Suddenly, Last Summer

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Suddenly, Last Summer

1959

1h 54m

Drama

LGBTQ+

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Popcornmeter

68%

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22 Reviews

82%

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5,000+ Ratings

In this adaptation of Tennessee Williams' play, young socialite Catherine Holly (Elizabeth Taylor) is traumatized and committed after witnessing her cousin's violent death on a trip to Europe. Her aunt, Violet Venable (Katharine Hepburn), wants to hide the events of her son's death and attempts to bribe young surgeon Dr. John Cukrowicz (Montgomery Clift) to perform a lobotomy on Catherine. But John vows to find out the truth about Catherine's state before taking any action.

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Kim Newman

Empire Magazine

03/23/2011

4/5

Superbly adapted with blistering performances from Taylor and Hepburn.

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TIME Magazine

03/23/2011

The main trouble with the picture is not its subject or its style, but its length.

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Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

03/23/2011

The cast packs enough sexual ambiguity to satisfy the most rabid Williams fan (not to mention a screenplay by Gore Vidal), but Mankiewicz leaves much of the innuendo unexplored -- thankfully, perhaps.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

10/11/2021

3/4

Madness, homosexuality and cannibalism were just some of the ingredients that turned the picture into a cause celebre, with the end result alternating between stately serenity and outright hysteria.

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Robert Hatch

The Nation

07/27/2021

[Mankiewicz] has turned out a polished film, and one that deals boldly with the ugly theme, but he has certainly not wasted any subtlety on the job.

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Augusto Martínez Torres

El Pais (Spain)

08/08/2019

This is the best film adaptation of Tennessee Williams' oeuvre. A prodigious work from Katharine Hepburn, Montgomery Clift, and Elizabeth Taylor. This is one of Joseph L. Mankiewicz's best films. [Full Review in Spanish]

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j F

@LiberteBurrows May 3

Good, but not enjoyable

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Kalissa H.

@kali_416 Mar 20

Descent movie with good performances.

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John S

@RT40486670 Nov 22

The performances are HUGE. It's not a great movie but "Wow"!

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Ed .

@RT01276001 Aug 29

"Touching" story by TN Williams, elongated thanks to GO Vidal, that really tore me to pieces. Highly enjoyable despite some gaping holes and obvious questions, such as: How dumb and blind could Violet be? Surely, any empty headed sybarite such as Wallis Simpson would have caught on to Sebastian's modus operandi? Surely, Vi's sexual magnetism attracting males under 21 must have waned years earlier than just the most previous summer? How different would this story have turned out had Sebastian invited George along instead of Catherine? Or, if Sebastian's keen interests lie in young girls instead of the boys in the tin band? If offered today, it would be cancelled before opening day.

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Alec B

@Alec97 Aug 24

You can scarcely believe what your watching here and yet the movie is still hypnotic in a strange way. At a certain point you have to accept the hysterical pop psychology or simply turn it off.

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Dave S

@RT68722908 11/20/2024

Despite same glaring flaws, Suddenly, Last Summer is a searing study of mental illness. Captive in a psychiatric hospital since witnessing the death of her cousin the previous summer, Catherine (Elizabeth Taylor) discovers that she is a candidate for a lobotomy, arranged by her aunt (Katharine Hepburn) to suppress the truth about her deceased son. Based on a play by Tennessee Williams, the movie is filled with an excessive amount of dialogue, eschewing potentially impactful visuals in favor of needless verbiage. The film is also filled with a handful of wildly overwrought scenes, including the insanely melodramatic piece where Hepburn’s character tells of the hatching of the sea turtles. Despite these shortcomings, Taylor gives a memorable performance, the story is intriguing, and the finale is sure to stay with the viewer long after the credits have rolled.

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Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Director

Elizabeth Taylor

Catherine Holly

Montgomery Clift

Dr. Cukrowicz

Katharine Hepburn

Mrs. Venable

Albert Dekker

Dr. Hockstader

Mercedes McCambridge

Mrs. Holly

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Synopsis

In this adaptation of Tennessee Williams' play, young socialite Catherine Holly (Elizabeth Taylor) is traumatized and committed after witnessing her cousin's violent death on a trip to Europe. Her aunt, Violet Venable (Katharine Hepburn), wants to hide the events of her son's death and attempts to bribe young surgeon Dr. John Cukrowicz (Montgomery Clift) to perform a lobotomy on Catherine. But John vows to find out the truth about Catherine's state before taking any action.

Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Producer: Sam Spiegel
Screenwriter: Gore Vidal, Tennessee Williams
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Production Co: Horizon Films, Columbia Pictures Corporation
Genre: Drama, LGBTQ+
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 22, 1959, Original
Release Date (Streaming): May 14, 2014
Runtime: 1h 54m
Sound Mix: Mono, Stereo
Aspect Ratio: 35mm, Flat (1.85:1)