The Long, Hot Summer (1958) User Reviews (82)

Long and hot all right, with a tremendous cast

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 16 June 2006]

Paul Newman stars with Joanne Woodward, Orson Welles, Lee Remick, Anthony Franciosca, Richard Anderson and Angela Lansbury in "The Long, Hot Summer," based on stories by William Faulkner. It's a lushly produced film about a drifter, Ben Quick (Newman), who comes to town. His reputation precedes him, and he soon upsets the status quo in the wealthy Varner family, headed by Orson Welles with a fake nose that kept melting off and an even faker southern accent. There's the weak, insecure son (Franciosa) married to a sex kitten (Remick) and an unmarried daughter (Woodward) saving herself for a momma's boy (Anderson). In town, there's also Varner Sr.'s mistress, played by Angela Lansbury. Ben sets his sights on Clara Varner and puts himself in direct competition with nervous son Jody for papa's approval. But Quick ultimately needs to reach underneath his swagger and bravura and confront his cut and run philosophy.

This is a fantastic cast that delivers sparkling dialogue and an interesting story that has mostly well-drawn characters. The exception would probably be Remick, who has a small but showy role. She doesn't get to do much except show off her figure and sexiness. Welles is a riot - a marvelous technician, he knew how to externalize a character perfectly, and he is here the epitome of a Big Daddy type. His southern drawl is outrageous, and why he decided he needed a new nose (which he had in other roles as well) is beyond me. Woodward gives a touching performance as a young woman who has been living on hope and can't quite cope with her attraction to the overtly sexual Quick. Franciosa is excellent as a tortured young man unable to win his father's love.

But as any film that stars Paul Newman, the movie belongs to him, one of the greatest actors to ever hit the screen. Macho, sexy and handsome, his Ben Quick is angry, determined, manipulative, and disturbing, with a hidden vulnerability. His scenes with Woodward sizzle, and you can see her character blossom under his attention. They're a great couple, both on and off the screen.

Highly recommended, as is any film that stars Paul Newman.

"Never say never."

[elvircorhodzic · 7/10 · 10 February 2017]

THE LONG, HOT SUMMER is one solid melodrama about tradition and family, which is based on some short stories by William Foulkner. One depressed, but confident drifter, who has a reputation of a arsonist, comes in a small town. The most powerful man in the town wants to try a young suspect. Thus, the rich man begins to respect the young man because of his determination. The young man understands job better than the rich man's reluctant son and it seems that he is the perfect opportunity for a rich man's daughter. However, desires of some of the protagonists will not match with hidden truths...

People will create a storm in a small and very hot town. This storm is full of greed, hate, lies and misunderstandings. The scenario is not bad. The sharp dialogues are tense and full of bitterness, contempt and sarcasm. Honesty is somewhat present, but it can not come to the fore. The atmosphere is constantly stretched through sexual charge and wild whim of individual protagonists.

The acting is good, but the chemistry between the main protagonists could have been a lot better.

Paul Newman as Ben Quick is determined and resourceful young man who will try to deceive members of one family in order to become the successor of wealth. His character is furious and disturbing. Real trouble in the city. However, he becomes a victim of his own manipulations and hidden vulnerabilities. Joanne Woodward as Clara Varner is an independent woman who is able to confront a brazen intruder and a vile old man. Her biggest weakness is "forlorn hope". It is difficult to deal with one's own own life ideals and the coming sexual attraction. Clara is the central figure in this film. Her performance is quite touching.

Orson Welles as Will Varner is a stubborn and vulgar local tycoon. Anthony Franciosa as Jody Varner is a weak son, who fought for his father's love. Lee Remick as Eula Varner is playful daughter in-law.

The last scenes are quite inconclusive. Birds of prey are quickly tamed and harnessed. They have to face the truth in crucial moments. Their confrontation was inevitable. However, melodramatic, generous and warm ending is a big flaw of this film.

Big Footprint

[pyrocitor · 7/10 · 31 July 2015]

The Long, Hot Summer – Big Footprint Not to be mistaken for Wet Hot American Summer (a markedly different romp…), The Long, Hot Summer seems to be a largely forgotten entry into the canon of sweltering 1950s melodramas, mostly historically noteworthy as the project which united Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, and generally overshadowed by higher profile ballads of illicit love and family angst in the deep south. However, rather than being clouded by a haze of 'Big Daddy's odour of mendacity,' Martin Ritt's film easily has enough merit to stand on its own accord, blending a collection of William Faulkner shorts into a tale of love, lust, and lineage, just clamoring for the qualifier 'steamy'.

Although the plot is definitely familiar territory, and the script errs fairly strongly on the affected style customary to the post-Actors Studio era, the story resonates truthfully and remains engaging throughout, while the alluring undercurrent of barely-bridled sexuality keeps the proceedings energetic and urgent. Ritt's direction is taut but unfussy, allowing the inherent claustrophobia and tension of the film's small-town setting to speak for itself, and the sumptuous Technicolor cinematography is so crisp you can practically smell the marsh and sweat from the Mississippi bayou (and I'm not even just talking about Orson Welles). Although the climax feels like a somewhat forced attempt to escalate the stakes simmering throughout, with an overly hasty resolution to boot, the buildup is calm and confident enough to make the viewing experience worth its while without having to fight to engage its audience.

