Which 1958 film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman is based on a Tennessee Williams play?

The 1958 film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman that is based on a Tennessee Williams play is Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

The film centers on Brick Pollitt, a former athlete and troubled alcoholic, and his wife Maggie, who return to the Mississippi Delta plantation of Brick’s wealthy family. The visit takes place around the 65th birthday of Brick’s father, Big Daddy, whose illness intensifies the family’s conflicts over inheritance, marriage, desire, and truthfulness.

Richard Brooks directed the film and co-wrote its screenplay with James Poe. Elizabeth Taylor plays Maggie, Paul Newman plays Brick, and Burl Ives portrays Big Daddy, reprising the role he played in the original Broadway production. The source play premiered in 1955 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

The movie was shaped by the censorship rules of the Hays Code. It softened or removed much of the play’s homosexual subtext involving Brick and his friend Skipper, changes that disappointed Tennessee Williams and Paul Newman. The film was nevertheless a major commercial and critical success.