Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)

Yikes, but there's a lot of smouldering going on here... "Brick" (Paul Newman) is the former all-American boy type who has got himself injured and is married to "Maggie" (Elizabeth Taylor) with whom he has a pretty turbulent relationship based on mistrust. He is the son of the wealthy and tyrannical "Big Daddy" (Burl Ives) who is in turn married to the rather sheepish "Ida" (Judith Anderson) and the brother to the ostensibly insipid lawyer "Gooper" (Jack Carson) who is married to the rather selfish "Mae" (Madeleine Sherwood). So far, nobody much likes or trusts anyone, there's not enough love around this big mansion house to fill a teaspoon and with the old man starting to show signs of ailing, the vultures are beginning to gather to divide his huge house, 28,000 acres and $10 millions in the bank. What now ensues sees a strong performance from Newman, usually never far from a glass or a bottle, and some pretty intense scenes between himself and a very much on-form Taylor who manages to reconcile her character's formidable abilities at attack being the best form of self-defence with some wonderfully pithy and aggressive put-downs (all from the acerbic pen of Tennessee Williams). For me, though, it's the last twenty minutes and Ives who makes this toxic tale of the epitome of the dysfunctional family succeed, coupled with some claustrophobia-generating storm effects outside their home, and creating an environment so thick you could cut it with a knife. There is chemistry all over the place, here, and by mid-way through you are uncertain as to who is pulling whose strings as the avarice starts to rival the jealousy and the frustration for top billing amongst this bunch of frankly rather odious and shallow individuals. Did lack of love make them this way or was it always a fait accompli when surrounded by fabulous wealth and a bully for a father? It's a tensely directed look at what makes some of us tick and at just how easily drink, gossip, rumour-mongering and downright lies can derail even the most visceral of relationships. An ensemble cast deliver a powerful story compellingly, her and it's well worth a watch.