Suddenly Last Summer (1959)

Synopsis: Gore Vidal's stark, powerful screen adaptation of Tennessee Williams's play explores the trauma of Catherine (Elizabeth Taylor), whose homosexual cousin dies an unspeakable and gradually revealed death while traveling with her in Europe. Katharine Hepburn as the murdered man's mother... Gore Vidal's stark, powerful screen adaptation of Tennessee Williams's play explores the trauma of Catherine (Elizabeth Taylor), whose homosexual cousin dies an unspeakable and gradually revealed death while traveling with her in Europe. Katharine Hepburn as the murdered man's mother can't bear to hear the details of her son's death, preferring instead to have a lobotomy performed on her niece, insisting that the girl is mad. But a doctor (Montgomery Clift) is determined to explore the reasons behind the girl's inexplicable actions and words, eventually uncovering the secrets the mother wants to hide. Williams's play explicitly stated why the murdered man's death so traumatized his cousin, but this adaptation written by Vidal and filled with wild, moody tension by director Joseph L. Mankiewicz allows viewers to read between the lines and gather their own suspicions about Sebastian Venable's death. Taylor radiates uncertainty and fear as the girl terrorized by her cousin's death and her fierce aunt's obsession to keep her quiet, while Hepburn sways with menace in one of her few, deliciously played roles as a villainess. Both actresses were nominated for Best Actress Oscars for their performances. [More]