A surgeon is assigned the case of a young woman whose aunt wants her lobotomized to cover up a family secret.A surgeon is assigned the case of a young woman whose aunt wants her lobotomized to cover up a family secret.A surgeon is assigned the case of a young woman whose aunt wants her lobotomized to cover up a family secret.
- Nominated for 3 Oscars
- 4 wins & 7 nominations total
Sheila Robins
- Dr. Hockstader's Secretary
- (as Sheila Robbins)
Erik Chitty
- Asylum Inmate
- (uncredited)
Grace Denbeigh-Russell
- Asylum patient
- (uncredited)
Brenda Dunrich
- Nurse
- (uncredited)
Eddie Fisher
- Street Urchin
- (uncredited)
Anthony Lang
- Inmate
- (uncredited)
Aileen Lewis
- Nurse
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAfter years of alcoholism and prescription drug abuse, Montgomery Clift was considered uninsurable due to chronic ill health. Ordinarily, he would have been fired and replaced, but his good friend Dame Elizabeth Taylor saved his job by insisting she would not do this movie without him.
- GoofsAlthough set in 1937, costumes, hairstyles and makeup worn by Dame Elizabeth Taylor are all contemporary in 1959.
- Quotes
Catherine Holly: Is that what love is? Using people? And maybe that's what hate is - not being able to use people.
- ConnectionsEdited into This Is It (2009)
Featured review
Thinly veiled story about the unspeakable!
The moral majority's campaign to censor anything on the movie screen considered too taboo had an incredible impact on Hollywood during the 1930's right through to the 1970's. Censors went through Hollywood scripts, tearing out anything considered unspeakable, no matter how important it was to the plot at hand. It became an art form of sorts, for Hollywood film makers to veil their nasty little subjects so that the censors (who weren't that bright anyway) couldn't find it, but so that a smart audience could. Suddenly Last Summer is a classic example of this art in action.
Tennessee Williams was the toast of Broadway in the 1950's, with his melodramatic plays that often tackled heavy subjects such as addiction, adultery and in the case of this story, homosexuality. Katherine Hepburn plays a classic Tennessee Williams vamp, Violet Venable, a lady of means who is mourning the loss of her son. She has sought the help of a psychiatrist, played by Montgomery Clift, as she would like to have a lobotomy performed on her niece, who is apparently off her rocker (as most of Tennessee Williams' ladies are) and is spouting nasty rumors about the dead son.
Like most of Williams' work, Suddenly Last Summer flows along with over the top dialogue, the kind that actors love to sink their teeth into. I have not seen the original stage play but I suspect that this screenplay has been severely hacked to obliterate any talk of homosexuality. Venable's son was murdered while on vacation in Europe. If you take the dialogue literally you might believe that he was murdered for his religious convictions. If you read between the lines you will see that this was clearly a gay bashing.
Hepburn and Taylor both shine in their roles, that seem almost custom made for them. It's rare that Hepburn is cast as a villain, however, her performance leaves me wondering why she hasn't done it more often. Taylor's hyper-active hyper-ventilating, Catherine Holly works well here. Her own brand of melodramatic acting seems to compliment Williams' work.
Clift was a tad cardboard in his role as the psychiatrist, however, it is still interesting to watch this performance that was filmed after his face-altering car accident. One might think that he recently underwent a lobotomy. On the other hand, he is competent, and the performances of the actresses more than compensate.
Suddenly Last Summer works as a film, but I am hesitant to recommend to everyone. This is not an action flick, by any means, but rather a character piece. Scenes are long and they require your concentration, as important statements can be found between the lines. For fans of any of these actors, this is a must see!
Tennessee Williams was the toast of Broadway in the 1950's, with his melodramatic plays that often tackled heavy subjects such as addiction, adultery and in the case of this story, homosexuality. Katherine Hepburn plays a classic Tennessee Williams vamp, Violet Venable, a lady of means who is mourning the loss of her son. She has sought the help of a psychiatrist, played by Montgomery Clift, as she would like to have a lobotomy performed on her niece, who is apparently off her rocker (as most of Tennessee Williams' ladies are) and is spouting nasty rumors about the dead son.
Like most of Williams' work, Suddenly Last Summer flows along with over the top dialogue, the kind that actors love to sink their teeth into. I have not seen the original stage play but I suspect that this screenplay has been severely hacked to obliterate any talk of homosexuality. Venable's son was murdered while on vacation in Europe. If you take the dialogue literally you might believe that he was murdered for his religious convictions. If you read between the lines you will see that this was clearly a gay bashing.
Hepburn and Taylor both shine in their roles, that seem almost custom made for them. It's rare that Hepburn is cast as a villain, however, her performance leaves me wondering why she hasn't done it more often. Taylor's hyper-active hyper-ventilating, Catherine Holly works well here. Her own brand of melodramatic acting seems to compliment Williams' work.
Clift was a tad cardboard in his role as the psychiatrist, however, it is still interesting to watch this performance that was filmed after his face-altering car accident. One might think that he recently underwent a lobotomy. On the other hand, he is competent, and the performances of the actresses more than compensate.
Suddenly Last Summer works as a film, but I am hesitant to recommend to everyone. This is not an action flick, by any means, but rather a character piece. Scenes are long and they require your concentration, as important statements can be found between the lines. For fans of any of these actors, this is a must see!
helpful•12041
- MickeyTo
- Mar 30, 2000
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Plötzlich im letzten Sommer
- Filming locations
- Begur, Girona, Catalonia, Spain(village and old castle scenes)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $3,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross worldwide
- $9,830
- Runtime1 hour 54 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
![Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMzMxNGY4YmUtMTllYS00NzY4LTllYmYtYzQ1NmQyOWI2ZGNiXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTUzMDUzNTI3._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,2,90,133_.jpg)