Hot Spell (1958) User Reviews

Alma Duval

[jotix100 · 8/10 · 22 December 2007]

Alma Duval, the woman at the center of this tale, has given her all to raising her family. She has been married more than twenty years to a man that really doesn't appreciate what he has at home. Her three grown children are facing problems of their own. Yet, for all what is bad around her, Alma is the eternal optimist.

When we first meet her, she is delivering gifts to her three children that are to be given to their father later on that evening because it's his birthday. Alma hasn't trusted her kids to buy presents for their father, and instead, she has taken the initiative. But instead of being a happy occasion, the birthday celebration turns out to be an unhappy non event because the older Duval has plans to spend the night with his latest girlfriend.

Alma is heartbroken. Not only her plans for a small party for her husband has gone awry, but when she tells him about going back to a small town they have left some years ago in order to come to New Orleans, it falls on deaf ears, for he has no intention of ever going back.

There are other problems as well. Buddy, the eldest son, wants to go into a new business that shows great potential. His father flatly refuses to go along without hearing about the benefits. The daughter, Virginia, is in love with a medical student that has no serious ideas about their romance. Finally, young Billy, is a complex young man who seems to be having an identity problem. Billy, a sensitive youth, seems to be repulsed by the way his father treats him and his mother. He might be gay, for all we know; he wants to leave this unhappy environment behind and have his own life.

"Hot Spell", which is based on a novel, feels like it could have been a stage play. Not ever having heard of it, but attracted by the work of its director, Daniel Mann, and the star of the film, Shirley Booth, we were happily surprised with this tight drama, that although a bit predictable, makes a satisfying movie. Mr. Mann and Ms. Booth had collaborated before with happy results in "Come Back Little Sheba", and they show to have a happy rapport with the material that is the basis of the picture.

Anthony Quinn plays the husband that has fallen out of love with his wife a long time ago and has a roving eye for pretty young women that could be his own daughters. Earl Holliman has limited opportunities, and the same goes for Shirley MacLaine. On the other hand, Clint Kimbrough, as Billy, shows he understood the young man he is portraying. Eileen Heckart was great fun to watch as Alma's kind friend and neighbor.

This is a film to watch the talented Shirley Booth, who runs away with the picture and makes it her own.

"Keep calm, hope for the best and things will work out...."

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 9 March 2019]

"Hot Spell" is an extremely painful movie to watch....so if you are feeling depressed you might want to think about seeing something else. The story is about a family that is a total wreck due to a petulent jerk of a husband....and the wife tries desperately to convince everyone, especially herself, that she has a good life.

The story begins with Alma (Shirley Booth) running about town meeting with her grown children to organize a birthday dinner for her husband, John Henry (Anthony Quinn). It's obvious that she is desperately trying to make sure everything is perfect. Once John Henry arrives home, however, it's obvious he's a disease....an ugly, selfish jerk who enjoys destroying those around him and cheating on his wife...because it's all about him. It's truly painful seeing the man emotionally mistreat them all...and his wife, through it all, keeps a stiff upper lip and convinces herself that life with this jerk is great. Her kids, also, are part of this game...deluding each other into thinking they have a functional family. You know that sooner or later, something's gotta give.

In some ways, "Hot Spell" is similar to "Death of a Salesman". Both are about men with an inflated view of themselves and who represent the worst of fathers...a man who is emotionally stunted and selfish. Watching him and the way his family reels as a result of his whims is pretty sad to see. And, like "Death of a Salesman", an excellent portrait with some wonderful dialog....though painful throughout and draining. Because of the excellent writing and some amazing actors, it's a very good film....painful...but good. And, it's so painfully realistic...I never want to see this movie again!!

"It takes an awful lot of energy to fool yourself"...and this pretty much sums up this film.

Awesome '50s melodrama

[bellino-angelo2014 · 8/10 · 25 February 2018]

This movie was based on an unproduced play, but on stage would have been perfect because of the elements it contains: a dysfunctional family, lovers, infidelty and a hot summer.

Shirley Booth and Anthony Quinn are a married couple with Earl Holliman, Shirley MacLaine and Clint Kimbrough as their three children. But the birthday dinner for Quinn doesn't go as planned, and soon we discover why: he has an affair with a younger woman, and he fights with his elder son before the party ends. And he dies in a road accident with his lover, after fighting with his wife at home.