Naturally, like the majority of its contemporaries, the story ultimately exists as a vehicle to foreground the performances of the cast, who are what ultimately make the film worthwhile. Paul Newman, cementing his iconic identity as the shrewd, laconic, effortlessly cool drifter, crackles with charisma as accused arsonist Ben Quick, magnetic throughout even before his surprisingly racy shirtless scene. Joanne Woodward gives arguably the film's strongest performance as the controversially unmarried Clara Varner, practically vibrating in place from a lifetime of feeling discounted and under-appreciated. Rather than playing up her predicament, however, Woodward embodies Clara with a steely confidence, which is altogether more effective and appealing. In contrast, Orson Welles delivers the film's most legendarily outlandish performance as the resident belligerent patriarch. Notoriously mocking the Actors' Studio by mumbling almost incomprehensibly through his cartoonish southern drawl, the vociferous Welles is skilled enough to steal scenes in his sleep (which he may well have been during certain scenes), outrageously fun when hamming it up, with occasional pockets of surprising solemnity and depth, as if coming up for air from his customary grunting and snorting. Anthony Franciosa is also a sturdy presence, even if he does occasionally overindulge in Method hand-wringing and hysteria, while a cameo from the delightful Angela Lansbury as Welles' cheerily aggressive suitor adds a dash of comedic perfection.

While it may fall short of the acerbic intensity of similar fare such as Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Long, Hot Summer still serves a healthy slice of all the smouldering, robustly acted 1950s melodrama you could ask for. If only for the incandescent interplay between Newman and Woodward, with the added pleasure of cartoon-character Welles, the film is easily worth sinking into, on a dozy, hot summer evening or otherwise.

-7/10

Faulkner hell! We're in Williams country...

[dish55 · 3 July 2008]

...and loving it! This movie takes the best of CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, SUMMER AND SMOKE, throws in more than a dollop of William Inge's PICNIC, borrows the basket auctioning bit from OKLAHOMA! and the digging-for-treasure-by-the-old-collapsing-house subplot from GOD'S LITTLE ACRE - hell, we even get a variation on the cotton gin burning from BABY DOLL - and somehow delivers an original and unforgettable entertainment, the kind of movie they truly don't make any more. Every member of the cast is superb, with Woodward being a standout and Lee Remmick being gorgeous. How audiences must have swooned in 1958! How many people left the theater thinking they had seen something truly naughty and adult! This film has great dialog, atmosphere to spare, stunning yet understated costumes by Adele Palmer, and gorgeous cinematography. This is all tied together by another fine Alex North score. Check out the scene - lasting no more that 45 seconds - when Newman and Woodward cross a small bridge to share a picnic lunch. This music cue is magical. Jerry Wald produced many high-class soap operas at Fox during the late 1950's, but this one is by far the best. Lansbury shines, Welles hams, and Newman takes his shirt off - what more could an audience ask for? A dreamy title tune crooned over the credits? You got it!

Southern gothic fun

[adamsandel · 7/10 · 8 June 2021]

Strong writing and direction - and Newman and Woodward are electric together (they married a month after shooting this). But it takes a good hour for Welles' overacting, awful makeup and phony gray hairspray to calm down.

Newman's ingenious acting...

[Nazi_Fighter_David · 8/10 · 25 June 2005]

"The Long, Hot Summer," the first of six films he made for director Martin Ritt and the first of seven co-starring Joanne Woodward, is based on two short stories and part of a novel by Faulkner, provided him with his best role to that time…

Ben Quick (Newman), a foolhardy, opportunistic young wanderer, drifts into a Mississippi town owned and run by the huge, powerful Will Varner (Orson Welles), who also dominates his daughter Clara (Woodward), a 23-year-o1d unmarried schoolteacher… Despite Quick's reputation as a "barnburner," he is hired by Varner, and rapid1y works his way up to a partnership in the general store and a room in the main house…

Varner, like Big Daddy in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," wants strong descendants, and since his son is a weakling, he decides that Clara will marry Quick, whose aggressive masculinity he admires (he calls Quick a "big stud horse"). Clara, offended by Quick's very self-satisfaction and vulgar manner, and by both men's treating her as property, resists…

Like Billy the Kid, Quick is an outcast, isolated from humanity because of his notorious reputation… But in temperament he's the opposite, an extreme extrovert… From the very beginning, Newman, hat down low over his forehead, eyes gleaming with ambition, projects an overwhelming confidence, self-satisfaction and, above all, electrifying virility… Cynical, arrogant, crude and unwilling to allow anything to interfere with his drive, he resembles Larry Maddux of "The Helen Morgan Story." But now the portrayal is more than one-dimensional: behind Quick's hard blue eyes, barely hidden sneer and devilish smile there's enough intelligence, humor, charm, and downright attractiveness to force our involvement in his quest for power…

This is due entirely to Newman's ingenious acting, because as written the character reveals no positive traits until near the end, when he breaks down and tells Clara the truth about himself… It's a powerful scene: his voice breaking, eyes filling slow1y with tears, Newman effectively depicts a man whose carefully formed cold shell is finally cracking to reveal the vulnerable soul within…

The confession gives him a bond of equality with Clara that enables him to stand up decisively to Varner… But even earlier, Quick was never completely dominated by the old man… Of all the father-figures in Newman's films, Varner seems the most imposing, but Quick, unlike the weakling sons in "The Rack" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," isn't passive enough to be stepped upon…

