| The Long, Hot Summer | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Martin Ritt |
| Produced by | Jerry Wald |
| Written by | William Faulkner Irving Ravetch Harriet Frank, Jr. |
| Starring | Paul Newman Joanne Woodward Anthony Franciosa Orson Welles |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | April 3, 1958 |
| Running time | 115 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Long, Hot Summer is a 1958 film directed by Martin Ritt, starring Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Anthony Franciosa, Lee Remick, Angela Lansbury and Orson Welles. It is based on stories by William Faulkner, primarily "The Hamlet."
The film was entered into the 1958 Cannes Film Festival, with Newman winning the award for Best Actor.[1]
Contents |
Ben Quick (Paul Newman) hitches a ride to Frenchman's Bend, Mississippi from two young women in a convertible, Clara Varner (Joanne Woodward) and her sister-in-law Eula (Lee Remick). Clara's father is Will Varner (Orson Welles), the domineering owner of most of the town.
Will sees in the brash newcomer a younger version of himself, ruthless and ambitious. These qualities are, in Will's opinion, lacking in his only son Jody (Anthony Franciosa).
He is also disappointed with the choice of his daughter Clara, a schoolteacher. Clara's boyfriend Alan Stewart (Richard Anderson), a genteel Southern "blue blood," is a mama's boy, not the kind of son-in-law Will wants. He schemes to push his daughter and Ben together, to try to bring fresh, virile blood into the family. She is (seemingly) unimpressed with the crude, if magnetic upstart. Ben at first is attracted by the wealth Will offers, but eventually comes to see something in Clara beyond that.
Meanwhile, Minnie Littlejohn (Angela Lansbury), the widower Will's longtime mistress, is dissatisfied with her situation and wants to be married. The strained relationships come to a boil during the long, hot summer.
Jody becomes increasingly alarmed when he sees his position in the family being undermined. Will hires Ben as a clerk in the general store, then invites him to live in the family mansion. When Jody finds Ben alone, he pulls a gun on him and tells him his body will be found downstream. Ben talks his way out by telling Jody about buried Civil War-era treasure he has found on some property that Will gave him, a down payment to seal their bargain over Clara. When the two men find a bag of coins, Jody is elated, thinking he might finally get out from under his father's thumb. He buys the land from Ben.
Late that night, Will finds his son, still digging. After examining one of the coins, he notices that it was minted in 1910. Jody is crushed. Later finding his father alone in their barn, Jody bolts the entrance and sets the barn on fire. He cannot go through with it and lets Will out. The incident brings about a reconciliation.
Meanwhile, the fire causes trouble for Ben, as people have learned of his barn-burning father. Townspeople assume he is the culprit and start toward him with a rope for a lynching. Clara drives up and rescues him. Will later claims responsibility for accidentally starting the fire.
The smell of fire brings back bad memories for Ben. He tells Clara how, at the age of ten, he had to sound the warning against his father as he was about to set another fire. Thankful that she saved his life, he volunteers to leave town for good. Clara has other plans for him, much to her father's delight.
This was the first teaming of Newman and Woodward in film. They married after the completion of the movie and remained married until Newman's death.
It was filmed on location in Louisiana, though set in Mississippi. The film differs from Faulkner's story by removing the Snopes family as characters.
It was remade as a 26-part television series of the same name, airing in 1965 and 1966, with Dan O'Herlihy, Roy Thinnes, Nancy Malone, Lana Wood, Ruth Roman, and Edmond O'Brien.
It was remade again for TV in 1985, with Jason Robards, Don Johnson, and Cybill Shepherd (in the role of Eula). It received two Emmy nominations, for Outstanding Miniseries and Outstanding Art Direction for a Miniseries or a Special. The remake was filmed in Louisiana and Texas.
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