The Long, Hot Summer (1958)

Accused barn burner and con man Ben Quick arrives in a small Mississippi town and quickly ingratiates himself with its richest family, the Varners.

Director:

Martin Ritt

Writers:

William Faulkner (stories), Irving Ravetch (screenplay),

Stars:

Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Anthony Franciosa

2 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited 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	...	Elizabeth Stewart
J. Pat O'Malley	...	Ratliff
Bill Walker	...	Lucius (as William Walker)

Storyline

Ben Quick arrives in Frenchman's Bend, MS after being kicked out of another town for allegedly burning a barn for revenge. Will Varner owns just about everything in Frenchman's Bend and he hires Ben to work in his store. Will thinks his own son, Jody, who manages the store, lacks ambition and despairs of him getting his wife, Eula, pregnant. Will thinks his daughter, Clara, a schoolteacher, will never get married. He decides that Ben Quick might make a good husband for Clara to bring some new blood into the family.

---

Plot Keywords:

barn | ambition | mississippi | ambulance | sharecropper | 

---

Taglines:

Adapted from the Sensational Novel by William Faulkner

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 May 1958 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Les feux de l'été

Filming Locations:

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

Company Credits

Production Co:

Jerry Wald Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

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

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Oscar Levant said about Producer Jerry Wald, "He suddenly became involved with Faulkner. He'd buy a Faulkner property and that turgid, incomprehensible prose was on one occasion transformed into " The Long, Hot Summer." In that picture Orson Welles played a "big daddy" type of role. Sometimes he was inaudible - Those were his best moments."

---

Quotes

Justice of the Peace: A barn-burner's the meanest, lowest creature there is.

---

Connections

Remade as The Long Hot Summer (1985)

---

Soundtracks

"The Long, Hot Summer"
Performed by Jimmie Rodgers
Written by Sammy Cahn and Alex North

User Reviews

enjoyable soaper

I saw this film again last night at an old-time movie palace, in an audience of about 2,000 people. The film, which I had seen before, was even more enjoyable then the previous times I had seen it on TV. For one thing, it has some very lovely and well executed uses of the CinemaScope frame. It shows both the dry openness of the landscape, as well as the lush extravagance of the plantation estate which belongs to Orson Welles' character. I'm not too familiar with Faulkner's stories, but the plot elements of this film flow together rather nicely, and there isn't really a dull moment in the whole picture. The only part which is still difficult for me to take, is the resolution of the conflict between Welles' and Franciosa's characters. That scene builds up to something in a matter of minutes, and then suddenly it's over. I could hear disappointment in some audience members in the theater as well, including one person who shouted "What the heck was that about?". This aside, it's still a worthwhile film to see, and the acting of Newman, Woodward, and Welles are standouts. There are also plenty of (probably unintentional) laughs to be had as well. One of the better soap opera-type films to come out of the late 1950s.