William Faulkner's characters are perfect foils: Newman is sexually sure, and seemingly devoid of vulnerability and humanity; Woodward is a virgin, extremely vulnerable, and longing to express her humanity… She teaches him humility and the value of an individual; he helps her discover her sexuality…

Two scenes are among the best in their careers, partly because of the sharp dialog by the screenwriters… In the first, Clara comes to see Ben in the store at night… After much childish verbal attacks and a few unperceptive truths, the two have pierced beneath the surface and have found the nerve endings of each other's weaknesses…

Later, in the film's finest scene, Clara expresses herself more maturely, asserting that he has the wrong idea about her: she is no "trembling little rabbit, full of smoldering unsatisfied desires," but a full-grown, intelligent woman, who will not be bought and sold… She says he's too much like her father: "I gave up on him when I was nine years old, and I gave up on you the first time I ever looked into those cold blue eyes."

With his firm and fresh manner Quick sums up his honest, hard, purely sexual appraisal of life: "Well, I can see you don't like me, but you're gonna have me. It's gonna be you and me… "

Good drama written by William Faulkner with magnificent performance , story, and direction by Martin Ritt

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 27 December 2017]

Interesting and thought-provoking melodrama with marvelous acting from the entire cast , and outstanding Paul Newman as a stranger bringing with him a reputation for burning people's barns if they cross him . As Ben Quick (Paul Newman) , a young opportunist dirifter arrives in a little town and problems brewing . On the basis to get a job , Ben makes a strong impression on his landlord Will Varner (Orson Welles, he was 42 years old, but was cast as a 61 year old man due to his weight ) , the town bigwig and he meets his match in his sassy daughter Clara Varner (Joanne Woodward) . As Ben quickly ingratiates himself with its richest family, the Varners , formed by father , Will Varner (Welles) and sons : Clara , Eula Varner (Lee Remick ) married to Jody (Anthony Franciosa) .



This tense and well performed adapatation is based on two short stories and part of a novel by Nobel winner William Faulkner , set in a small Mississippi town . The picture shot Paul Newmans as a man taken under a Southern patriarch's wing , his wife Joanne Woodward , and Lee Remick to stardom . Newman and his real-wife , Woodward , luckily carry the whole movie as the main roles . This is the first on-screen pairing of Newman and Woodward ; in fact , a month after production wrapped, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward got married in Las Vegas. In this movie there is betrayal , scheming, seduction, improbable luck , suspicion, vengeance , heroism, compassion, and redemption . The locations, the soundtrack by Alex North , cinematography by cameraman Joseph LaShelle and the dramatic moments as well as the love stories between characters deliver an attractive and interesting flick . When the drama emerges there takes place incident and passion , and there's plenty of both . Paul Newman gives a fine acting as an accused barn burner and con man . Joanne Woodward is first-class as the spinster daughter Clara and one of the best characters . Support cast is pretty nice . Anthony Franciosa is fine as Welles' wimpish son who schemes a relentless vendetta . Orson Welles provides a boisterous and top-notch acting as the tyrannical Mississippi ¨pater familias¨ on his larger-than-life role . Lee Remick is wonderful as his sweet-natured daughter ; besides , Angel Lansbury as Will's longtime mistress . Being remade for TV in 1986 by Stuart Cooper with Don Johnson , Cybill Shepard , Jason Robards and Judith Ivey .

The motion picture was well directed by Martin Ritt . The smash hit of the film helped Martin Ritt reestablish himself as a major director. Martin was one of the best and most sensitive American directors of all time, was a director, actor and playwright who worked in both film and theater. He was born in New York City. His films reflect, like almost none other, a profound and intimate humane vision of his roles . Ritt went on to direct 25 more films, including such classics as Black orchid (1958) , Hud (1963), The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965) , Hombre (1967) ,The Great White Hope (1970), Norma Rae (1979) and Murphy romance (1985). He was Blacklisted in the 1950s for his alleged support of causes deemed to be "Communist" by the House Un-American Activities Committee

About the best literary adaptation you could ever hope for

[zetes · 9/10 · 15 April 2001]

The Long, Hot Summer is an adaptation of William Faulkner's novel The Hamlet. Now, I just happen to be one of the world's biggest Faulkner fanatics, having read all but five of his novels. I have read The Hamlet, and it is a somewhat lesser work than his grand masterpieces (The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying, Absalom, Absalom!, A Light in August, and Go Down Moses; I would also add, though they are lesser known than those five, If I Forget Thee Jerusalem and Pylon). It is more or less a novel made up of a bunch of various stories about the Snopes' family invasion into Yoknapatawpha County in the early part of the 20th Century (1920s, if I remember right; it's been a while since I've read that novel), and as such, it is quite poorly constructed. Faulkner's miraculous writing is intact, but the structure is convoluted.

