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THE LONG HOT SUMMER
They don't make 'em like this anymore. 1958's The Long Hot Summer is a wonderfully entertaining, old fashioned southern soap opera, that despite some dated elements, still delivers, but is most famous for introducing one of our most beloved acting teams, who also became the off screen gold standard for Hollywood marriage.
Paul Newman plays Ben Quick, a drifter with a shady past who arrives in the sleepy southern town called Frenchman's Bend, Mississippi, where he immediately gets involved with the town's wealthiest family, the Varners. Will Varner (Orson Welles), the family patriarch is an old fashioned dictator who finds in Ben the son he wish he had instead of his son Jody (Anthony Franciosa), the lazy and dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks heir apparent who finds himself competing with Ben for the keys to the kingdom which he always assumed were going to be his automatically. Will's daughter, Clara (Joanne Woodward) is a spinsterish schoolteacher who's been in a dead end relationship with a mama's boy (Richard Anderson), but finds herself fighting an attraction to Ben, not realizing daddy is already arranging their marriage behind her back.
We also meet Jody's trampy wife, Eula (Lee Remick), who has men driving buy the estate hollering her name while keeping Jody at arm's length and Minnie (Angela Lansbury), Will's devoted mistress who is tired of being a mistress and wants to be Will's wife.
This film made history by introducing the steamy onscreen chemistry created by Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward here...Newman, in particular, has rarely been this sexy and charismatic onscreen. Newman brought a similar character to the screen the same year in Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, but this character isn't as much of a downer as Brick Pollitt and Newman really seems to be enjoying himself. He and Woodward burn a hole through the movie screen with their chemistry.
Orson Welles' scenery chewing as Will Varner might be a matter of personal taste, but I thought it was appropriate for this kind of southern melodrama. Remick and Lansbury make the most of their underwritten roles and Anderson isn't blown off the screen either. Loved Mabel Alberston as his mother too, who spent most of the 1960's playing everyone's mother on prime time television. If you loved Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, you'll love this...an absolute must for Paul Newman fans.
They don't make 'em like this anymore. 1958's The Long Hot Summer is a wonderfully entertaining, old fashioned southern soap opera, that despite some dated elements, still delivers, but is most famous for introducing one of our most beloved acting teams, who also became the off screen gold standard for Hollywood marriage.
Paul Newman plays Ben Quick, a drifter with a shady past who arrives in the sleepy southern town called Frenchman's Bend, Mississippi, where he immediately gets involved with the town's wealthiest family, the Varners. Will Varner (Orson Welles), the family patriarch is an old fashioned dictator who finds in Ben the son he wish he had instead of his son Jody (Anthony Franciosa), the lazy and dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks heir apparent who finds himself competing with Ben for the keys to the kingdom which he always assumed were going to be his automatically. Will's daughter, Clara (Joanne Woodward) is a spinsterish schoolteacher who's been in a dead end relationship with a mama's boy (Richard Anderson), but finds herself fighting an attraction to Ben, not realizing daddy is already arranging their marriage behind her back.
We also meet Jody's trampy wife, Eula (Lee Remick), who has men driving buy the estate hollering her name while keeping Jody at arm's length and Minnie (Angela Lansbury), Will's devoted mistress who is tired of being a mistress and wants to be Will's wife.
This film made history by introducing the steamy onscreen chemistry created by Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward here...Newman, in particular, has rarely been this sexy and charismatic onscreen. Newman brought a similar character to the screen the same year in Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, but this character isn't as much of a downer as Brick Pollitt and Newman really seems to be enjoying himself. He and Woodward burn a hole through the movie screen with their chemistry.
Orson Welles' scenery chewing as Will Varner might be a matter of personal taste, but I thought it was appropriate for this kind of southern melodrama. Remick and Lansbury make the most of their underwritten roles and Anderson isn't blown off the screen either. Loved Mabel Alberston as his mother too, who spent most of the 1960's playing everyone's mother on prime time television. If you loved Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, you'll love this...an absolute must for Paul Newman fans.