Our adaption of the play lasts for 30 minutes but still carries on the themes of the play. Watching the film inspired us to use this piece for our moderation.

Fantastic actors combined with a fantastic play creates much joy for all.


Classic!   June 24, 2004
 8 out of 10 found this review helpful

Great film. First time director Mike Nichols, who went on to make The Graduate soon after. A classic play, a classic cast, beautiful photography, and the feeling that you're watching an uncomfortably accurate rendition of Burton and Taylor's actual relationship, through the hideous love affair of George and Martha. What's not to like?

One of the wittiest, darkest and most brilliant plays ever written, brought perfectly to the screen.


Demon Drink   August 28, 2002
 8 out of 38 found this review helpful

This is not a movie I want to see again. The acting is superb and very, very real. It is basically an investigation of what alcohol does to the mind and to relationships, and as such it demonstrates all too well the depths people can plumb when in the grip of Demon Drink. All the revolting emotions are here: envy, bitterness, shallowness, gratuitous nastiness, the sick delight in hurting others' feelings. Yes, it's a brilliant movie. And like an aggressive drunk at full speed, it goes on and on and on. It made me feel very pleased with myself that I don't like alcohol. Morticia Addams of the Addams Family would have adored these people.


AFIs Great Love Stories: #89 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?   July 18, 2002
 20 out of 21 found this review helpful

Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" is one of the most important plays in the history of American Drama, representing a sort of merging of the psychological drama represented by Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller with the existential plays of Samuel Becket and Eugene Ionesco. After a faculty party George (Richard Burton) and Martha (Elizabeth Taylor) have invited a young professor, Nick (George Segal) and his wife Honey (Sandy Dennis), back for a few drinks. What happens is ironically described as fun and games, which end up airing everyone's dirty laundry in a compelling death spiral of brutal confrontations.

All four players were nominated for Oscars, with both of the ladies winning in the finest ensemble performance since "Long Day's Journey Into Night." Burton lost to Paul Schofield in "A Man for All Seasons" and Segal to Walter Matthau in "The Fortune Cookie." Haskell Wexler also earned a richly deserved Oscar for Best Black-and-White Cinematography. I think this is clearly Elizabeth Taylor's best film performance (Burton's too). I remember someone asking Katharine Hepburn if she thought any other actress had ever shown a range comparable to herself and she mentioned Taylor. It makes sense. They have both done plays by William Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams, and Albee. Not even Meryl Streep can say that.

The film does have one major problem, which Albee himself has repeatedly pointed out, namely, it was a mistake director Mike Nichols to let the two couples leave the house and go to a roadhouse in the middle of Act II. The play is a one set play, of course, and Albee consider the claustrophobia it produced part of its main effect. By getting them away from the house, or even having George and Nick have their big talk from Act III out in the backyard, the idea that Nick and Honey are trapped with no way out. But I think this is something that bothers people who have studied the play intimately more than fans of the cinema.

Most Romantic Lines: Yeah, right. I think the nicest thing Martha says to George is "You make me puke," and the most famous line from the play, "What a dump," is taken from a Bette Davis movie (Yes, I know which one, but, no, I am not telling).

If you like "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" then check out these other films on AFI's list: #84 "Double Indemnity" and #48 "Last Tango in Paris." Why? They are also tales of twisted love.