Suddenly, Last Summer

1959 Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Suddenly, last summer, Cathy knew she was being used for something evil!

The only son of wealthy widow Violet Venable dies while on vacation with his cousin Catherine. What the girl saw was so horrible that she went insane; now Mrs. Venable wants Catherine lobotomized to cover up the truth.

Elizabeth Taylor Katharine Hepburn Montgomery Clift Albert Dekker Mercedes McCambridge Gary Raymond Mavis Villiers Patricia Marmont Joan Young Maria Britneva Sheila Robbins Julián Ugarte Eddie Fisher David Cameron Beatrice Shaw Frank Merlo Gore Vidal Sheila Raynor Sandra White Rita Webb Ian Wilson Florence Stark Brenda Dunrich Roberta Woolley Grace Denbigh Russell

Alternative Titles

De repente, el último verano, Improvvisamente l'estate scorsa, De repente en el verano, Plötzlich im letzten Sommer, In het heetste van de zomer, Внезапно, миналото лято, De Repente, No Último Verão, De repente, en el verano, Pludselig sidste sommer, Äkkiä viime kesänä, Soudain l'été dernier, Xafnika perysi to kalokairi, Ξαφνικά, Πέρυσι το Καλοκαίρι, Az utolsó nyár, Hirtelen, múlt nyáron, Plutselig, i fjor sommer, Nagle, ostatniego lata, Bruscamente no Verão Passado, Iznenada, prošlog leta, Plötsligt i somras, Nenadoma lansko poletje, Yнeзапно, прошлым летом, Bir yaz tatili, De repente el verano, 지난 여름 갑자기

thriller mystery drama

114 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by theriverjordan ★★★★ 22

“Suddenly Last Summer” is an earnest melodrama that hides itself behind the visage of a southern gothic mystery. It’s a tale of repression and necessary deception - made by a cast and crew well-practiced in the arts of social misdirection.
Director Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s film works from a script penned by playwright Tennessee Williams, was adapted for the screen by Gore Vidal, and which stars Montgomery Clift. Essentially, it might be Mankiewicz holding the deed of ownership, but all the other core craftsmen of the movie — were gay.
The premise of “Suddenly” has Clift as a doctor perfecting the technique of the lobotomy. He’s asked by the mother (Katharine Hepburn) of a young man who has died to perform the…
Review by Hari Nef 3

gay representation before #representation--tennessee williams speaks himself into existence through the voices of grand dames and southern belles. williams refers to gay men as "belles" in his journals; liz taylor's catherine looks into the middle distance and tells montgomery clift about a diary she writes in the third person--"she." this is all in the play, but maybe the hollywood magic of the film arrives with montgomery clift as the doctor. clift was gay in real life, and doomed. it's not his best outing, nor is it williams' but there they are. katherine hepburn's mrs. venable stares at the doctor and remarks how like her son's eyes are his, how sebastian would have been "charmed" by him. Gay is memory, never…
Review by Hari Nef

citizen kane for hags <3
Review by Sara ★★★ 2

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

This was....a lot.
Was Kate’s character really having sex with her own son? Was said son actually gay and eaten alive by cannibals? So many unanswered questions. But do I really want to know the answers?
Review by Sarah Jane 🔪 1

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

"He-he was lying naked on the broken stones...and this you won't believe! Nobody, nobody, nobody could believe it! It looked as if-as if they had devoured him!...As if they'd torn or cut parts of him away with their hands, or with knives, or those jagged tin cans they made music with. As if they'd torn bits of him away in strips!"
...the fuck?! I love Tennessee Williams. So over the top but so great. Here you get someone who is insane, you get some homosexuality (it IS Williams, after all) and, wait for it, CANNIBALISM. Elizabeth Taylor is super hot in that white bathing suit. Monty Clift looking like maybe he should have died in his car accident. I love him but I just cannot look at him post accident. It is too painful.
If you don't want to see this movie based on the above quote then, I cannot help you.
Review by Kevin Jones ★★★½

