Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Dir: Mike Nichols, 1966, bw (8.5*)

AFI Top 100

Stage director Mike Nichols makes an impressive dramatic film debut in Edward Albee’s Pulitzer prize-winning play. Elizabeth Taylor (who added quite a few pounds and won her 2nd Oscar® for best actress), and husband Richard Burton are jaded married college professors George and Martha, who are entertaining a new young professor, George Segal and his ditzy wife, Sandy Dennis (Oscar® for Supp. Actress). What starts as fun degrades into more cruel revelations and distress in this party in emotional hell. Ensemble acting doesn’t get any better than this, everyone leaves you emotionally drained. All the actors were Oscar nominated, the ladies both won, and it's likely the picture would have but was (before ratings) banned to filmgoers under 18 due to coarse language, so the Oscar went to the tame and inoffensive Sound of Music. 5 Oscars®