Otto Preminger really missteps with this half-hearted expose of racism in the US south shortly after the end of WWII. It's really about a money hungry land grabbing scheme and quite a bit less about racism than one would think. Michael Caine (sporting the worst southern accent imaginable) is married to wealthy Jane Fonda and wants to sell her land (and two adjacent lots) to a developer. He's stopped by farmers John Phillip Law & Robert Hooks. Despite the inflammatory issues that are raised, Preminger pulls his punches and instead of making anything as socially relevant as IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, he makes a glossy soap opera with one caricature after another paraded out. Law and Hooks are the noble poor, Caine is nearly psychotic, Burgess Meredith (as a bigoted judge) is a complete travesty and Madeline Sherwood (as his social climbing wife) comes across as community theater version of Big Mama. Dismal in the extreme and featuring what may very well be the least erotic seduction scene ever filmed (Fonda "plays" Caine's saxophone in hopes of luring him into bed). Blech! The typically large Preminger cast includes Faye Dunaway, Diahann Carroll, George Kennedy, Robert Reed, and Jim Backus.
Review of Hurry Sundown
