RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
Check out the new RT Community
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | In Theaters
  • | Opening
  • | Upcoming
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Get this Movie
  • Buy Poster External Icon
Bookmark and Share

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
100 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:30

Fresh:30

Rotten:0

Average Rating:7.8/10

Runtime: 1 hr 49 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: 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... 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. [More]

Starring: Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Burl Ives, Judith Anderson

Starring: Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Burl Ives, Judith Anderson, Jack Carson, Madeleine Sherwood, Larry Gates, Vaughn Taylor

Director: Richard Brooks

Director: Richard Brooks
Screenwriter: James Poe, Richard Brooks
Producer: Lawrence Weingarten

[See More Credits]

Get This Movie

Rent DVD
 
 

Click on the "ADD" button to put this movie into your Netflix queue.

 
 
Buy DVD
 
 
Release:

Feb 15, 2000

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

A formaldehyded tabby that sits static while layer after layer of its skin is peeled off, life after life of its nine lives unsentimentally destroyed.

Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | comment Comment
10/01/08
TIME Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The performances are the thing in this film version of the Tennessee Williams stage triumph, led by Ives, repeating his stage role like a force of nature.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
04/08/08
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

An intense, important motion picture.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
04/08/08
Variety Staff
Variety Staff
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Director Brooks skilfully elicits the best from his performers and script with the result that there were Oscars nominations for all concerned.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
04/08/08
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Burl Ives and Judith Anderson are highly entertaining as the nightmare parents, Big Daddy and Big Mama, and Jack Carson has one of his last good roles as Newman's competitive older brother.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
04/08/08
Dave Kehr
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Thematically, Richard Brooks' screen version of Williams' play is compromised (no mention of homosexuality), but it's well directed and deftly acted by Paul Newman and Liz Taylor (both at their sexiest), and especially Burl Ives as Big Daddy.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
02/07/08
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

A mousetrap with teeth that grip and a musky atmosphere of frustrated sex and milky desperation that serves as poisoned bait.

Full Review Source: Film Freak Central | comment Comment
06/26/06
Walter Chaw
Walter Chaw
Film Freak Central

As so often with adaptations of Williams, it frequently errs on the side of overstatement and pretension, but still remains immensely enjoyable as a piece of cod-Freudian codswallop.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Geoff Andrew
Geoff Andrew
Time Out

...the dialogue is so absorbing and the acting so intense, we hardly notice that 108 minutes go by or that there is a whole lot less to the plot than meets the eye.

Full Review Source: DVDTown.com | comment Comment
05/01/06
John J. Puccio
John J. Puccio
DVDTown.com

Still, this potentially over-scrubbed production kept enough of Williams' energy and poetic Americana intact, fleshing it up with an ensemble of career-imprinting performances and MGM production lavishness.

Full Review Source: DVDJournal.com | comment Comment
04/30/06
Mark Bourne
Mark Bourne
DVDJournal.com

No review available.

comment Comment
10/10/05
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

No review available.

comment Comment
10/08/05
Chuck O'Leary
Chuck O'Leary
Fantastica Daily

No review available.

comment Comment
04/13/05
Thomas Delapa
Thomas Delapa
Boulder Weekly

No review available.

comment Comment
08/13/04
Andy Klein
Andy Klein
Los Angeles CityBeat

No review available.

comment Comment
06/22/04
Frank Swietek
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion

No review available.

comment Comment
02/27/04
Daniel M. Kimmel
Daniel M. Kimmel
Worcester Telegram & Gazette

No review available.

comment Comment
11/15/03
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

No review available.

comment Comment
10/08/03
Rebecca Murray
Rebecca Murray
About.com

No review available.

comment Comment
08/22/03
Carol Cling
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal

What a pack of trashy people these accomplished actors perform!

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
05/20/03
Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
See All

More DVDs

Close
Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
15% 15% The Ugly Truth
98% 98% Up
36% 36% G.I. Joe: The Rise of …
52% 52% The Taking of Pelham 1…
45% 45% Ice Age: Dawn of the D…

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
36% 36% Angels & Demons
68% 68% Funny People
25% 25% Four Christmases
45% 45% Shorts

More New Releases…

See All

RT On Current TV

The Rotten Tomatoes Show on Current TV

DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196 | More...

Learn how you can be part of the show

More...

What’s Hot On RT

Avatar

Avatar

Watch an exclusive behind-the-scenes video!

Friday Harvest

Friday Harvest

This week's best pics, posters, and videos!

RT's Gift Guide

RT's Gift Guide

Give the best movies, gear, and more!

What to Watch?

What to Watch?

Read our Holiday Movie Preview!

Other News

Close
  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • Disney Restructuring Has Broad Implications Source: Los Angeles Times
2
  • Joel Silver Talks Ninja Assassin, Sgt. Rock, Lobo, and More Source: Collider.com
1
  • Weekly Ketchup: Idris Elba cast in Thor, more Spider-Man 4 rumors
94
  • Idris Elba Joins Thor Source: Hollywood Reporter
112
  • Jackass 3D Coming in 2010? Source: Collider.com
32
  • 6 Reasons 'Twilight' Is Doomed Source: The Wrap
63
  • Forbes Names Hollywood's Most Overpaid Actors Source: Forbes
20
  • Chris Weitz Says He's (Almost) Done with Directing Source: Film School Rejects
26
  • Spider-Man 4 Casting Rumors Multiply Like Rabbits Source: Deadline Hollywood Daily
51
  • McTeigue Says Superman Is "In a Weird Place" Source: MTV
204
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Critics Consensus: New Moon Wanes
129
  • Tomatometer Watch: Will Twilight's New Moon Dazzle?
96
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: New Moon Shatters Records
90
  • Total Recall: Star-Crossed Lovers
73
  • Five Favorite Films with Werner Herzog
50
  • Weekly Ketchup: Idris Elba cast in Thor, more Spider-Man 4 rumors
47
  • RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: Star Trek, Bruno, and Cheaper Sopranos
32
  • Friday Harvest: New Moon, Avatar, and more!
28
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
8
  • Ho, ho, ho! It's RT's Great Big Gift Guide!
0
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
8
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
19
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
6
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
15
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
16
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
8
  • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
28
  • Gavin Hood Talks Wolverine; Possible Sequel
28
  • Duncan Jones talks Moon, Sam Rockwell, and Mute
14
  • Emma Stone talks Zombieland - RT Interview
41
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at Rotten Tomatoes

Fresh Links

Featured
Star Trek DVD Exclusive
Star Trek DVD Exclusive External Link

TECHLAND gives us a first look at the extras, including Leonard Nimoy's last day on set!

The New Cult Canon
The New Cult Canon External Link

AV Club looks at a beloved cult classic, Sam Raimi's Army of Darkness.

New Moon Portraits
New Moon Portraits External Link

TIME offers us a closer look at the characters from the latest Twilight film.

Unsexiest Men Alive
Unsexiest Men Alive External Link

Moviefone lists their choices for the least attractive men in Hollywood.

Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Follow RT on Twitter External Link

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Games| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.