Film 41: The 400 Blows (1959)

Netflix Summary: After young Antoine (Jean-Pierre Léaud) runs away, life on the streets of Paris leads to nothing but trouble and guilt in this gritty feature film debut from legendary director François Truffaut. Though he turns to petty crime to survive, Antoine's remorse often leads him to try to return things he's stolen -- with disastrous results. The film was nominated for a Best Screenplay Oscar and the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.



Film Viewing Due Date: 10/22

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Review

Juror #3 says: Talk about acting! Cat on a Hot Tin Roof has performances to remember. Paul Newman gives, in my opinion, the best performance of his career. Elizabeth Taylor? Amazing in a truly difficult role. Burt Ives as "Big Daddy"? He lit up every scene he was in. The script is adapted from Tennessee Williams stage play of the same name, and what a script it is. Cutting dialogue, realistic characters and relatable content. It's a truly remarkable piece of art that can create such well rounded characters, I mean, you like and dislike all of them. They are as human as it gets. The only reason I'm not giving this movie 5/5 stars is because I can't help but want to watch a play on the stage and a film on TV. I couldn't get out of my head what an amazing theater (stage) experience this would have made. I know, that's not fair but life isn't fair...something I think Tennessee Williams would agree with me on. I rate it a truly enjoyable 4/5 stars.

girl by locker says: I had the pleasure of watching Cat on a Hot Tin Roof on the big screen at the historic Fox Theater in Atlanta, GA. It truly knocked my socks off. Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor in their big screen glory is truly a sight to behold. Wow.

The movie is based on Tennessee Williams’ play by the same name and basically centers around a southern family and their dying patriarch, Big Daddy Pollitt. Paul Newman plays Brick, Big Daddy’s favorite son and Elizabeth Taylor plays Maggie, Brick’s wife. The family gathers for Big Daddy’s birthday and the themes revolve around greed (trying to get Big Daddy’s money), lying (no one tells Big Daddy that he is dying), sex (Brick hasn’t been with his wife in a while), and alcoholism (the majority of the movie has Brick with a drink in hand). This is truly an actor’s film and the parts were perfectly cast. I now understand why Newman and Taylor are legends.

In the movie, Brick’s alcoholism revolves around the fact that he can’t stand “mendacity”, all the lying and hypocrisy of society and the suicide of his best friend Skipper. I read that the play focuses a lot more on the homosexual relationship between Skipper and Brick which explains why Brick isn’t interested in a sexual relationship with his wife, Maggie. For a lot of the movie, I was confused as to why there was this tension between Maggie and Brick which was later explained as Brick thinking Maggie slept with Skipper. Knowing what happened in the play made a lot more sense. The homosexuality was edited out due to Hollywood’s moral code and reportedly both Newman and Williams were upset about it.

Without a single reservation, I give this movie 5 out of 5 on Netflix. Part of it definitely had to do with the big screen experience and the energy of the people. How can it not be exciting when the theater cheers upon seeing Paul Newman shirtless? But it also had to do with the script, the story and the cast of actors. Highly recommend this film.