Suddenly, Last Summer (film)
| Suddenly, Last Summer | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Joseph L. Mankiewicz |
| Produced by | Sam Spiegel |
| Screenplay by | Gore Vidal |
| Based on |
Suddenly, Last Summer 1958 play by Tennessee Williams |
| Starring | |
| Music by |
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| Cinematography | Jack Hildyard |
| Edited by |
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| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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114 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3,000,000 (estimated) |
| Box office | $6,375,000 |
Suddenly, Last Summer is a 1959 American Southern Gothic mystery film based on the play of the same title by Tennessee Williams. The film was directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and produced by Sam Spiegel from a screenplay by Gore Vidal (though Williams was officially given credit) with cinematography by Jack Hildyard and production design by Oliver Messel. The musical score was composed by Buxton Orr using themes by Malcolm Arnold.
The plot centers on a young woman who, at the insistence of her wealthy New Orleans aunt, is being evaluated by a psychiatric doctor to receive a lobotomy after witnessing the death of her cousin, Sebastian Venable, while traveling with him in Spain the previous summer.
The film stars Elizabeth Taylor, Katharine Hepburn, and Montgomery Clift with Albert Dekker, Mercedes McCambridge, and Gary Raymond.
New Orleans, 1937: Catherine Holly (Elizabeth Taylor) is a young woman institutionalized for a severe emotional disturbance that occurred when her cousin, Sebastian Venable, died under questionable circumstances while they were on summer holiday in Europe. The late Sebastian's wealthy mother, Violet Venable (Katharine Hepburn), makes every effort to deny and suppress the potentially sordid truth about her son and his demise. Toward that end, she attempts to bribe the state hospital's administrator, Dr. Lawrence J. Hockstader (Albert Dekker), by offering to finance a new wing for the underfunded facility if he will coerce his brilliant young surgeon, Dr. John Cukrowicz (Montgomery Clift), into lobotomizing her niece, thereby removing any chance that the events surrounding her son's death might be revealed by Catherine's "obscene babbling."
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Wikipedia