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Cat on a Hot Tin Roof | |
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Genre | Drama |
Based on | Cat on a Hot Tin Roof 1955 play by Tennessee Williams |
Directed by | Jack Hofsiss |
Starring | Jessica Lange Tommy Lee Jones Rip Torn Kim Stanley Penny Fuller David Dukes |
Theme music composer | Tom Scott |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Executive producer | Lou LaMonte |
Producer | Phylis Geller |
Editor | Roy Stewart |
Running time | 144 minutes |
Production companies | Showtime Entertainment American Playhouse International Television Group KCET |
Original release | |
Network | Showtime |
Release | August 19, 1984 |
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is a 1984 American made-for-television drama film directed by Jack Hofsiss, and starring Jessica Lange, Tommy Lee Jones, Rip Torn, Kim Stanley, David Dukes, and Penny Fuller. The script, written by Tennessee Williams, is based on his Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name. Produced by American Playhouse , [1] it originally premiered on Showtime on August 19, 1984.
The Pollitt family gathers at their Mississippi plantation. The head of the family, Big Daddy, is dying. Big Daddy's sons, Brick and Gooper, and Brick's sensuous wife, Maggie, are vying for his inheritance.
This adaptation revived the sexual innuendos that the 1958 film muted. The script is the substantially revised and restored version that Williams made for the 1974 Broadway revival, including the ending, which suggests that the protagonists' future together is anything but certain. [2]
Both Stanley and Fuller were nominated for Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries, and Stanley went on to win. It was a re-union of sorts for Stanley and Lange, who received Oscar nominations for playing mother and daughter in 1982's Frances. The film was also nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lighting Design / Lighting Direction for a Variety Special.
The film was also nominated for five CableACE Awards, specifically, Actor in a Theatrical or Dramatic Special (Rip Torn), Art Direction on Video Tape (John Retsek, David Jenkins, Showtime Networks), Theatrical Special (Lou LaMonte, Phylis Geller, Showtime Networks), Writing a Theatrical or Dramatic Special (Tennessee Williams, Showtime Networks), and Lighting Direction on Video Tape (Danny Franks, Ken Dettling, Showtime Networks). [3]
The New York Times wrote, "Once again, Tennessee Williams's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is being decked out in a promising production and, once again, the play itself flounders." [2]