The Long, Hot Summer changes most of what happens in The Hamlet, but it still ends up feeling very Faulknerian (if a little Hollywoodized, especially around the ending). The Hamlet contains a cast of several dozen townfolk and the Snopes family, a Northern family of carpetbaggers who have their eyes set on the hamlet of Frenchman's Bend. The main character in the novel is Flem Snopes. His name is changed in the film to Ben Quick, who was himself one of the original townspeople in the novel (in fact, the Quick family, although they never play a major role in any novel or even short story, pops up constantly in Faulkner's mythology). Quick is played impeccably by Paul Newman. If Flem Snopes had remained as he was written by Faulkner, Paul Newman would have been way too handsome to play him. Instead, the screenwriters,Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr., have made him more likable without losing his complexities. They do it by making Ben Quick the little boy who runs away from his barn burning father ( from the short story, one of Faulkner's most anthologized, Barn Burning). That little boy disappears without a trace in Faulkner's writings. Flem Snopes, a teenager during Barn Burning, stays by his father's side afterwards.

Will Varner remains fairly intact in the film, the most enterprising of any person in the community. He may actually have a more complex character in the film than in the novel. The literary character is more or less an opponent who is forced to deal with Flem Snopes and his family. Here, Will Varner meets a man who reminds him too much of himself in Ben Quick. The filmic Varner has a rather selfish desire to have grandchildren before he dies, and he tries desperately to get his two children to reproduce for him. In the novel, Will Varner has 16 children. With Orson Welles, we should expect nothing more than the best, and we get another one of his masterful performances here. Will Varner is a lot like Hank Quinlan from Touch of Evil (which was released the same year), and the complexities that Welles communicates here are equal to his Charles Foster Kane or Harry Lime.

All the other characters are basically completely changed from the novel. Eula Varner is still a sexpot, but she is no longer Will Varner's youngest daughter, but his dauther-in-law (Flem Snopes originally married her). I don't remember Jody Varner too much from the novel, but I'm pretty sure the insecurities he feels towards Ben Quick were created by the screenwriters (Will Varner never got chummy with Flem Snopes in the novel, so there would be less of a reason for the hatred of Jody). I believe Clara Varner either didn't exist in the novel, or she was much less important. She certainly wasn't the school teacher, since he fell in love with Eula Varner at 13 and ultimately had to resign because of his lust, and then one of the Snopeses taught, I think I.O.

The part of this film that really gives it power is the amazing dialogue. I'm pretty sure that no direct dialogue, or at least very little, was taken from the novel. It was all created by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr. It is absolutely poetic. I don't think that there is much dialogue in the novel. Faulkner rather likes to tell his stories silent for the most part. Also, if you are a Faulkner fan, or a fan of this novel in particular, keep your eyes open for echoes of other novels or of things that have dropped out here. There is the sewing machine salesman crack when Ben Quick is approaching Varner's mansion (a joke about the salesman Ratliffe, who provides a majority of The Hamlet's point of view), the hint at Absalom, Absalom! (when one of Varner's horses foals near the end), and the hint at A Light in August (the fire in the distance, the townspeople moving towards it). All in all, The Long, Hot Summer is a masterpiece. It is a beautiful, passionate, and intelligent film, and the best literary adaptation of which I am aware, or maybe only second to The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

Frettin' and begettin' in long-ago Mississippi

[moonspinner55 · 6/10 · 7 July 2007]

Paul Newman as a drifter stud, Joanne Woodward as a 23-year-old spinster (!), and Orson Welles as a rich blow-hard are the main treats of this adaptation of two William Faulkner short stories concerning boyish troublemaker who arrives in small river-front town and immediately moves up the ladder to success (he ain't named Ben Quick for nothing!). Newman attempts to woo "old maid" Woodward while working for her wealthy father, who has the entire town under his thumb. Welles, looking like Jackie Gleason and enjoyably hamming it up, is a lot of fun, yet the most interesting relationship in the film is between Newman and Welles' son, Anthony Franciosa, who feels his position in the family is being usurped by an outsider (it is!). Some of the writing is unnecessarily flowery, particularly with Lee Remick in the beginning, but the characters do become stronger in the second act, although the plot never thickens beyond your standard radio play of the day. **1/2 from ****

Flawed Southern saga

[Maverick1962 · 8/10 · 8 August 2022]

I've always loved a recording I have by Gordon MacRae of The Long Hot Summer, not knowing it was sung over the titles in this movie by Jimmie Rogers. Good songs always add to a movie I've always thought and this romantic drama gets a boost from this lovely melody. Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward married either here or shortly after and went on to collaborate on many other movies. This must be one of the best although as I say, it is flawed. Mainly because Newman's Ben Quick couldn't really have taken on all the things he gets to do here in the space of just a few days.

Nevertheless I loved this movie and the stellar cast that included Lee Remick as Joanne's sister in law, Tony Franciosa as her disturbed brother, Orson Welles as their dominant bullying father, Angela Lansbury as Welles' girlfriend and Richard Anderson as Joanne's boy friend. Beautifully shot and superbly directed by Martin Ritt, the movies just sparkles thanks to these actors.

Over-talkative and dull!

[JohnHowardReid · 6/10 · 15 July 2017]

Producer: Jerry Wald. Copyright 1958 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening simultaneously at the Fine Arts and the Mayfair: 3 April 1958. U.S. release: March 1958. U.K. release: 8 June 1958. Australian release: 12 June 1958. Sydney opening at the Regent. 10,507 feet. 116 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: Mississippian Ben Quick, like his late father, is reputed to be a quick-tempered man who settles his scores by barn-burning. As such, young Quick must constantly be one step ahead of his unsavory reputation. He arrives in Frenchman's Creek, a sleepy small town ruled over with an iron hand by bulbous Will Varner, a man who has easily cowed his weak-willed son Jody, but not his frustrated, spinsterish daughter Clara. Quick hires on as a sharecropper to Varner, the latter discovering after assorted clashes of will with the virile farmer that Quick might just well be the best man to wed Clara and inherit the vast Varner holdings. Meanwhile, Clara, long since tired of coping with her mother-dominated fiancé, Alan Stewart, finds herself attracted to Quick, but refuses to allow her father to railroad her into a hasty marriage with the brash upstart. She has her pride.

