 1.0 - English
Dolby Digital Mono 1.0 - French
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
Additional Release Material:
Audio Commentary: Donald Spoto - Biographer
Featurette: New Featurette Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: Playing Cat and Mouse
Trailers: Theatrical Trailer

Distributor Notes: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: Deluxe Edition

"I'm not living with you," Maggie snaps at Brick. "We occupy the same cage, that's all." The raw emotions and crackling dialogue of Tennessee Williams' 1955 Pulitzer Prize play rumble like a thunderstorm in this film version whose fiery performances and grown-up themes made it one of 1958's top box-office hits.

Paul Newman earned his first OscarO nomination* as troubled ex-sports hero Brick. In a performance that marked a transition to richer adult roles, Elizabeth Taylor snagged her second. Her Maggie the Cat is a vivid portrait of passionate loyalty. Nominated for six Academy AwardsO including Best Picture* and also starring Burl Ives (repeating his Broadway triumph as mendacity-loathing Big Daddy), Judith Anderson and Jack Carson, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof sizzles.

Source: Warner Home Video

Elizabeth Taylor: Oscar winning actress, GIANT, WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF
Paul Newman: Oscar-winning American actor, THE COLOR OF MONEY
Burl Ives: American Actor/Singer, CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF (1958)
Judith Anderson: Australian actress, REBECCA
Jack Carson: American actor
Madeleine Sherwood: Canadian Character Actress
Larry Gates: American Character Actor
Vaughn Taylor: Supporting Actor

Richard Brooks: Oscar-winning American director/screenwriter, CAT ON A HOT T

Lawrence Weingarten: American Producer

James Poe: American Screenwriter
Richard Brooks: Oscar-winning American director/screenwriter, CAT ON A HOT T

Ferris Webster: 

"...Every exchange between Newman and Elizabeth Taylor is fraught with anger and sexual tension..."
"...The best Tennessee Williams adaptation yet, thanks mainly to a set of wonderfully atmospheric performances..."