25 Films x 4 Decades: 1950s
It is shocking to think that Tennessee Williams' Suddenly, Last Summer received a film adaptation in 1959. Expressly covering themes of homosexuality and including a shadowy image of Elizabeth Taylor's nipple while also heavily hinting at cannibalism, child molestation, and incest, this film is quite nefarious for 1950s America and unabashed in showcasing these themes. Whereas many other films of the era may hint at them or suggest the existence of these ideas, director Joseph L. Mankiewicz's adaptation practically goes as far as coming right out and saying it with dialogue stopping right before idea is communicated, guiding the audience's hand right to the only logical conclusion. This is rather bold and one can…
Review by russman ★★★½

What a cool elevator
Review by HKFanatic ★★★★★

Screenwriter Gore Vidal's expansion of Tennessee Williams' play is so over the top, it makes previous Williams adaptations look like drawing room squabbles as it leaves the realm of hothouse theatrics far, far behind and enters another stratosphere of gothic psycho-drama. There is more horror here than in most horror movies, with a towering performance by Katherine Hepburn and a climax that reminded me of nothing so much as the sun-soaked unease of author Ramsey Campbell.
Review by Shea ★★★

What (and i can't stress this enough) the fuck
Review by Cinephile Agenda 🏳️‍🌈 ★★★★½

Suddenly Last Summer. 1959. Joseph L. Mankiewicz.
Clift's minimal performance is as stunning as Taylor and Hepburn's innuendo-filled bursts, and much credit is due to Mankiewicz's sensitive direction and masterful blocking. It is the way the narrative develops however, the doctor as a detective, that turns Suddenly, Last Summer into such a compelling picture.
Review by feedingbrett ★★★½ 2

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof opened my eyes to the works of Tennessee Williams, having initially seen the adapted film then moved on to read the play that inspired it. It was one of the works that struck a chord in me from the moment I saw it, unable to withdraw from the awe of its performances, to feel the tenderness and twist of a knife upon every spoken dialogue, the sense of heat and claustrophobia that consumes its characters, it was a remarkable piece of work that has very rarely been matched.
Suddenly, Last Summer was a film that caught my interest after the accumulated satisfaction and excitement behind both Williams and Taylor, wanting to dip my toes…
Review by teagan ★★★★½

the camp value of casting katharine hepburn, monty clift, and liz taylor in a tennessee williams adaptation (wherein katharine hepburn descends from the sky in a byzantine-style elevator) is astronomical

Recent reviews

Review by granpapasmurf ★★★★★

A masterpiece in every sense.
Review by ‮عبدالرحمن الحوسني‬ ★★★★★

من أعظم ماقدم جوزيف مانكفيتس - One of Joseph L. Mankiewicz's greatest contributions
Review by Gian ★★★★★

O crítico Arthur Knight chegou a profetizar que o futuro dos filmes adultos nos Estados Unidos dependia de "De Repente, Naquele Verão", dirigido por Joseph Mankiewicz e escrito por Gore Vidal baseado na peça de Tennessee Williams. Na trama, Catherine Holly (Elizabeth Taylor) foi hospitalizada após seu primo Sebastian morrer sob circunstâncias misteriosas durante as férias de verão deles, sua tia Violet (Katherine Hepburn) paga o doutor John (Montgomery Clift) pra lobotomizar a sobrinha antes que ela revele o que ocorreu com Sebastian. O médico visita Catherine, cuja mãe Grace (Mercedes McCambridge) lhe obriga a assinar os papéis da cirurgia, tentando fugir numa assustadora sequência onde outros loucos tentam agarrar seu pé. Catherine e Violet se confrontam com a sobrinha…
Review by SeahorseScandal ★★★½

Watched at home alone via blu-ray.
When it starts, it feels like it's another filmed play and it's a way to view a Tennessee Williams play with great actors who are dead. But, then that last 20 minutes: gahhd. Pretty indelible. I plan on revisiting this one.
Review by Le Cinéphile

