The Long, Hot Summer

1958 film by Martin Ritt

The Long, Hot Summer is a 1958 American drama film starring Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Anthony Franciosa, and Orson Welles. It was directed by Martin Ritt, with a screenplay by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr., based in part on three works by William Faulkner: the 1931 novella "Spotted Horses", the 1939 short story "Barn Burning" and the 1940 novel The Hamlet. The title is taken from The Hamlet, as Book Three is called "The Long Summer". Some characters, as well as tone, were inspired by Tennessee Williams' 1955 play, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, a film adaptation of which– also starring Newman – was released 5 months later. The plot follows the conflicts of the Varner family after ambitious drifter Ben Quick (Newman) arrives in their small Mississippi town. Will Varner (Welles), the patriarch, has doubts about his son, Jody (Franciosa) and sees Ben as a better choice to inherit his position. Will tries to push Ben and his daughter Clara (Woodward) into marriage. Filmed in Clinton, Louisiana, the cast was composed mostly of former Actors Studio students, whom Ritt met while he was an assistant teacher to Elia Kazan. For the leading role, Warner Bros. loaned Newman to 20th Century Fox. The production was marked by conflicts between Welles and Ritt, which drew media attention. The music score was composed by Alex North and the title song, "The Long Hot Summer", written by North and Sammy Cahn, was performed by Jimmie Rodgers. The film was well received by critics but did not score significant results at the box office. Its critical success revitalized Ritt's career, after his having been blacklisted during most of the 1950s. Newman won the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival.

Ben Quick is on trial for barn burning, but since there is no evidence the judge just orders him to leave town. Ben hitches a ride to Frenchman's Bend, Mississippi, with two young women in a convertible, Clara Varner and her sister in law Eula. Clara's father, Will Varner, is the domineering owner of most of the town. Will is away, but his only son, Eula's husband Jody, agrees to let Ben become a sharecropper on a vacant farm. When Will returns from a stay in the hospital, he is furious at Jody for hiring a notorious "barn burner", but soon begins to see in Ben a younger version of himself and comes to admire his ruthlessness and ambition, qualities that Jody lacks. Will is also disappointed that his 23 year old daughter, Clara, has not married the man she has been seeing for five or six years: Alan Stewart, a genteel Southern "blue blood" and a mama's boy. Will therefore schemes to push his daughter and Ben together. However, she is openly hostile to the crude upstart. Will is determined to have his bloodline go on, so he offers to make Ben wealthy if he marries Clara. Meanwhile, Minnie Littlejohn, Will's longtime mistress, is dissatisfied with their arrangement and wants to get married. Jody becomes increasingly frustrated, seeing his position being undermined, and his marriage falters. After Ben sells some worthless wild horses for Will, he is rewarded with the job of clerk in Will's general store, alongside Jody. Will even invites him to live in the family mansion. Jody pulls a gun on Ben and threatens to kill him. Ben talks his way out by telling Jody about buried Civil War era treasure he has supposedly found on a property that Will gave him, a down payment to seal their bargain over Clara. Jody starts digging and finds a bag of coins. He is elated, thinking he might finally be able to escape his father's domination; he buys the land from Ben. Late that night, Will finds his son, still digging. After examining a coin, Will notices that it was minted in 1910. Jody is shattered. Ben aggressively pursues Clara. She finally asks Alan what his intentions are, and he replies that he only wants to "help" her. Misinterpreting what Clara tells him, Will goes to congratulate Alan and his mother on the impending marriage, and is infuriated when he learns the truth. He returns home. A defeated Jody finds his father alone in their barn. Jody bolts the entrance and sets the barn on fire, but he cannot go through with it and releases Will. Will is touched by Jody's change of heart and calls him his "strong right arm." Men from town assume Ben is the culprit and intend to lynch him, but Clara rescues him from the mob and drives him back to the plantation. Will defuses the situation by telling the lynch mob he accidentally started the fire. Ben confesses to Clara that his father was a barn burner, committing arson when offended, and that he has been falsely dogged by such accusations because of his father. Ben tells her he is leaving town, but Clara makes it clear she has fallen in love with him.

Producer Jerry Wald hired former co worker and Warner Brothers director Martin Ritt to shoot the adaptation of two William Faulkner novels based on a recommendation by script writer Irving Ravetch. Wald convinced the studio executives to pay US$50,000 for the rights for the novels The Sound and the Fury and The Hamlet. The first to be produced, The Hamlet, was renamed The Long Hot Summer to avoid confusion with William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. Ravetch and Harriet Frank, Jr. wrote the script, also adding fragments from Faulkner's short stories "Barn Burning" and "Spotted Horses". In the new script, the book's main character, Flem Snopes, and the rest of the Snopes family were removed. The plot was recentered on a minor character, Ben Quick, and the reconciliation of the Varner family. On their first important screenplay, Ravetch and Frank implemented their signature style, using the names of characters and a few details of the plot but significantly modifying the details of the story. The final product was heavily influenced by Tennessee Williams' play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, resulting in an "erotically charged" story.

The film was shot in Clinton and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in CinemaScope color, with a budget of US$1,645,000. A Southern Gothic story, Ritt decided to shoot it on location to capture the characteristics of the area, emphasizing the regional details. Ritt met leading actor Paul Newman while teaching at the Actors Studio. The rest of the main cast also consisted of former Actors Studio alumni, including Joanne Woodward, Anthony Franciosa and Lee Remick.

The film attracted attention for the appearance of Orson Welles as Will Varner, the patriarch of the family. 20th Century Fox wanted to avoid casting Welles because of his temperament, but the studio was persuaded by Ritt, who considered him the right actor for the role. The director and the actor had several marked differences during the shooting of the movie, which included problems with the interpretation of the lines, costume design and the position of Welles while shooting the scenes. At one point during the production, Welles informed Ritt that he did not want to memorize his lines, requesting instead that they be dubbed afterwards. Part of the cast was intimidated by Welles' temperamental attitude. The conflicts between Welles and Ritt attracted media attention. Immediately after filming was completed, during an interview with Life, Welles explained that the cause of his behavior was that he did not know what kind of "monkeyshines" his co stars would be or the "caprices" they would receive from him. He also stated that they overcame the differences and completed the film. Welles later wrote a letter to Ritt praising his work and apologizing for his interference during the making of the movie. Ritt replied, expounding his admiration for Welles. Despite the mutual apologies, during an interview in 1965, Ritt recalled an incident on the set. While the film was being shot, it was often stopped by bad weather. During a day suitable for shooting, he found Welles not ready for the scene, instead reading a newspaper in Spanish. Ritt decided to skip Welles's scene and shoot the next one. He attributed Welles' later cooperation to the incident, which Welles had found humiliating. Ritt thus earned the nickname "the Orson Tamer" throughout the Hollywood community.

The film revived the career of Martin Ritt, who had been on the blacklist for most of the decade for alleged associations with communists. Paul Newman's performance as Ben Quick brought him national fame, as well as the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival. During the production, Newman married co star Woodward. A television series of the same name aired between 1965 and 1966, featuring Dan O'Herlihy, Roy Thinnes, Nancy Malone, Lana Wood, Ruth Roman, and Edmond O'Brien. It was remade for television in 1985, featuring Jason Robards, Don Johnson, and Cybill Shepherd. This rendition received two Emmy nominations, for Outstanding Miniseries and Outstanding Art Direction for a Miniseries or a Special.