NOTES: Paul Newman's first film with director Martin Ritt and his first with soon wife-to-be Joanne Woodward. Joanne was nominated for the year's Best Actress award, losing to Susan Hayward in "I Want To Live!" Paul Newman was declared the year's Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival. The movie rated Number 8 in the Film Daily's annual poll of American film critics. Other "Ten Best" inclusions are: Number 4, New York Daily News; Number 4, National Board of Review; Number 10, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; tied for number 10, Filmfacts composite list. Also included in the New York Journal American's "Ten Best" alphabetical list.

COMMENT: "The Long Hot Summer" is a long, long film and despite all its awards, a dull, dull, dull one at that, with some of the ripest overacting of some of the thinnest, least interesting and totally non-involving material. Hardly anything happens but that the characters stand around and talk, talk, talk.

Orson Welles, it's true, stands out from the crowd. He tries a slight variation. Instead of talking away, just articulating his lines, he rants, but in such a mumbled voice it is sometimes hard to catch half of what he is actually saying — not that it matters, since what he is going on about is of no interest anyhow. Newman just pours on the charm, Woodward makes with the neuroses, Anderson is a stiff dummy, Franciosa flutters and fidgets. Lee Remick has a small, totally unimportant role. At one stage when she tells Franciosa to get himself another interest, the movie looks like maturing into something but absolutely nothing comes of it.

The script is actually like one of those soap operas in which the characters snap at each other for 90 minutes and then simply because time is up, walk away smilingly arm-in-arm. The story is not only dull and unbelievable, it doesn't make sense. Marty Ritt's ultra dull, extremely pedestrian direction doesn't help either.

Technically the film falls short too — the photography is fuzzy, special effects obviously contrived and pickup shots poorly integrated, film editing sluggish. The pace is slow. In fact, the film is a bore in just about every department. Even a bit of location work cannot excite much interest.

Debut for legendary screen team

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 15 April 2007]

The Long Hot Summer is chiefly noted for the fact that Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward made their joint cinematic debut in this film. One of Hollywood's best personal and professional partnerships, Joanne had won a Best Actress Oscar for The Three Faces of Eve the year before and it took Paul thirty more years to match it for their mantelpiece in The Color of Money.

Based on some William Faulkner short stories, The Long Hot Summer commences when Joanne Woodward and Lee Remick, daughter and daughter-in-law of local patriarch Orson Welles give drifter Paul Newman a lift into town. Woodward's a repressed school teacher and Welles despairs of her finding a suitable match.

Because he started dirt poor and worked his way up to the top, Welles takes a liking to Newman and pushes, a little too hard for Newman and Woodward to team up. That's not sitting real well with Anthony Franciosa who is Welles's son and sees Newman displacing him in the family pecking order.

In fact my favorite in the film is Franciosa, he usually is in any film he's in. When he's on the screen, you don't pay attention to anyone else, not even Orson Welles.

Welles borrows a bit from Tennessee Williams's Big Daddy Pollitt from the Paul Newman film the year before, Cat On a Hot Tin Roof. His Will Varner though is a bit softer around the edges, also lends itself more easily to caricature. I think the creators of The Dukes of Hazzard used Welles in The Long Hot Summer as their model for Boss Hogg.

In fact it's interesting to see the contrast in The Long Hot Summer and Cat On a Hot Tin Roof. It's obvious to me that William Faulkner liked the people of Mississippi a whole lot more than the southerners that are in Tennessee Williams's work.

Almost fifty years later, The Long Hot Summer is still enjoyable viewing and still may be the best of Paul and Joanne's joint ventures.

Well acted but bloodless

[eerwicker · 6/10 · 17 August 2019]

Movie makers never got properly to grips with Faulkner's stories, and this time around his southern gothic plays out like a soap (always a danger when it comes to family sagas).

It's a shame because some of the performances are top drawer. If you want proof of Paul Newman's star quality, you might as well start here with his feral, beautiful, brooding turn as the upstart outsider who rocks up on local top dog Orson Welles' well-tended doorstop. Welles in turn plays a bitter man gone to seed, possibly drawing from life, but if at times he's unintelligible and gave his director and fellow cast members hell, he's compelling to watch. Joanne Woodward and Lee Remmick do fine work as women suffering from being caged in a small, hidebound world they are, respectively, too damn clever or too damn hot for.

But when the moments of high drama come it doesn't feel like there's all that much at stake. In Faulkner's books, worlds are about to end, dynasties are crumbling, a civilisation is rotting from within or has already died inside; racial tensions and civil war and bad family secrets are turning society and individuals apart, men teeter on the brink of madness. In this film, someone may or may not get married. Someone else might or might not get to keep a job in a local store. And it's all tied up with the lamest neat resolution since Howard Hawks copped out on the ending to Red River. It looks nice and there's some fine dialogue, but this stuff needs sweat on its skin and dirt under its nails.

