The Long, Hot Summer (1958)

Director:

Martin Ritt

Writers:

William Faulkner (stories) (novel "The Hamlet")
Irving Ravetch (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

18 May 1958 (West Germany)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Not since "Peyton Place" has a story been told so boldly!

Plot:

Ben Quick arrives in Frenchman's Bend, MS after being kicked out of another town for allegedly burning a barn for revenge...

Plot Keywords:

Arson | Mississippi | Farmer | Arranged Marriage | Confidence Man

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Paul Newman	...	Ben Quick
Joanne Woodward	...	Clara Varner
Anthony Franciosa	...	Jody Varner
Orson Welles	...	Will Varner
Lee Remick	...	Eula Varner
Angela Lansbury	...	Minnie Littlejohn
Richard Anderson	...	Alan Stewart
Sarah Marshall	...	Agnes Stewart
Mabel Albertson	...	Mrs. Stewart
J. Pat O'Malley	...	Ratliff
Bill Walker	...	Lucius (as William Walker)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Robert Adler	...	Ambulance driver (uncredited)
Val Avery	...	Wilk (uncredited)
Jim Brandt	...	Linus Olds (uncredited)
Brian Corcoran	...	Harry Peabody (uncredited)
Lee Erickson	...	Tom Shortly (uncredited)
Byron Foulger	...	Harris (uncredited)
Eugene Jackson	...	Waiter (uncredited)
I. Stanford Jolley	...	Houston (uncredited)
Nicholas King	...	John Fisher (uncredited)
Terry Rangno	...	Pete Armistead (uncredited)
Ralph Reed	...	J.V. Bookright (uncredited)
Victor Rodman	...	Justice of the Peace (uncredited)
Pat Rosemond	...	Girl (uncredited)
Helen Wallace	...	(uncredited)
Steve Widders	...	Buddy Peabody (uncredited)

Directed by
Martin Ritt

Writing credits
William Faulkner		(stories "Barn Burning" and "The Spotted Horses") (novel "The Hamlet")
Irving Ravetch		(screenplay) and
Harriet Frank Jr.		(screenplay)

Produced by
Jerry Wald	....	producer

Original Music by
Alex North

Cinematography by
Joseph LaShelle		(director of photography) (as Joseph La Shelle)

Film Editing by
Louis R. Loeffler

Art Direction by
Maurice Ransford
Lyle R. Wheeler

Set Decoration by
Eli Benneche
Walter M. Scott

Costume Design by
Adele Palmer

Makeup Department
Ben Nye	....	makeup artist
Helen Turpin	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Arthur Lueker	....	unit production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Eli Dunn	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Harry M. Leonard	....	sound
E. Clayton Ward	....	sound

Special Effects by
L.B. Abbott	....	special photographic effects

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Charles Le Maire	....	executive wardrobe designer (as Charles LeMaire)

Editorial Department
Leonard Doss	....	color consultant

Music Department
Lionel Newman	....	conductor

Other crew
Curtis Harrington	....	assistant to producer (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Jerry Wald Productions

Distributors

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1958) (USA) (theatrical)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1963) (USA) (TV) (original airing) (pan/scan)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (199?) (USA) (VHS) (pan/scan)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2003) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

115 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (35 mm magnetic prints) (Westrex Recording System) | Mono (35 mm optical prints)

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #18811) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Iceland:L | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Chile:14 | Finland:S | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Asphodel Plantation - 4626 Highway 68, Jackson, Louisiana, USA

Company:

Jerry Wald Productions

Trivia:

Orson Welles always wore a fake nose when he worked, so when he would sweat on this film, his fake nose would slip. Make-up people had to keep applying material to keep the fake nose from falling.

Quotes:

Eula: Why, you sound free as a bird. Don't he sound free as a bird?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Important c'est d'aimer, L' (1975)

Soundtrack:

The Long, Hot Summer

Debut for legendary screen team

The Long Hot Summer is chiefly noted for the fact that Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward made their joint cinematic debut in this film. One of Hollywood's best personal and professional partnerships, Joanne had won a Best Actress Oscar for The Three Faces of Eve the year before and it took Paul thirty more years to match it for their mantelpiece in The Color of Money.

Based on some William Faulkner short stories, The Long Hot Summer commences when Joanne Woodward and Lee Remick, daughter and daughter-in-law of local patriarch Orson Welles give drifter Paul Newman a lift into town. Woodward's a repressed school teacher and Welles despairs of her finding a suitable match.

Because he started dirt poor and worked his way up to the top, Welles takes a liking to Newman and pushes, a little too hard for Newman and Woodward to team up. That's not sitting real well with Anthony Franciosa who is Welles's son and sees Newman displacing him in the family pecking order.

In fact my favorite in the film is Franciosa, he usually is in any film he's in. When he's on the screen, you don't pay attention to anyone else, not even Orson Welles.

Welles borrows a bit from Tennessee Williams's Big Daddy Pollitt from the Paul Newman film the year before, Cat On a Hot Tin Roof. His Will Varner though is a bit softer around the edges, also lends itself more easily to caricature. I think the creators of The Dukes of Hazzard used Welles in The Long Hot Summer as their model for Boss Hogg.

In fact it's interesting to see the contrast in The Long Hot Summer and Cat On a Hot Tin Roof. It's obvious to me that William Faulkner liked the people of Mississippi a whole lot more than the southerners that are in Tennessee Williams's work.

Almost fifty years later, The Long Hot Summer is still enjoyable viewing and still may be the best of Paul and Joanne's joint ventures.