(1958)4Michael BetzoldPaul Newman's first big success came in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, the 1958 film adaptation of playwright Tennessee Williams' claustrophobic drama. Newman got his first Oscar nomination, one of seven for the film, for his role as Brick Pollitt, the former football star, and Elizabeth Taylor was at her feline best as his dangerous wife, Maggie. Some of the more controversial elements of Williams' melodrama were downplayed in the film version so as not to ruffle the censors of the era. But it still remains a steamy, haunting piece of filmmaking under the direction of Richard Brooks. Remakes were executed for television in 1976 and 1984, the latter starring Jessica Lange and Tommy Lee Jones.