Great talent wasted in butchered version of Faulkner

[ken_gewertz · 3/10 · 15 December 2004]

A great cast, a fine director, and an opulent production cannot save this movie from its preposterous script. The veteran writing team of Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank must have been under tremendous pressure to soften some of Faulkner's themes, because it looks as if they threw his novel "The Hamlet" into a blender and then reassembled the pieces, adding Hollywood clichés by the handful to thoroughly re-familiarize the story. Thus we have the addition of the schoolteacher daughter Clara (Joanne Woodward)with hair in a tight bun who melts when Paul Newman kisses her. There's the contrast between the crude stud (Newman) and his sickly aristocratic rival, Richard Anderson, a motif that hearkens back to Bogart and Leslie Howard in "The Petrified Forest." The casting here is a little strange since Anderson is 6'4" to Newman's 5'9". Then there's the two rivals bidding on Clara's box lunch, a scene that borrows so heavily on "Oklahoma!" that you feel you've somehow stumbled into another movie. But what the hell, Oklahoma's not too far from Mississippi. They do that sort of thing all the time down there, don't they? All of this pales alongside the grimly happy endings that are slapped onto all the dark, Southern-Gothic story lines. Newman sheds tears remembering his terrible childhood, which softens Woodward's heart, and suddenly they are deliriously in love and ready to give Papa Varner the grandchildren he craves. After sadistically taunting and belittling his son Jody throughout the movie, Orson Welles as patriarch Will Varner suddenly forgives and embraces him because he set a fire and tried to burn his father alive! And Will finally gives in and agrees to marry his ditsy mistress Angela Lansbury, uttering the memorable final line, "I like life! I think I may just live forever." Which, I suppose, is what the Hollywood guardians of the national psyche imagined we all needed to hear back there in the last years of the Eisenhower era.

A masterpiece of fluff

[hbs · 27 June 1999]

This is one of the great guilty pleasure movies. Orson Welles, Paul Newman, and Joanne Woodward are all wonderful, and the supporting cast is just fine. The plot is delightfully incoherent, and everyone gets a chance to chew on the scenery. As a big fan of Faulkner, I find the way the screenwriters have jumbled together characters, themes and episodes from various books especially entertaining (although the sensibilities of the characters are more Tennessee Williams, or Tennessee Tuxedo even, than Faulkner, which just adds to the pleasure).

The producer was Jerry Wald, and this has the look and feel that is (at least to me) characteristic of his movies.

Has as much to do with Faulkner as pigs have to do with flying

[angelofvic · 6/10 · 3 July 2008]

William Faulkner must have cringed if he got to view this Hollywood concoction presumably "based" on some of his stories. The silly and mish-mash plot has little or nothing to do with Faulkner other than a snippet here and there from many of his disparate and distinct novels and short stories, thrown together willy-nilly and then left to devolve into a story only Hollywood could dream up.

Please don't blame Faulkner for the silly story and plot, and if you've never read Faulkner, I'll let you know right now that this movie is the very antithesis of his writings.

That said, let's look at what makes the movie worth watching: Paul Newman. Newman's rebellious persona, steely gaze, gritty backbone, undeniable charm, gorgeous blue eyes, and disarming smile are all put to exquisite use here, and he's simply a pleasure to watch, from start to finish. Joanne Woodward plays opposite him in what must seem in retrospect an inside joke for the both of them, as they were finally able to be married right after filming the movie. Woodward plays an attractive but uptight yet strong-minded schoolteacher, and holds her own with Newman, and occasionally breaks out of her mold to dress and look quite appealing. All in all, the two of them make the movie watchable, even enjoyable.

The rest of the cast and characters (and the aforementioned plot) are pretty off-putting, though. Even Orson Welles is fairly uninteresting and is not his usually handsome magnetic self. Perhaps he should have dispensed with the huge fake nose he wore.

Do watch the movie, though, for Newman -- for Newman and Woodward. They really make a fine pair, and Newman is stupendous.

Entering Frenchman's Bend

[richardchatten · 9/10 · 28 May 2022]

Great title, great film. With all those accents, even if the cast of Martin Ritt's first film in colour were talking in whispers they'd sound as if they're hamming. Probably the best performance comes from an appealing young Joanne Woodward, although they all naturally loose hands down to the maestro Orson Welles in dominating the screen (even whose clothes - including a bright red dressing gown initialled with a big letter 'V' and a top pocket full of cigars - look as if they're overacting).

Paul Newman's Bod!

[lrallendc · 6/10 · 12 September 2009]

I always thought this movie was a pale version of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" based on a much better Tennessee Williams play. But it was great to see Newman and Woodward together. Angela Lansbury was excellent in every move she has always been in. The cast is excellent and, I am from the South. and the accents are very authentic. I always thought Orson Welles was overrated as a director and actor -- this movie proves it. I think Hollywood must have been hurting when Welles was around. But, lemme tell you. Paul Newman with his shirt off in this little movie was worth the price of admission. Finally, while I always liked Woodward, she was no Liz Taylor!

