The Long, Hot Summer (1958)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Martin Ritt

Writers:

William Faulkner (stories) (novel "The Hamlet")
Irving Ravetch (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

18 May 1958 (West Germany)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Adapted from the Sensational Novel by William Faulkner

Plot:

Ben Quick arrives in Frenchman's Bend, MS after being kicked out of another town for allegedly burning a barn for revenge...

Plot Keywords:

Mistress | Confidence Man | Arson | Patriarch | Beautiful Woman

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Paul Newman	...	Ben Quick
Joanne Woodward	...	Clara Varner
Anthony Franciosa	...	Jody Varner
Orson Welles	...	Will Varner
Lee Remick	...	Eula Varner
Angela Lansbury	...	Minnie Littlejohn
Richard Anderson	...	Alan Stewart
Sarah Marshall	...	Agnes Stewart
Mabel Albertson	...	Mrs. Stewart
J. Pat O'Malley	...	Ratliff
Bill Walker	...	Lucius (as William Walker)

Runtime:

115 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (35 mm magnetic prints) (Westrex Recording System) | Mono (35 mm optical prints)

Certification:

Iceland:L | USA:Approved (certificate #18811) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Chile:14 | Finland:S | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Asphodel Plantation - 4626 Highway 68, Jackson, Louisiana, USA

Company:

Jerry Wald Productions

Trivia:

Director Martin Ritt was forever known after this movie as the man who tamed Orson Welles. During filming Ritt drove Welles into the middle of a swamp, kicked him out of the car and forced him to find his own way back.

Quotes:

Ben: I can see my white shirt and my black tie and my Sunday manners didn't fool you for a minute. Well, that's right, ma'am, I'm a menace to the countryside. All a man's gotta do is just look at me sideways and his house goes up in fire. And here I am, living right here in the middle of your peaceable little town, right in your back yard, you might say. Guess that ought to keep you awake at night.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in L'important c'est d'aimer (1975)

Soundtrack:

The Long, Hot Summer

Now even better

This is one of those films which is now even better, as it nears a half-century since its original release.

The characters and performances are just as enjoyable to view today - the young Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, vintage Orson Welles - and Tony Franciosa and Lee Remick (along with Orson, both now gone).

The other actors' performances were also excellent, and the characters remain as interesting today as in times past.

Newman's "Ben Quick" fuses the characteristics of both "hero" and "anti-hero" into one role as profoundly as virtually any other film or stage character you're apt to see.

The nostalgia of a work such as this, now seen anew after so many years since production, is something added which only the requisite passage of time enables one to view and enjoy.

In the company of other authors in this genre, such as Caldwell, Steinbeck, Williams, et al, Faulkner's works were among the best, and this is clearly revealed in this fine film.

If I were required to find an area to criticize, it would be the same as I noticed in one of the comments on this site: namely, the somewhat overly-quick and brief "resolution" of the estrangement between Welles and Franciosa, the impatient patriarch and his older child/son. I realize this brevity may have been due to neither Newman nor Woodward being involved - but the writers and director could still have made it a bit more detailed and intricate, with only, say, another two minutes of film. But this aside, this is a superb motion picture - both then and now.