Although similar in some aspects to ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'', it's really unique. And the actors here shine in their roles, Quinn is perfect as a bad guy, but here is also frustrated. 1958 must have been one of Shirley MacLaine's best years in her career, because she gave two of her best performances: here and in ''Some Came Running''. Eileen Heckart is wonderful as Shirley Booth's friend that gives advices on how to act when her husband is angry.

Well, this is not a movie for fans of lighter movies, but it's good to all fans of deep movies full of twists and turns.

Shirley Booth and Shirley MacLaine, Together Again

[drednm · 12 July 2010]

HOT SPELL is a 50s family drama that seems rather tame now, but in 1958 this was hot stuff. Adapted from a novel by Lonnie Coleman and directed by Daniel Mann, this film offers terrific performances from nearly all involved.

Mann, who also directed Shirley Booth in both COME BACK LITTLE SHEBA and ABOUT MRS. LESLIE, gets a top-notch performance from his star once again. At age 60, Booth here plays a mid-40s housewife with touches of Lola from SHEBA and also Amanda Wingfield from THE GLASS MENAGERIE (which Booth starred in on TV in 1966). Her Alma here is a rather lost lady who clings to the "good old days and places" just as Carrie Watts does in THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL. She also tries to cling to her philandering husband (a vicious Anthony Quinn) and her grown-up children (Earl Holliman, Shirley MacLaine, and Clint Kimbrough). Alma still thinks that a chocolate cake and a "family supper" will bring everyone together, but everyone has already left the premises.

MacLaine plays the vulnerable daughter who is trying to snag a medical student and makes the mistake of not seeing his true motives. Holliman is the older son trying to find his way as a man, but he's constantly squashed by the brutish Quinn. Kimbrough, in the only bad performance, is the geeky younger son who just wants to be noticed. Alma's only outside connection seems to be a married friend, superbly played by Eileen Heckart.

So during a New Orleans "hot spell," the family suffers through one last series of family feuds based on lies and desire and the wanting to be away. Everyone clashes with the others' plans and nothing turns out right. Through it all Booth's Alma holds fast to the idea that if they could only escape the city and its heat and go back to some town where they were happy 20 years before that everything would be right.

There's a great scene where Heckart tries to teach Booth to be more "sophisticated" by learning to drink and smoke. And Booth has another terrific scene, a lesson in acting, where she sits on the front porch and tries to dissect her own life and where it's all gone wrong. Then tragedy strikes.

In the end, once the family ends up in that little country town, Booth realizes that you can't go home again and that her yearning for the old days has been wrong. With her grown children around her, she bravely marches toward the train that will take her back to the steaming city and the rest of her life.

Shirley Booth had a long and stellar career on the Broadway stage. Most of her stage roles went to other actresses when movie versions were made. Booth made only 4 films in the 1950s. THE MATCHMAKER was also released in 1958. In the 60s she turned to TV and had a smash hit in HAZEL, the role she is best remembered for. Yet the 4 films she starred in are a showcase for her dramatic and comedic talents.

The Greatness of Shirley Booth on Full Display

[nneprevilo · 9/10 · 27 November 2007]

Shirley Booth was one of those few actresses that could break your heart with a glance over the shoulder, a flutter of the hand, a stumbling voice.

Like Geraldine Page in "A Trip To Bountiful," Cecily Tyson in "A Woman Called Moses" or Jessica Tandy in "The Gin Game," her performance stays with you for years afterward.

I pitied her in this film - a cheating husband; children who tried their best to protect her from the truth while covering for their dad. She was a woman who lived in the past, longing to return to the happier times in her life in a small town where she first met her husband and a town, New Paris, where she had good friends and family.

Anthony Quinn was like a lot of men, who are addicted to sex and loose women. His wife, heavy-set and clinging was quite aware that she could not compete with the younger, shapelier girls her husband craved.

Eileen Heckart was wonderful as her good friend who tried to give her hope, but knew it wasn't possible, that her friend was doomed to failure with this man.

I believe this movie was from a novel by Lonnie Coleman called "Next of Kin," which I thought was a better title for the film. Hollywood had a tendency to "soup up" titles to make them sound sexy to draw in customers. They did the same thing with Joanne Woodward's "The Stripper," which was based on a Broadway play called "A Loss of Roses," clearly a much better title and probably the reason that the picture didn't get much respect.

The human emotion is really a hot spell that boils the blood.

