Drama Filled Thursdays

As I promised I will be writing about great classic dramas all month long and I chose Thursdays as the day to do it. I will chose 5 dramas and write short views on them as to why they are some of my favorites. I thought I would choose a theme each week for that particular set of dramas. Up first family drama. You know where the family members are at odds against each other be it for financial reasons or just pure old jealously. I chose these 5 films as some of the best family dramas ever made. No rankings involved, just films I wanted to talk about with everyone.

CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF (1958) Superb film. Liz is smoking hot in this Tennessee William's adaptation. And she gives a great performance, to boot. Easily could have won an Oscar for it. Liz is Maggie the cat and she's married to Paul Newman, who have come home to celebrate his dad's birthday. He's called Big Daddy , wonderfully played by Burl Ives. When a southern family like this get together, all kinds of drama starts to unfold. This is the type of film where you just sit back and watch the fireworks go off, because it's an actors showcase. One of my favorite films of all time.
A+

THE SUNDOWNERS (1960) Top notch family drama set in the Australian outback with the father (played by Robert Mitchum) who wants to keep sheep-herding from place to place. But his wife (Deborah Kerr) and son want to settle down. During one point, the family win a horse on a bet and name him Sundowner and race him. Hoping to make money so they can finally buy their own farm house. Things don't go as planned and it makes for some great drama. Loaded with a stong supporting cast in Peter Ustinov, Glynis Johns, and Dina Merrill.
B+

A RAISIN IN THE SUN (1961) Powerful film version of the popular play about a family living in Chicago's southside during the mid 50's who argue over how to use a $10,000 insurance check for their recently deceased father. The mother (Claudia McNeil) wants to use it to buy a home and move out of the apartments. But the son (Sidney Poitier) wants to open up a liquor store. So tensions arise quickly. Great acting holds your interest even though the setting hardly ever changes. Sidney is amazing as usual. Also stars Ruby Dee as Sidney's wife.
B+

A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951) Vivien Leigh in one of great film performances as Blance DuBois, a fading Southern belle who arrives from Mississippi to the French Quarter of New Orleans, where her sister Stella Kowalski (played by Kim Hunter) resides with her brutish husband Stanley (a powerhouse Marlon Brando). Blanche is damaged goods and prone to drink quite a lot. Things turn ugly between Blanche and Stanley and end quite nasty. Riveting stuff.
B+

GIANT (1956) Giant is an epic size movie that is very well done. It focuses on Texas ranger Jordan Benedict (played by Rock Hudson) who travels to a Maryland farm to buy a prize horse. There he meets the lovely Leslie (played by Elizabeth Taylor) and immediately falls in love. The film details their life together at Benedict's family ranch in Texas and their rivalry with Jett Rink (James Dean's last film before his untimely death). This is grand film-making on an epic scale. Director George Stevens unfolds this film at a good pace. A true epic in every sense of the word.
B+

GIANT is a great epic size film

Giant is an epic size movie that is very well done. It focuses on Texas ranger Jordan Benedict (played by Rock Hudson) who travels to a Maryland farm to buy a prize horse. There he meets the lovely Leslie (played by Elizabeth Taylor) and immediately falls in love. The film details their life together at Benedict's family ranch in Texas and their rivalry with Jett Rink (James Dean's last film before his untimely death). This is grand film-making on an epic scale. Director George Stevens unfolds this film at a good pace.

Liz and Rock

Even though the film logs in at just over 3 hours, I felt that it seemed rushed in particular moments. I mean once Leslie and Jordan had the twins and then they had the birth of their third child, the years seemed to go by pretty fast. Before you knew it, the kids had grown into Dennis Hopper and Carroll Baker. It spanned over 30 years but it just seemed like it was rushed over despite its length. That’s a minor quibble though as Giant is one of the best films ever made. Most people always talk about James Dean and Liz Taylor’s performances, but let me tell you something…Rock Hudson is amazing in this film. I never really cared for Hudson as an actor, other than the films he made with Doris Day and his TV series McMillian and Wife. In Giant, he impressed the hell out of me. I actually believe he was the best character in the film. Not to shortchange Dean, Taylor and  Mercedes McCambridge (as Jordan's older sister), but Rock was on point with this one. I know some people may say that Giant is a weaker Gone With The Wind, I disagree. I think Giant holds its own as an epic film that deserves it place in history.
B+

James Dean and Mercedes McCambridge

Liz Taylor and James Dean

Dean strikes it rich

The gorgeous Liz