"Summertime, and the livin' is easy" Or The Long, Hot Summer with Young Hot Paul Newman

[Galina_movie_fan · 8/10 · 25 May 2007]

It was the time when they called him a young new star and it was his breakthrough to stardom, fame, and success. The moment Paul Newman's Ben Quick, rebellious and irresistible drifter enters a rural Mississippi town of Frenchman's Bend to stir up its women, puzzle its men and to catch the interest of Big Daddy Varner (Orson Welles, the ferocious force of nature seemed to have fun playing Will Varner and experimenting with make-up) the town richest and most powerful redneck who perhaps sees in Ben a lot of himself, the screen legend was born.

"The Long, Hot Summer" (1958) is based on five short stories and a novel by one of the America's greatest novelists and storytellers, the expert of Southern life, William Faulkner, and the film is a steamy, moving, often funny (perhaps, unintentionally) tale of lust, greed, jealousy, and larger than life personalities and their clashes. I guess I need to read more Faulkner's stories because I was surprised to see the film that is based on the works of the writer known for his heavy use of such sophisticated literary techniques as symbolism, allegory, and especially stream of consciousness, the film which linear narrative is easy to follow from the third person point-of-view.

Besides Paul Newman who was as talented as he was hot, his off- screen wife-to-be Joanna Woodward shines as Clara Varner, Will's intelligent, thinking daughter, the teacher in a local school whom her father wants to see married (and not just wants but takes certain steps that Clara does not like and feels offended by). The film was the first of many Newman's and Woodward's collaboration and it is not easy to recall the greater chemistry between two leads. Orson Welles dominates the screen in his every scene as expected. 21-years-old Lee Remick (Eula, Varner's daughter-in-law, sexy and innocent woman-child), Anthony Franciosa (Jody, Varner's overlooked and jealous son), and Angela Lansbury (Minnie, the woman who has her own plans about future that include a widower Varner in them) all add to the sizzling fun that "The Long Hot Summer" is.

Faulkner Lite

[bob998 · 7/10 · 27 January 2013]

When I was young, I read The Sound and the Fury and a couple of novellas (Old Man, The Bear) by Faulkner. I conceived a dislike of this man's writing that has stayed with me until this day. His tortured prose makes that of late Henry James a pleasure to read in comparison. Faulkner writes as though he were telling Homeric legends, but without the clarity and simplicity of Homer. The script fashioned by Ravetch and Frank out of various stories has the great benefit of humor and a kind of easy sexuality that is very enjoyable to watch.

The Jody Varner character makes no sense--how can he be virile with Eula and impotent with his father? Franciosa seems very unsure of himself in every scene. Ben Quick and Clara have such a great time together: Newman and Woodward are establishing a rapport that would last 50 years. The story needed a convincing patriarch, and there was no-one better than Orson Welles to play Varner. I don't care if his make up was shoddy or his accent virtually incomprehensible, he is wonderful. I could have given it 10, had there not been inconsistencies of plot and characterization.

The mythic South

[dlamb-5 · 9/10 · 2 July 2005]

The Long, Hot Summer is what movies are all about. Newman is so sexy it's no wonder that Agnes pleads with her friend Clara not to send this handsome stranger away too fast, even if he's a sewing machine salesman. Joanne Newman as Clara looks beautiful with her blonde hair pulled back tight and a little half twist to her hips when she walks.

Although some reviewers have said this film is more Tennesse Williams than Faulkner, Clara does not resemble Williams' tragic heroines who are mired in the past. She is mightily tempted by Newman's Ben Quick, the "modern man," who advises her than the world is ruled by the meat-eaters. It is Clara who makes their first tryst possible and though it ends with angry words, it is obvious these two are meant for each other.

Will Varner, played over-the-top by Orson Welles, is Clara's father. He owns everything in town and figures his holdings extend to his daughter. He wants sons to carry on his name and Ben Quick looks like the man for his Clara.

The movie creates a town that feels as though it will live on after the film is over and people who relate to each other as if there was no camera present. Granted it's not the real South but the mythic South. Sex goes hand in hand with the dust and the heat. Aristocratic blood is running thin. A handsome "bull" of a stranger appears to liven things up. Newman swings his battered old suitcase with the confidence of a man who knows he'll soon be sleeping on satin sheets.

a sultry and self-pleasing melodrama

[lasttimeisaw · 6/10 · 22 June 2014]

A Pride and Prejudice love story sited in Mississippi in the 1940s, can only cover half of this film's hub, directed by the famous "Orson tamer" Martin Ritt (MURPHY'S ROMANCE, 7/10), the other half is about a rough-diamond father's eagerness to marry off his maiden daughter and give an impetus to his incompetent son. The story impresses with a contingent proposition of provincial male chauvinism and women's self-liberated modern viewing, but a gratifying finale dents its eloquence and leaves a sour taste of bathos.

First of all, it is the first-collaboration of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward couple, crowned a BEST ACTOR trophy for Newman in Cannes and the follow-up to Woodward Oscar-winning role in THE THREE FACES OF EVE (1957, 7/10), thus, a chief delightfulness hinges on their chemistry in their battle of wits as a charming but reckless suitor Ben Quick (Newman), an infamous barn- burner, and the demure but strong-mined rich lass Clara Varner (Woodard), and as we expected, the sparkle is tantalizingly ignited through their first scene together, Clara is driving with her sister-in-law Eula (the young and chirpy Lee Remick), who is talking to the hitchhiker Ben in quick fire ebullience, yet, Ben's focus is solely on Clara, whose dismissive attitude intrigues him and for men in a motion picture, this is the one worth conquering.

