The play by Tennessee Williams, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and the movie adaption of the play, directed by Richard Brooks, starring Paul Newman as Brick and Elizabeth Taylor as Maggie, have many similarities and differences. Most of the differences completely change the meaning of the play. The biggest example of this is Bricks homosexuality is completely absent in the movie while it is a very important part of the original play. Some other differences include Bricks relationship with his father, the different locations that the move takes place, and most importantly, the ending. There are also many similarities between the play and the movie; this is shown primarily through the personalities of the other characters in the play that stays the same as well as the majority of the dialogue. In the end, Tennessee Williams did not like the film adaption of his wonderful play, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof because it took out the main meaning it had.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is a play about a man, Brick, and his wife, Maggie, who are having marital problems. Brick starts drinking and becomes an alcoholic after his best friend Skipper dies. At the same time, Bricks father is having his sixty-fifth birthday and just receives false news that his cancer results had come back negative. Bricks brother Gooper and his wife Mae are waiting for Big Daddy to die because they want to take control of the plantation that the family owns. The entire family is full of lies and mendacity; this is the story of how they figure it all out.
When Richard Brooks wrote and directed his version of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, he wanted to focus on writing his version of the play based on the current Hollywood romance films of the time. During the 1950s, homosexuality was completely unspoken of in public; it was just wrong to even mention it in a big blockbuster Hollywood movie. Brooks did not want to create any controversy over the film he was making, so he just decided to leave one of the most important parts of the play out. The fact that Brick has homosexual feelings for his best friend, Skipper, is never mentioned in the film, and in the play that is the real reason that Brick drinks and ends up becoming an alcoholic. In the film, Brick supposedly drinks because he believes that Maggie had an affair with Skipper, which we find out later never actually happened.
The majority, if not all, of the play takes place in Bricks bedroom with people coming and going all the time. The film, however, takes place all throughout the house, from Bricks room, to outside in the rain, to the basement, to the airport and the high school athletics field. Bricks relationship with his father is quite different in the play and the film: in the play, Brick and his father are stand-offish the entire time never showing any real feelings, even after their final talk, but in the film, Brick and Big Daddy are only confrontational for half the time; in the end, they seem to become the best of friends after their talk in the basement. That goes along with how Brooks wanted the film to be a classic Hollywood movie with everything being fine in the end.
One of the similarities between the film and the play is how Mae and Gooper are portrayed. Gooper and Mae are snobs; all they care about is getting the estate when Big Daddy passes on. Mae is married to Gooper and is always in peoples business when she is not supposed to be. Gooper is a big lawyer in the city and believes that it is his right to take over the family property with Mae. Big Mama is Big Daddys wife, and similar in some aspects and different in others. In the play, she is loud, obnoxious, and fat; but in the movie, she is not loud at all. In both the play and movie, Big Daddy cant stand the sight of her, but Big Mama still loves him more than anything in the world.
The ending of the film is completely opposite of what actually happens in the play by Williams: in the play, Maggie lies to the family, telling them all that she is pregnant. Of course, nobody believes except Big Daddy. That night Maggie actually has to bribe Brick to sleep with her by taking away his alcohol so he cannot get drunk. In the film, Brooks wants the movie to have a Hollywood romance ending; when Maggie lies to the family, telling them that she is pregnant, Brick decides to be the hero and goes along with the lie; he too tells everyone that she is pregnant. That night Brick willingly wants to sleep with Maggie and make her pregnant because it is the right thing to do, and he loves her because he found out that she did not sleep with Skipper, thus fulfilling the classic Hollywood happy ending.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is a classic play by Tennessee Williams. When Richard Brooks makes a film adaption of the play, he does not keep the exact same story line as the original had. Brooks changes some of the most important details of the play: Bricks special relationship with his best friend Skipper and why Brick drinks now, Bricks relationship with his father, and the ending of the play, which is dramatically altered. While Brooks changed these things, he also is able to keep the basic storyline intact. Both stories are good, but only one is true to the playwrite originally written.
Works Cited
Williams, Tennessee. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. New York: Signet, 1983.
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