Video/DVD Review: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
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What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that the characters in this movie lie
to each other and keep secrets from each other. One of the
characters is an alcoholic.
Families can talk about the lies that the characters tell each
other. Why does Maggie compare herself to a cat on a hot tin
roof? What is the roof, and what makes it hot? Why won't Brick
agree to get Maggie pregnant? Who is he mad at? Why? Why does
Brick have such contempt for himself? What does Skipper's death
have to do with it? What makes Brick change his mind?
Big Daddy's (Burl Ives) family is celebrating both his 65th birthday and his medical report, which shows his health problems have proven to be minor. He has two grown sons, Brick (Paul Newman), an alcoholic former athlete, and Gooper (Jack Carson), who is constantly trying to replace Brick as Big Daddy's favorite. Gooper has five children, and Brick's wife, Maggie (Elizabeth Taylor) knows that no matter how much Big Daddy loves Brick, he cannot inherit Big Daddy's property unless he provides an heir. Brick is angry at himself and at Maggie, and wants nothing more than to drink until he feels the "click" of peace when he is too drunk to feel anything else. But the "odor of mendacity" is too strong for Big Daddy, and all the lies come tumbling down like skeletons out of a closet.
CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, based on Tennessee Williams' play, is about a family that has been damaged more by lies than by greed. They lie to Big Daddy about the results of his tests. Brick lies to himself about what really went on with Skipper. Gooper and his wife lie about their feelings for Big Daddy. And Maggie lies about being pregnant. It is worth discussing the different kinds of lies and the different motivations behind them, and the impact the truth has on the characters, when they are finally confronted with it. Compare this family's method of accomplishing its goals with the methods of some other movie families, to see which interactions make families stronger and which tear them apart.
A Raisin in the SunTo Kill a Mockingbird
Inherit the Wind (1960)
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