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 1 September 2016]

Great drama comes from the human soul, and sometimes mankind can't bear to see itself so darkly portrayed. That's what release is supposed to heal, whether it be booze, sex, religion or power. We would either implode or explode if we couldn't allow ourselves to find a way out for a little bit of our stressful lives. That's what the more permissive novels, plays and movies did to show us that it was alright to be flawed, 'cause perfection really is a denial of what truly makes us tick.

The heart and soul of this story as it was with domestic dramas is the long suffering wife and mother, played here with a deeply pained soul by the versatile Shirley Booth. She's determined to keep this blue collar family, from the insecure Shirley MacLaine, ambitious but confused Earl Holliman and the introverted Clint Kimbrough. Will she be able to accept and deal with the infidelity of husband Anthony Quinn who is caught in a horrible rut and can't seem to escape.

Don't expect the wife and mother here to be like those '50s and '60s TV moms, as Booth's Alma is terribly flawed herself in spite of her supposed unconditional love. She's both grasping and naive, in denial yet dominant. Yet, she's very human and lovable even with all those flaws. When pal Fran (a terrific Eileen Heckart) is around, she really does allow herself to come out of her shell if what she has obviously been brainwashed to think what a wife and mother must be. It's obvious that these two need some space, and both Booth and Quinn really bring depth to their characters.

You can see a lot of elements from other serious dramas of the day. Writers like Hemingway, Inge, O'Neill, Williams and Faulkner got past the shallowness of censorship and the influences of religious organizations to write about the dark side of life. This makes no apologies for the dark souls of the lead characters, and not so surprising twists come out that being a deeper meaning to why families really struggle to not only make ends meet but to come out of life without hating each other in the process.

Shirley Booth Rules!!!

[chimark-1 · 10/10 · 4 September 2006]

It's a shame Shirley Booth never got the high acclaim she deserved. She took a simple and somewhat uninspired script and made it work. The best thing about this movie is in the beginning you actually feel sorry for the Shirley Booth character, but the way Ms Booth plays the role by the end of the movie you get the feeling the character deserves what she got she is so pathetic. Nevertheless it is an excellent film SOLEY do to the outstanding acting ability of Shirley Booth. Other actors in the movie do an adequate job but it the interaction with Shirley Booth's character that makes them stand out. The cake seen is the highlight of film as her character descends into self pity

This house in New Paris.

[ulicknormanowen · 7/10 · 21 August 2022]

The film belongs to Shirley Booth , desesperately trying to save a family unit ; the first scene is revealing : she buys her children's gifts for their father's birthday ,it seems that they would never have thought of that ; she feels that time is passing her by ,and she wants to recapture a family atmosphere and thinks that she can catch something with this pathetic fishing-rod;she does not realize it's too late ("you never loved me like a woman ",says her husband ) and that to come back to that house in New Paris where they used to be happy ,at least in her mind (the final visit will make lose her illusions, but inspire something vital in her when she returns on the railroad track platform)is pointless .

The fickle husband too is aging ;his scene with one of his sons speaks volumes : when he was young -he's hardly twenty- years lasted so long ,now time moves too fast ;for the daddy (Anthony Quinn) ,it's rather a jet plane ;with middle-age lust ,the elopement with a young girl after 25 years of an apparently happy and stable marriage seems a way out ( the scene in the car in which he hams it up provides ,IMHO, the movie with its low point ).

Recalling sometimes Arthur Miller's "death of a salesman" -but not as powerful a material- , the movie should be seen for Booth's sensational portrayal.

Fantastic Acting

[HotToastyRag · 9/10 · 2 July 2017]

It's a shame that Hot Spell wasn't given a chance on the stage; the screenplay was based off an unproduced play. The script is fantastic. Lonnie Coleman's work would have been wonderful in front of a live audience. All the elements to a great play are present: a dysfunctional family, infidelity, tragedy, young lovers, and of course, a hot, Southern summer.

In Hot Spell, Shirley Booth is preparing a birthday dinner for her husband Anthony Quinn. She's baked a chocolate cake, bought presents for each of her three children to give him, and takes lessons from her neighbor and friend Eileen Heckart on how to turn her husband's head. The audience can see the writing on the wall from the opening scene, and the tragedy squeezes pity for her out of every pore. The family dinner does not go as she planned. Quinn is having an affair with another woman, as we find out in the opening scene. He fights at the dinner table with his son and leaves the house to meet his mistress before the cake is cut.

