This finally came up in the netflix queue, but we weren't exactly looking forward to it... knocking the writer and primary actors, in order: we'd seen Streetcar and were underwhelmed, I tend to appreciate Paul Newman as an actor without liking the movie**, I'm wary of the celebrity of Elizabeth Taylor, and Burl Ives is best known to me as a talking snowman. So did I genuinely really like this movie, or were my expectations just set low? I think... I think I actually liked it! Definitely more so than Gigi, which won Best Picture that year, but perhaps not as much as Separate Tables, and Niven would definitely get my imaginary vote over Newman for Best Actor that year. But for Burl Ives to not be nominated for his work in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (he won Best Supporting for The Big Country that year) is shameful -- he has the best lines and delivers. To my mind, Ives and Taylor are really the stars of this movie and Newman is the supporting actor.
Now the question is: should I take a chance on another Taylor movie? She won an Oscar for BUtterfield 8, but I liked the book and enjoyed Taylor in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, so maybe I should quit while I'm ahead.
** The Sting and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid being the exceptions.
No comments:
Post a Comment