Soon here comes the local big enchilada, Will Varner (Clara's father, a port Orson Welles) is back from hospital, resolves to find a suitor for Clara, he shapes a proxy father-and-son relationship with Ben, which instigate the rancor from his own son Jody (Franciosa), Will is a leading role for certain (strangely Welles is fourth billed), at the age of 43, Welles has to act out an old man of 61, with a little help from a senior makeup, a fake nose and his authentic stoutness, anyhow, it is a convincing job, although one should be prepared not to be shocked during his first entrance.

Adapted from William Faulkner's novel, The Hamlet amalgamating with his stories Barn Burning and The Spotted Horses, the film at its best when spinning out a poor-boy-rich-girl romance with perky momentum, and at its worst, when the patriarchal arrogance pervading with its stale stench of prejudices diminish women's worth without any hint of redemption. It might be a rural leaning reflecting the reality then, but take the example of the excruciatingly designed role of Minnie Littlejojn (Lansbury), it is an agony of miscast and a smug snide on the gender-biased gold-diggers, not a sign for its future audience.

Moreover, a more mystifying evasion is the ambiguity belies the true color of the mommy boy Alan Stewart (Anderson), for whom a wishful-thinking Clara falls for 6 years. Lastly, the set piece where Ben dupes Jody into digging ancient coins is a far-fetched plot device never rings plausible under any circumstances.

Great 50's classic.

[vizfam · 10/10 · 1 August 2006]

I want Varners and more Varners. This is just one quote from one of the best written movies I have ever seen. The dialog is superb, in a class with such greats as "His gal Friday and 'All about Eve". Paul Neuman and Joanne Woodward are magical together. I don't think I have every seen a couple with such chemistry on the screen together. The supporting cast is also wonderful. Lee Remick is in the flower of her youth and beauty. Orson Well is crude and delicious, you may have to put on the dialog mode when he speaks. Tony Franciosa is pathetic in crying out for his fathers love. Some of the structure is a little dated and hollywoodish, but it is the script deliver by Neuman and Woodward that carries the show. It should be required viewing for all wantabe writers, or maybe not. The movie might just discourage them from pursuing that kind of a career.

Semi-camp melodrama, but entertaining; watch it for the cast

[lee-96696 · 6/10 · 20 August 2023]

The Long, Hot Summer is a southern fried story of grudges, family dysfunction, old money vs new money, steamy (for 1959) sex, all seasoned with a dollop of mob violence and arson. It's as if author Grace Metalious (Peyton Place) had a fevered, intoxicated collaboration with William Faulkner (whose short stories this movie is based on), and Tennessee Williams. It's melodrama and southern hot-bloodedness on steroids, almost a camp classic.

The film centers on a young Mississippi redneck Ben Quick (a young, studly Paul Newman) who has a reputation for resolving disputes by setting fire to the property of his enemies. He saunters into Frenchman's Bend one day, a small town on the Mississippi River. The place is more or less controlled by Will Varner (Orson Welles), an obese Big Daddy type who runs things like a feudal baron.

He sees his one son, handsome Jody (Anthony Franciosa) as hopelessly weak, his school teacher 23-year old daughter Clara (Joanne Woodward) as an old maid. Daddy disapproves of her blue-blooded, mama's boy paramour who never gets around to asking her to marry him. Is he gay? There is the faintest of hints here. A new money / old money dichotomy is certainly apparent. That may be a Faulkner thing.

Will Varner sees a lot of himself in newcomer Ben, a self-made, alpha-male, con-artist and manipulator. They spend much of the movie trying to outdo each other in mendacity and connivance. Will is especially intent on pushing Ben and Clara together, promising the virile, go-getter Ben money and land if he marries her and furthers the Varner bloodline. Clara despises Ben at first, but similar to what happens in modern day romcoms, gradually acknowledges an attraction.

The story unfolds quickly, the script darting from one confrontation to another. Yes, plot holes aplenty, but watchable and entertaining. The accents are certainly out there. Maybe that is what they actually sounded like in Mississippi in 1958? I grew up in the rural south and needed subtitles for most of the movie. Joanne Woodward has an especially funny take on southern dialect.

I'm giving this movie a 6-rating. Plusses for the amazing cast - Angel Lansbury even has a small, silly, tangential role - and steamy, jazzy soundtrack, set design, and cinematography. Minuses for the over wrought dialog and hurry-up / wrap-it-up ending which makes no sense whatsoever.

A Sympathetic Disappointment

[TheRationalist · 5/10 · 28 January 2008]

Considering the cast and the fine Faulkner story, I was expecting wonderful things from this movie, maybe another Splendor in the Grass, but I felt badly let down.

The script was, in a word, wretched. There were unmotivated strong emotions, stilted dialog, not helped by poorly faked Southern accents from players who are not not native Southerners, loaded with plot holes and murky relationships that seemed to go up and down like the stock market.

The cast that looked so good on paper didn't cut it. Anthony Franciosa looked like high school senior play. Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, who went on to Academy Award performances later, were just over the top and struggling with bad dialog in this one. I thought Orson Welles and Angela Lansbury were was excellent playing off each other, but their relationship in a subplot was undefined and didn't advance the story at all.

My family, with different generations, watched the movie at home on DVD with me and their reaction was similar to mine: a sympathetic disappointment in the work of some of our favorite players.