The Long, Hot Summer (1958) — A Comparative Review of a Movie Classic
Structural parallels with “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”
STORY IN A NUTSHELL: Director Martin Ritt combines multiple William Faulkner stories into a smoldering drama starring Paul Newman as Ben Quick, a wandering handyman who arrives in Frenchman’s Bend, Miss., where menacing rumors about his past begin to circulate. Soon enough, the self-made town despot (Orson Welles) warms to the drifter and takes him under his wing, giving him a job at his store and setting him up with his daughter Clara (Joanne Woodward).
Starring: Paul Newman (Ben Quick), Joanne Woodward (Clara Varner), Orson Welles (Will Varner), Anthony Franciosa (Jody Varner), Lee Remick (Eula Varner), Angela Landsbury (Minnie Littlejohn), Richard Anderson (Alan Stewart)
Directed by: Martin Ritt
Writers: William Faulkner (story), Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr. (screenplay)
PROTAGONIST BEN’S DILEMMA: He is kicked from one county of Louisiana to another as a “barn burner” although the accusation could not be proven true. He wants to live a good straight life but the dark cloud of a bad reputation follows him wherever he goes.
PROTAGONIST’S DESIRE: To settle and live the life of a prosperous Southern gentleman.
HIS CHIEF OBSTACLE: No one will give him the…
