Suddenly, Last Summer | | Cast : | Elizabeth Taylor, Katharine Hepburn, Montgomery Clift | | Director : | Joseph L. Mankiewicz | | Studio : | Columbia/Tristar Studios | | Format : | Black & White, Widescreen, Color | | Released Date : | December 22, 1959 | | DVD Released Date : | August 15, 2000 | | Language : | Unknown (Dubbed), English (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), Portuguese (Subtitled), English (Original Language), Thai (Subtitled), Chinese (Subtitled), Korean (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | Unrated | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 05, 2005 | | Summary | best adaptation of a williams play | Content
 | the only thing better than this film is gore vidal's drily sarcastic discussion of it in "the celluloid closet." |
| Rating | | | Date | June 26, 2005 | | Summary | A great movie! | Content
| Who could ask for a better cast... Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift! Sexual tension so thick it jumped off the screen.
I must say, I have been a casual fan of Elizabeth Taylor for years, but I am amazed at the range of emotions, and her excellent acting in this film. There were times when I completely forgot I was watching a film as I became so engrossed with the character.
And Katharine... well, there was and never will be anyone like her. She was remarkable in this film!
Montgomery Clifts character was a bit dull but I don't think that was due to Montgomery. I believe the character was written as a rather book-wormish kind of guy, and Montgomery came across as that guy.
This is a drama in the traditional sense of a who-dun-it, but in this film, the ultimate question was "what happened to Sebastian?" All of the characters agonized over Sebastian (why did he leave me, or what clothes can I have, or he loved me more than you) and why and how he died. It is not until almost the end of the movie when the viewer finally finds out the horrible truth about Sebastian. Liz Taylor's final and mesmerizing scene was unbelievable and I found myself holding my breath in suspense. Not to be out-done however, Kate made the grandest final exit as she ascended back to her lair via the private elevator in her home. Quite an exit for an amazing woman.
This film is spectacular and I could not imagine not having it in my film library. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 19, 2005 | | Summary | Starve two days! Save money! Buy this move! It's woth it! | Content
| this is a low budget but the best psychological thriller I've ever seen. you only have to see the actings! it's the ultimate oscar worthy movie. Picture and sound quality is perfect. could not be better. specially the sound, it's one of the best remasters I've ever heard! Although the DVD is single layer with not much special features and the price is rather high, It's an urgent need for every professional DVD collection and I recommend it. really worth to buy and have! |
| Rating | | | Date | June 13, 2005 | | Summary | Excellent Adaptation by Gore Vidal | Content
| Gore really outdid himself with his excellent adaptation of Williams play. Perhaps the best feature of the screenplay is that it shrewdly shows off Williams' glorious sense of humor, especially regarding Sebastian and Mrs. Venable's classic domineering mother/gay son relationship.
The biggest surprise, from my point of view, was Hepburn's superb, disciplined performance in which she fearlessly subjugated her movie star persona to that of the omnivorous society woman.
My one criticism would be the final scene in which I felt that Elizabeth Taylor was not well directed by Joseph Mankiewicz. The great weakness of both Taylor and Tennessee Williams was that they had an instinctual tendency toward melodrama. Mankiewicz really should have restrained Taylor's performance (if only Gore had been on the set!!).
I have never been a big fan of Montgomery Clift (he is just too prissy for my taste), but here he is perfect as the morally conflicted doctor and his chemistry with Taylor is very satisfying -- Richard Burton once remarked that Elizabeth Taylor was married to him but that she was in love with Montgomery Clift.
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| Rating | | | Date | June 10, 2005 | | Summary | mommy can't accept sonny boy's lust life. | Content
| A wonderful , black and white, old -school hollywood dramatic film where the tragic , gruesome death of a pampered poet , Sabastian, is told by the two women who he used as bait to attract his special brand of 'mouthwatering" rough trade. Katherine Hepburn creates an unforgettable character as the wealthy, pampered, imperial mother (in full high camp-mode) who refuses to accept her precious son's erotic addiction...and the ultimate price he paid for it. A spectacularly comely Elizabeth Taylor, flashing eyes, wasp waisted and full bosomed, is perfect as the younger woman who Sabastian traded in his mother for when she became much too old to attract (and therefore to bait) his brand of 'delicious" thugboy-toys. He was no fool...he understood what bait needed to be. She had the grave misfortune to have witnessed that horrific final attack which brought Sabatian's life of romantic, artistic leisure (somewhere on a sunbaked ,exotic island) to a sudden, unthinkable end. (An island where the rough young lads must have been even hotter than that merciless tropical sun).
Violet, the mother, spends much of the movie trying to get a doctor to perform a lobotomy on miss Taylors' character in order to stop her from "babbling" about Sabastian's
preferred tastes in pleasures of the flesh....and his shockingly violent end.
Montgomery cliff plays the doctor who ends up refereeing these two extremely watchable old-school drama queens . He's the least effective casting choice, much too weak and fey and
he seems more "intrigued" by Sabastian's "adventures" than appalled by them. It was hard NOT to imagine the doctor as Sabastian..especially since Sabastian's face was never shown in flashbacks...a great directorial choice.
In conclusion, a rather controversial and somewhat vague story done up old hollywood style leaving plenty of room for one's imagination to fill in the blanks. |
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