Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

Mike Nichols

Writers:

Edward Albee (play)
Ernest Lehman (screenplay)

Release Date:

22 June 1966 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

You are cordially invited to George and Martha's for an evening of fun and games.

Plot:

A bitter aging couple with the help of alcohol, use a young couple to fuel anguish and emotional pain towards each other.

Plot Keywords:

Couple | Professor | Marriage | New England | Aging

Awards:

Won 5 Oscars. Another 13 wins & 18 nominations

Cast

Elizabeth Taylor	...	Martha
Richard Burton	...	George
George Segal	...	Nick
Sandy Dennis	...	Honey

Also Known As:

Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

131 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Latin

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:R (Nova Scotia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Portugal:17 (original rating) | Singapore:PG | West Germany:16 (f) (re-rated) | West Germany:18 (f) (original rating) | USA:Approved (certificate #21074) | South Korea:12 | Netherlands:12 (2007) | UK:12 (re-rating) (2009) | Australia:M | Czech Republic:12 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | UK:X (original rating) | UK:15 (video rating)

Filming Locations:

Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

The Bette Davis film that Martha's character refers to at the film's beginning is Beyond the Forest (1949).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: As George and Nick are coming back into the house from their scene in the garden, Nick's shadow on the porch is seen to suddenly disappear just before George enters the shot.

Quotes:

George: Martha, in my mind you're buried in cement right up to the neck. No, up to the nose, it's much quieter.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Boy Meets World: Who's Afraid of Cory Wolf? (#2.6)" (1994)

Still powerful, harrowing view of the "Anti-Ozzie and Harriet"

This is still an exceptional film from the 1960s. Though some of the epithets are obviously softening much stronger words, the language is frank and brutal, Martha's bludgeoning body-blows balanced by George's icepick thrusts. Edward Lehman's respectful screenplay gently opens up Edward Albee's one-set play while keeping a certain claustrophobic atmosphere. Mike Nichols' first directing effort is stunning in its lack of artifice; rarely do you feel that the director has done much more than turn on the camera and watch four actors, all at the top of their game, tear into their roles. George Segal's work in this movie is criminally underrated, but his reactive work as studly, ultimately disappointing Nick should be mandatory study by all young actors. Sandy Dennis' fluttery turn as mousy, wifey Honey is powerful also; a lot more is going on than you might think. Richard Burton is staggering as George ("Georgie Porgie Put-upon Pie"), and his performance demonstrates the magic that he could bring to a worthy role. Elizabeth Taylor's work here still astounds. The physical transformation she undertook to become aging harpy Martha is amazing enough, but her performance seems to channel a hurricane's force and fury. By turns hilarious, maddening and then, at the end, exhausted and defeated yet again, Taylor demonstrates acting, particularly film acting, at its best. The film is by no means easy or "Hollywood" in feel-- the audience is as exhausted as the characters at the end. But this was a bracing, necessary antidote to the impossible ideal of marriage usually portrayed in the movies. A towering film.