As depressing as the story is, it really is a quintessential play, so it's expected to be sad. The story is great, but the acting is where the film really shines. Everyone does a spectacular job, but for some reason, this film was completely ignored by the 1959 awards season. Booth is heartbreaking and incredibly easy to root for. Anyone watching her denial of her husband's affair will cry in sympathy. Quinn is fantastic. It would be easy to play his character as merely "the bad guy" but he gives so many layers to his performance, showing the audience his frustration and deep feelings. Shirley MacLaine must have been on a roll in 1958; this same year she gave a career-best performance in Some Came Running, and in Hot Spell, she's truly heartbreaking. Any girl who's ever been in love will cry alongside her and feel her humiliation deeply.

Those who like to go to the theater will be in a position to appreciate Hot Spell. If you like lighter films, you probably won't like it, but for those who aren't faint of heart, it's a very good movie.

Timelesd

[antoinphillips · 5/10 · 19 January 2021]

Unforfilled husband,wife with no self esteem or sense of self. Daughter with no strong female Roll model, shy sensative son(probably has sexual identity issues) son with no encouragement or apprication! We still and always will see this in our families! Good movie!

Dysfunctional Delight

[bjon1452 · 9/10 · 15 July 2017]

"Hot Spell" is probably Shirley Booth's next to her greatest film, the greatest being "Come Back, Little Sheba. Synopses put aside, the A- List cast shines, along with the story line. It takes you directly to, and into, a dysfunctional family, the Matriarch who desperately tries to keep everything "just fine," the Patriarch who's going through a midlife crisis and "plays around, and the three children with young adult and teen angst the latter defining their personae. Each scene intertwines with the other and tightens up the script marvelously. It's all realistic, poignant and in wonderfully good order. The whole thing actually seems to put you right there as if you were part of the family. You feel their pain. Ironically, Jack Duval's character, played by Anthony Quinn, is both abhorrent and also worthy of compassion at the same time Earl Holliman's, Shirley MacLaine's and Clint Kimbrough's characters are definitely direct descendants of both of their parents. Very believable. The scene with Booth and Eileen Heckart gives just the right and timely comic relief to give the viewer a break before the next dose of drama. There's enough conflict to go around and it keeps you interested. I'd recommend this film to anyone who appreciates serious drama, either on the stage or on the screen. It's too bad it's not being distributed for movie buffs-yet. It's been hibernating for way too long.

A mediocre movie about a crazy disfunctional family &...

[brunocaronte234 · 3/10 · 11 October 2023]

...is so depressing one doesn't know if is a tragedy or a comedy. Anthony Quinn plays a no good husband & father, Shirley Booth plays a suffering wife who 'thinks' everything is 'all right'. And Quinn gets involved with a young hussy of a woman &...you guys watch it. Nice to see a young Shirley Maclaine before the 1960s classics 'The Apartment', 'The Geisha' & 'Sweet Charity'. Anthony Quinn was a great actor but I prefer him in historical films like 'Barabass' & 'Zorba the Greek', or war movies like 'Guns of Navarone'. I think he had more trouble with his wife & kids than the Nazi Germans. OK.

Good drama

[ivan-22 · 11 February 2000]

A husband is struck by mid-life crisis, torn between his obligation to family and self. He decides there must be something more to life, seeks happiness with another woman. This is the basic plot, but there are meaningful little scenes that highlight conflicts. Ordinary people, ordinary fates. No fantasy. A family of five loners clinging to each other, friendless, desperately seeking warmth and affection outside the nest. Then there is the oppressive nostalgia for the radiant past that vanished. Things seemed more meaningful back then. The future has come and gone. One is desperate to make the most of the little time one has left. One knows it's "now or never". The difference between drama and melodrama is that drama deals with real issues in a serious manner. Every scene stands on its own two feet and is not just killing time for the final twist of the plot. The emphasis is on the how, not the what. A melodrama on the other hand, hinges on some unique revelation or twist of the plot. If you know the ending there is no point to watching the movie. Movies whose ending may not be given away are invariably lousy. "Hot Spell" is definitely not a melodrama.

Shirley Booth Shines in this Southern Melodrama

[HarlowMGM · 9/10 · 14 September 2009]

One of Shirley Booth's four starring motion pictures, HOT SPELL is the least remembered, least acclaimed of the quartet but nevertheless is a quite engrossing drama with yet another brilliant performance from it's star. Quite obviously derivative of Tennessee Williams and William Inge dramas, nevertheless the movie has much merit of it's own.

