There's poison in the candles of the birthday cake for Big Daddy in this TV version of the Tennessee Williams play that is difficult to like because a good majority of the characters are despicable. It's easy to see why Brick (Robert Wagner) drinks. He gets no peace from his wife Maggie (Natalie Wood) who drives him to nearly killing her in the first 30 minutes where she brays constantly over the issues of their marriage and certainly none from brother Gooper or sister-in-law Mae or their brood of brats, hateful little no neck monsters.
Looking like a thinner Colonel Sanders, Laurence Olivier is letter perfect as Big Daddy, and Maureen Stapleton is a stunningly sensitive Big Mama. It's obvious that big daddy prefers Brick and Maggie over Gooper and the hateful vindictive Mae. Mary Peach is delightfully passive/aggressive as Mae, not as obvious as Madeleine Sherwood in the 1958 version, and that makes her more dangerous. Jack Hedley is barely utilized as Cooper so he's basically a nonentity.
My problem with this version is the casting of Wagner and Wood in the leads. Wagner is handsome but way past the age that Brick should be. Wood is certainly beautiful, but something in her performance makes me just not like her here. Liz Taylor was known for her later brain performances, but she didn't do it that much in the original film. Maggie is a character you should like in spite of her cat-like ways, but it's difficult to like Wood's version of her because she is definitely more psychologically damaging to Brick.
The problem with the play is that it's difficult to like the leaves, and the most recent Revival on Broadway brought that point home to me. When you route for Mae over Maggie, that's an issue, and here, I began to do the same thing. It's obvious that this play will continue to be done because it is a classic of the American Theater, but there has to be somewhat of a chemistry between the leads, and Wagner and Wood here have the same issue that Burton and Taylor did. Their off screen lives were more than exciting than them on screen, and when Maggie complains about being on the roof, I have the urge to yell out "Jump!"
Looking like a thinner Colonel Sanders, Laurence Olivier is letter perfect as Big Daddy, and Maureen Stapleton is a stunningly sensitive Big Mama. It's obvious that big daddy prefers Brick and Maggie over Gooper and the hateful vindictive Mae. Mary Peach is delightfully passive/aggressive as Mae, not as obvious as Madeleine Sherwood in the 1958 version, and that makes her more dangerous. Jack Hedley is barely utilized as Cooper so he's basically a nonentity.
My problem with this version is the casting of Wagner and Wood in the leads. Wagner is handsome but way past the age that Brick should be. Wood is certainly beautiful, but something in her performance makes me just not like her here. Liz Taylor was known for her later brain performances, but she didn't do it that much in the original film. Maggie is a character you should like in spite of her cat-like ways, but it's difficult to like Wood's version of her because she is definitely more psychologically damaging to Brick.
The problem with the play is that it's difficult to like the leaves, and the most recent Revival on Broadway brought that point home to me. When you route for Mae over Maggie, that's an issue, and here, I began to do the same thing. It's obvious that this play will continue to be done because it is a classic of the American Theater, but there has to be somewhat of a chemistry between the leads, and Wagner and Wood here have the same issue that Burton and Taylor did. Their off screen lives were more than exciting than them on screen, and when Maggie complains about being on the roof, I have the urge to yell out "Jump!"