Tuesday, May 26, 2009

The Long Hot Summer


The Long Hot Summer is a movie which was released way back in 1958, but even so it is really very enjoyable today. The film is based on stories by William Faulkner, primarily "The Hamlet."

When watching many old movies the cars are what dates the movie, and here there are plenty cars from that era including a ’56 Chevy, a Jeep, and a classic Mercury rag top which accurately date it. Some famous actors play in it, including Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Orson Wells, and Angela Lansbury. It was entered into the 1958 Cannes Film Festival, where Paul Newman won the award for Best Actor.

I watched this movie on DVD last night. Fifty one years later I recommend this movie highly. Really. It is not just a classic, it is also fun to watch.

This is what Wikipedia has to say about the plot:

Ben Quick (Paul Newman) hitches a ride to Frenchman's Bend, Mississippi, from Clara (Joanne Woodward) and Eula Varner (Lee Remick). Clara's father and Eula's father-in-law is Will Varner (Orson Welles), the domineering owner of most of the town. Will sees in the brash newcomer a younger version of himself, ruthless and ambitious. These qualities are, in Will's opinion, sadly lacking in his only son Jody (Anthony Franciosa).
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He is also disappointed with his schoolteacher daughter. Clara's boyfriend, genteel Southern blue blood Alan Stewart (
Richard Anderson), is a mama's boy, not the kind of son-in-law Will wants. He schemes to push his daughter and Ben together, to try to bring fresh, virile blood into the family. She, however, is (seemingly) unimpressed with the crude, if magnetic upstart. He at first is attracted by the wealth Will offers, but eventually comes to see something in her beyond that.
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Meanwhile, widower Will's longtime mistress, Minnie Littlejohn (
Angela Lansbury), is dissatisfied with her situation. All these strained relationships come to a boil during the long, hot summer.
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Jody becomes increasingly alarmed when he sees his position in the family being undermined. Ben is first made a fellow clerk in the
general store, then invited to live in the family mansion. When Jody finds Ben alone, he pulls a gun on him and tells him his body will be found downstream, but Ben talks his way out. He tells Jody about buried Civil War-era treasure he has found on some property that Will gave him, a down payment to seal their bargain over Clara. When the two men find a bag of coins, Jody is elated, thinking he might finally get out from under his father's thumb. He buys the land from Ben. Late that night, Will finds his son, still digging. After examining one of the coins, he notices that it was minted in 1910. Jody is crushed. When he later finds his father alone in their barn, he bolts the entrance and sets it on fire. However, he cannot go through with it and lets Will out. The incident brings about a reconciliation.
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Meanwhile, the fire causes trouble for Ben, who has been smeared with the reputation of his
barn-burning father. Some men assume he is the culprit and start toward him with a rope. Clara drives up and rescues him. Will later claims responsibility for accidentally starting the fire.
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The smells bring back bad memories for Ben. He tells Clara how, at the age of ten, he had to sound the warning against his father as he was about to set another fire. Out of gratitude for her saving his life, he tells her he is leaving. However, she has other plans for him, much to her father's delight.”

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