Shirley Booth stars as a New Orleans housewife who lives in denial. She has a lousy, cheating husband (Anthony Quinn) and three rather selfish, not particularly loving children in their teens and early twenties but in her eyes they are all one happy family. She does acknowledge something in amiss though and frequently pines for the days they lived in rural Louisiana in the (fictional) town of New Paris back when the children were younger. Eventually Shirley's fantasy world comes crashing down and opens her eyes not only to the present but to the past.

Shirley Booth is brilliant in this movie, her most poignant screen turn next to her Oscar-winning COME BACK LITTLE SHEBA. She also has a wonderfully comic scene though with neighbor Eileen Heckart (great performance) as a local gal who tries to loosen her up, relax and have a beer and say "hot damn". Of the three children, Earl Holliman stands out as the hardened elder son who sees his father Quinn all too clearly and hates him with a controlled passion yet fails to acknowledge his own flaws. Shirley MacLaine is not particularly good as the burgeoning floozy daughter and Anthony Quinn is a bit tiresome as pig of a husband but Shirley Booth is always worth seeing and this engrossing little drama is a fine showcase for her.

Very 50s, Very Shirley Booth

[margot · 8/10 · 19 December 2005]

I don't know whether it's Shirley Booth's uniquely pathetic acting persona, or simple typecasting, but I always mix this movie up with her other dramas from the 50s, particularly Come Back, Little Sheba. Similarly, I repeatedly misremember this movie as a scenario by William Inge. It is 50s drama at its dankest and Inge-iest, the story of a sad family who live in a frame house in nowheresville, with a Shirley Booth mother who fears losing her husband, feels guilty about not having been a showpiece of a wife, and most of all yearns for a golden past that is probably imaginary. I wonder whether the whole thing isn't really just a recombinant pastiche of TV-playhouse clichés from the early and mid -50s: not only derivative of William Inge but with a generous dose of Paddy Chayefsky and some Tennessee Williams thrown in for good measure. The people who made this film were manufacturing a product to satisfy what they perceived as a popular taste. But I wonder if anyone could have enjoyed it or recommended it to their friends. More likely they felt depressed and unclean and eager to forget the whole thing.

Duval Family Values

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 26 August 2020]

Shirley Booth made so very few big screen appearances she was certainly fortunate in her choice of roles. Primarily a stage actess, Booth got an Oscar for recreating one of her stage successes in Come Back Little Sheba. In doing Hot Spell the parts of Mrs. Delaney and Mrs. Duval are so similar her casting was a necessity.

Meet the Duvals a group of five people all related and going in different directions. Like in Come Back Little Sheba, Booth is this dowdy late 40 something wife and mother who seems to be losing all around her. Two sons Earl Holliman who just got out of the army is itching to make it big in some kind of get rich quick scheme. He's a chip off the old block and he and Anthony Quinn as the father are so much alike they butt heads constantly. Son Clint Kimbrough is a quiet sort, does a lot of reading and is at a loss with what to do for a career. Daughter Shirley MacLaine might achieve every woman's dream and marry a doctor. But it will take years for boyfriend Warren Stevens to get to that goal and MacLaine really wants to leave the nest.

All of this and Anthony Quinn who has had several affairs in his marriage now is tired of the pretense and wants to leave. Booth is totally at a loss because home and hearth mean everything to her.

Hot Spell is a well cast and well directed drama about some very ordinary people in crisis. Mainly the passion has left the Duval marriage years ago and Quinn wants out. Booth wants things the way they were. and that can never be.

Some similarities here to Death Of A Salesman as well as Come Back Little Sheba. Fans of Shirley Booth and Anthony Quinn should enjoy Hot Spell.

So will many others.

Wonderful acting...

[rosecalifornia · 10/10 · 1 July 2020]

This is a must see film.

You must Transport yourself into the 1950s era to grasp how well it was done. Staging, sets, camera, lighting all done so well it feels as if you are there in the home.

The script is real, gritty and the actors make it gut wrenching at times.

I won't go into the film description since that is summarized already. But they execute it with great skill.

