Otto Preminger followed the remarkable "Bunny Lake is Missing" (1965) with the ridiculous "Hurry Sundown" (1967), a Tennessee Williamsesque drama in which wealthy landowners conspire to scam poor farmers of their land.
Elia Kazan directed "Wild River" in 1960, a somewhat sophisticated look at class, race and property in the American South. "Sundown" aims to do something similar, but the result is overblown, condescending and dull. Filled with unnecessary subplots, and marred by a shapeless script, tasteless sexual innuendos and bad casting (actor Michael Caine's American accent is atrocious), the film was based on a novel by K. B. Gilden. This novel was widely ridiculed, but Preminger was determined to turn it into gold. With this aim he hired screenwriter Horton Foote, who'd scripted "To Kill a Mockingbird" some years earlier. No luck. Both Foote and Preminger would later admit to have been dissatisfied with the film's ultimate screenplay.
"Hurry Sundown" stars Jane Fonda as a wealthy Southern woman and Burgess Meredith as a mean, racist judge. Knowingly melodramatic, both seem to be the only actors in Preminger's production to understand the tone required of such material. Whilst everyone bathes in sanctimony, Fonda and Burgess embrace trash.
5/10 – Worth one viewing.
Elia Kazan directed "Wild River" in 1960, a somewhat sophisticated look at class, race and property in the American South. "Sundown" aims to do something similar, but the result is overblown, condescending and dull. Filled with unnecessary subplots, and marred by a shapeless script, tasteless sexual innuendos and bad casting (actor Michael Caine's American accent is atrocious), the film was based on a novel by K. B. Gilden. This novel was widely ridiculed, but Preminger was determined to turn it into gold. With this aim he hired screenwriter Horton Foote, who'd scripted "To Kill a Mockingbird" some years earlier. No luck. Both Foote and Preminger would later admit to have been dissatisfied with the film's ultimate screenplay.
"Hurry Sundown" stars Jane Fonda as a wealthy Southern woman and Burgess Meredith as a mean, racist judge. Knowingly melodramatic, both seem to be the only actors in Preminger's production to understand the tone required of such material. Whilst everyone bathes in sanctimony, Fonda and Burgess embrace trash.
5/10 – Worth one viewing.