The Long, Hot Summer

Starring:Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Anthony Franciosa, Orson Welles, Lee Remick, Angela Lansbury, Richard Anderson, George Dunn, Sarah Marshall, Mabel Albertson, Jess Kirkpatrick, J. Pat O'Malley, Bill Walker, Terry Rangno, Robert Adler, Helen Wallace, Pat Rosemond, Jim Brandt, Victor Rodman, Eugene Jackson
Director: Martin Ritt
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Paul Newman has his glorious youthful swagger in this southern-fried melodrama, which marked his first picture with Joanne Woodward (they married after shooting ended). The script is a melange of William Faulkner stories, although it appears more under the influence of Tennessee Williams and Picnic than the Nobel Prize winner. Drifter Newman catches the eye of schoolmarm Woodward and her father, a rural Mississippi bigshot (Orson Welles). This is not one of Welles's better moments; he appears to be conducting make-up experiments. There is some enjoyable flapdoodle along the way, in the Freud-meets-Gone with the Wind manner of '50s southern cooking, but the ending is embarrassingly compromised. The same production team would leave out the box-office concessions a few years later on Hud. A studly Newman justifies this description of his character: "I wish I was Ben Quick. He's got the whole state of Mississippi to graze on." --Robert Horton

Description

Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Orson Welles, Anthony Franciosa, Lee Remick and Angela Lansbury co-star in this riveting tale of life in the Deep South. Provocative and compelling, it simmers with sexual tension, bawdy humor and a powerful clash of personalities. When Ben Quick (Newman), a suspected barnburner drifts into town, he catches the eye of Will Varner, a tyrannical, intimidating patriarch (Welles) who decides Quick is the ideal husband for his spinsterish daughter (Woodward). But once the loner moves in, the two men lock horns, drawing Varner's family into a complex web of emotions and actions that leaves all of them changed forever.

Customer Reviews:

"Summertime, and the livin' is easy" Or The Long, Hot Summer with Young Hot Paul Newman.......2007-05-25

It was the time when they called him a young new star and it was his breakthrough to stardom, fame, and success. The moment Paul Newman's Ben Quick, rebellious and irresistible drifter enters a rural Mississippi town of Frenchman's Bend to stir up its women, puzzle its men and to catch the interest of Big Daddy Varner (Orson Welles, the ferocious force of nature seemed to have fun playing Will Varner and experimenting with make-up) the town richest and most powerful redneck who perhaps sees in Ben a lot of himself, the screen legend was born.

"The Long, Hot Summer" (1958) is based on five short stories and a novel by one of the America's greatest novelists and storytellers, the expert of Southern life, William Faulkner, and the film is a steamy, moving, often funny (perhaps, unintentionally) tale of lust, greed, jealousy, and larger than life personalities and their clashes. I guess I need to read more Faulkner's stories because I was surprised to see the film that is based on the works of the writer known for his heavy use of such sophisticated literary techniques as symbolism, allegory, and especially stream of consciousness, the film which linear narrative is easy to follow from the third person point-of-view.

Besides Paul Newman who was as talented as he was hot, his off- screen wife-to-be Joanna Woodward shines as Clara Varner, Will's intelligent, thinking daughter, the teacher in a local school whom her father wants to see married (and not just wants but takes certain steps that Clara does not like and feels offended by). The film was the first of many Newman's and Woodward's collaboration and it is not easy to recall the greater chemistry between two leads. Orson Welles dominates the screen in his every scene as expected. 21-years-old Lee Remick (Eula, Varner's daughter-in-law, sexy and innocent woman-child), Anthony Franciosa (Jody, Varner's overlooked and jealous son), and Angela Lansbury (Minnie, the woman who has her own plans about future that include a widower Varner in them) all add to the sizzling fun that "The Long Hot Summer" is.

The Long Hot Summer.......2007-05-14

The original version with Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward and Orson Wells is one exceptional movie. Made in 1955-57 it is still just as rewarding to watch as it was then. A great love story and a dysfunction family that actually does have alot of love for each other. I can watch it over and over. Glad to see it in DVD format.

You can't miss with this one ........2007-03-19

This is an excellent movie . Brought me back to a time when I was young and reckless . You certainly did a marvelous job putting it on a DVD .

Thanks to the people who made it happen and Amazon for their professionalism .

Newman and Woodward - what else can you ask for?.......2007-03-09

TERRIFIC movie - Newman and Woodward sizzled. My husband and I watch this and we both think it's one of the best romantic yet gritty movies ever made. Each character/actor is a gem and the story is timeless. The only one I might like more is Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor. Same genre - great performances, great scripts, family realities.

Funny and Sexy.......2007-01-20

Great movie with witty dialogue and wonderful performances. Having read quite a bit of Faulkner in my college days, the script seems to have combined the first in the Snopes Trilogy - "The Hamlet" - with some Faulkner short stories. The script is good, but I don't recall Faulkner being much for happy endings.

DVD:

DVD

Johnny Mnemonic [1996] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

DVD: Peyton Place

Croupier - Das tödliche Spiel mit dem Glück