The Long, Hot Summer (1958)

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1. 

   corchap

   Worth it to see Orson Welles make the first 'your mama' joke. 9 years 1 month ago
2. 

   Rohit

   Orson Welles is extremely intimidating in this one. His father-son tiff with Anthony Franciosa works as a glue for the film. 11 years 10 months ago
3. 

   Siskoid

   The star-studded The Long, Hot Summer, based on various (but linked) William Faulkner stories, follows Ben Quick, a con man type played by Paul Newman, who shows up in a small Mississippi town and immediately ingratiates himself with the rich family that runs the town. He has business with the patriarch (Orson Welles, mumbling all the way through) who in turn wants him to marry his daughter (Joanne Woodward, arguably playing the actual lead character), attracting the jealousy of the man's son (Anthony Franciosa). The cast also includes Angela Lansbury, Lee Remick, and Richard Anderson. This complex web of relationships is perhaps one only a con man could untangle. I wasn't too surprised to learn the screenplay was cobbled up from different stories because it has that feeling. We jump around story lines and incidents across Faulkner's "decaying South", and in the end wind up with a rather happier ending than I would have expected, where the movie world intrudes on the makeshift literary one. Bottom line: There are problems, but the romance (and its likable leads) and the father-son plot should satisfy. 6 years 4 months ago

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