esrosedotblog

CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF (1958)

Today's movie is the sanitized version of the play so at least one of its balls are cut off.

Yet, it is still one of the NYTimes 1176 Best Films. It got six Oscar noms. I think the deal is Burl Ives in the Big Daddy role which he originated and has owned ever since. When he is own he holds the screen.

Judith Anderson has her moments but it is hard to forget MEDEA or something like that. She is too iconic to get through the role of Big Momma. I have never been much of a fan of Elizabeth Taylor; but my views on her abilities have always been hotly disputed by whoever I say this too, so I will hold my tongue.

That leaves us with Paul Newman whose part got sanitized. Brick is a big fat homo and even the film couldn't hide it. The crutch gets broken and all; the best friend Skipper's death has unmanned him. He is no longer able to maintain his bi-sexuality and do his duty with Maggie the Cat. And so on. Newman is very young here and smolders appropriately but the lid is on. The parts of the film that have deep resonance are the sessions with Big Daddy. The soft landing is a bit hard to swallow, but the bumpy ride is quite the thing.

A side item here is the appearance of Jack Carson as Goober. Carson (1910-1963-he died young) was a second banana; the guy who didn't get the girl; a funny-frustrated character actor who was in a lot of musicals and I really enjoyed watching. He probably should not have been cast in this but he rises to the occasion and brings a lot of sympathy to a role which hardly attracts any.

I always appreciated the character actors when I was a kid. Carson was one that I always looked forward to. I imagine that few people remember him although his bio can be found easily on a lot of film addict sites. He has over 90 credits. In going through this, I was reminded that he has a semi-serious supporting actor role in A STAR IS BORN. In that, he is a bit nastier than Goober. Another role against type.

He was nominated by some guy for a special Oscar. Here is his tribute:

"Never nominated or celebrated, never given lead roles in front-rank pictures, Jack Carson could be stupid, vacant, coarse, vain, amiable, decent, touching, nasty, hateful...even ordinary. Somehow one doubts that he ever got, or needed, much direction. Instead he understood story and character. He was cast and he was relied on, and let us say that one in ten times he was indelible...Apart from that, he was only perfect."

...............From "The NEW Biographical Dictionary of Film" by David Thomson

Carson did a lot of radio and teevee. He had a short lived TV show which I don't think I ever saw. I know that this is so trivial but somewhere in life I got caught with this guy and whenever he appears, all this stuff comes back in on me. I even remember a series of Doris Day movies where he and Dennis Morgan did a duo thing.