Elizabeth Taylor is phenomenal.
Review by Andrew Draper ★★★½

Jennifer Ehle's character Amanda in Saint Maud was a great example of a frustrated voluptuary — someone who loves the good life, where "good" has a sensual angle, but who finds it just out of reach. These characters, usually women, have a way of upending the lives of the more fragile or insecure characters around them. There's always going to be a connection between sensuality and mortality, and there's always going to be a place in the Gothic horror tradition for these kinds of characters.
Elizabeth Taylor's Catherine in Suddenly Last Summer is somewhere in this tradition. We first see her in a Catholic asylum, trying to steal a few moments away from the nuns watching her so she can…
Review by Maria ★★★★

Suddenly, Last Summer is a superb piece of writing. Even though the scenes are long and it is very dialogue driven, it remains interesting. The monologues given by Katharine Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor are so well written and delivered, that I could clearly envision what they were talking about. I think the script was converted from the play successfully.
The subject matter was very taboo back then, so the truth had to be implied toward the end. I found this to be a little unclear at first, however, I appreciated that it was unexpected. I like the ending a lot, but I would have preferred a little more closure and answered questions.
Suddenly, Last Summer has great performances, great writing, and a mysterious story that urges the audience to continue watching.
Review by Chris James ★★★★½

Simone pronounces “factory” and “Deborah” the way Katharine Hepburn pronounces every word in this movie.
This is WWE for actress monologues and 🚬 hags.
Review by StiwiWonda ★★★½

Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1959.
SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER
Elizabeth Taylor als Catherine Holly
Katharine Hepburn als Violet Venable
Montgomery Clift als Dr. John Cukrowicz
Meine Bewunderung war schon vor vielen Jahren beim ersten Sehen groß, dass derart tragische und schwierige Themen (Neurochirurgische Behandlungen wie Lobotomie; Homosexualität) von großen Studios bearbeitet und umgesetzt wurden, immerhin sprechen wir von den 50er Jahren.
Zwei Jahre bevor der «Code of Decency», der u.a. die Darstellung der Homosexualität aus den Hollywood-Filmen verbannte, aufgehoben wurde, wagte sich Mankiewicz an den Stoff, den schon Tennessee Williams in einer vagen, bewusst irrealen Atmosphäre angesiedelt hatte. Der Spott der «aufgeklärten» Nachwelt war ihm sicher: «Hollywood schaffte das Unmögliche: es brachte einen unsichtbaren Homosexuellen auf die Leinwand» (Vito Russo).

>>> SPOILER Anfang…
Review by theriverjordan ★★★★ 22

“Suddenly Last Summer” is an earnest melodrama that hides itself behind the visage of a southern gothic mystery. It’s a tale of repression and necessary deception - made by a cast and crew well-practiced in the arts of social misdirection.
Director Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s film works from a script penned by playwright Tennessee Williams, was adapted for the screen by Gore Vidal, and which stars Montgomery Clift. Essentially, it might be Mankiewicz holding the deed of ownership, but all the other core craftsmen of the movie — were gay.
The premise of “Suddenly” has Clift as a doctor perfecting the technique of the lobotomy. He’s asked by the mother (Katharine Hepburn) of a young man who has died to perform the…
Review by amariliz ★★★★

Pan, Pan, Pan — do they invoke the God, the ancient Great Pan?
God is not dead: God lives, and "He" is ghastly, and life sheer horror.
behold God's dark face. there on the white hot. the birds, the exotic flowers in the jungle, and the uncivilized boys.
the Hunger. a close, leaden, horrifying take on human's sexual nature by and large - at any rate consuming nature, quite literally. elizabeth taylor is fully sexualized (exceptionally, this does not seem gratuitous). hungry men in the asylum and taylor's legs. procuring. (the spectator himself is engaged, is procured! what a device, what a horrifying twist!)
men against women, women against women, women against men, evidently. but I don't have an eye…
Review by Renaud Plante ★★★★

Katherine Hepburn y fait une entrée en scène (et une sortie aussi) particulièrement fracassante et marquante. Ne serait-ce que pour ça, ça vaut vraiment la peine.