A Memorable Performance by Shirley Booth

[janetw · 26 February 2002]

I saw this film about 20 years ago and never forgot it. It was a story about a devoted housewife played by Shirley Booth, doting on her unfaithful husband played by Anthony Quinn. Her children witness their father meeting with another woman and try to keep it from their mother until one day, he leaves home with the other woman only to be killed together in a car crash. His poor wife wants him to be buried in the Bayou country where they lived when they were first married, because she reminisces about how happy they were living there, only to find that when they all arrive in Louisiana with his body on the train, that the little house and scenes from her memory where they lived were very ordinary. It was just her memories that made it more than they were. I think I am telling it right from my recollection. It was a sad story of a lonely housewife living in her fantasy of a past. I wish I could find this film somewhere.

A housewife's plight unto the bitter end

[clanciai · 9/10 · 5 June 2023]

It's in the same category as those very humdrum domestic family dramas by Tennessee Williams, Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, a family sticking together beyond what's good for them, not realising they have grown dysfunctional, three children here, all grown up, a realistic boy with some sense of responsibility, a girl having her first major crush, and a younger boy, witnessing how his father runs along with a younger girl, refusing to tell his mother, while the elder son and sister already know all about it. The father finally runs off with that girl for real, and they have a traffic accident, end of story. What's left? A mother still feeling her obligation to take care of the children, they try to send her away, but she refuses to give up her care for them, overbearing parents and children too sensitive to be able to stand up to them, while the film is replenished with outstanding acting. It's difficult to see who gives the best performance here, but Anthony Quinn and Shirley Booth are both more than excellent, while Shirley MacLaine in one of her earliest roles shines through in every scene of hers. It's a very domestic drama uplifted to a considerable level by both general excellent acting and a beautiful score by Alex North.

A good movie!

[RodrigAndrisan · 8/10 · 21 June 2022]

It is worth seeing, both for the story, which is exactly like in real life, and for the quality of acting performances. All the actors are excellent, but especially Shirley Booth, who plays an extraordinary role, then the unique force called Anthony Quinn and the exceptional Shirley MacLaine.

Self-centredness - an analysis

[jatk1 · 8/10 · 16 January 2024]

If you accept self-interest as the principal motivator of behaviour, then the self-interest of others also needs to be considered - but is not always. This movie reminds me of Come Back, Little Sheba. Even Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf ? There are no arse-holes, no good guys, no bad guys. Just people who are not demons who want the best for themselves before anyone else. And love in all its manifestations. Actually, the ending is more upbeat ( this is 1950s Hollywood) than it would be later. Also , it is very well acted. Shirley Booth runs the melodrama. I remember it from years ago when I had no idea what it was about. Now, many years later, I feel confident I have a well-considered take on it- even if others might disagree. Which is fine. This type of movie is a product of its time, like a lot of the brain-dead franchise pap of today. But it was a serious attempt to look at real people who react in authentic ways.

Worth Watching for One Scene Alone

[mmitsos-1 · 11 December 2004]

I have a tape of this film that I haven't seen in about 8 years. Therefore, plot details have escaped me. But, in short, it's a rather sad tale of a small, small-town family whose patriarch, played by Anthony Quinn, has a mid-life crisis and philanders about while his sad, lonely wife, played with typical sensitivity and pity by Shirley Booth, sits at home, overlooking his transgressions. I remember enjoying the whole film, including Shirley MacLaine's turn as their daughter. However, one scene which stands out takes place between Eileen Eckhart and Shirley Booth. It's in the middle of the afternoon, and Eckhart teaches Booth how to drink in, I believe, Booth's kitchen. It is quietly HYSTERICAL, and proves how wonderful Eckhart was as an actress. This scene could have gone on another five minutes, it was just so entertaining.

Great Forgotten Gem!

[julierom · 24 July 2017]

This movie is a great Forgotten gem! Anthony Quinn is a real pig in this film and it's hard to have sympathy for him. Shirley Booth is the wife in denial who tears your heart out. Earl Holliman as the oldest son will most likely be like his father in 20 years. Shirley MacLaine as the daughter needs to be slapped into reality at times. They both give great performances. Clint Kimbrough plays the youngest son, Billy, as an effete Mam's Boy who might be having sexual orientation issues. But his performance is so outstanding as he is the only member of the cast (besides Booth) who seems to truly understand the nature of his character! Certainly Booth enables her husband and even keeps defending him, even after tragedy strikes. Her two older children are very self centered and don't help the situation. The youngest son is trying to find himself but is heartbroken when he realizes the truth about his nasty father. A great film which should be released on DVD. Great acting by all the principals (Especially Booth and Kimbrough)! Worth an hour and a half of your time!