Very well executed

Please don't spend money on this.

Absolutely the worst movie.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The Long, Hot Summer – Big Footprint Not to be mistaken for Wet Hot American Summer (a markedly different romp…), The Long, Hot Summer seems to be a largely forgotten entry into the canon of sweltering 1950s melodramas, mostly historically noteworthy as the project which united Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, and generally overshadowed by higher profile ballads of illicit love and family angst in the deep south. However, rather than being clouded by a haze of 'Big Daddy's odour of mendacity,' Martin Ritt's film easily has enough merit to stand on its own accord, blending a collection of William Faulkner shorts into a tale of love, lust, and lineage, just clamoring for the qualifier 'steamy'.Although the plot is definitely familiar territory, and the script errs fairly strongly on the affected style customary to the post-Actors Studio era, the story resonates truthfully and remains engaging throughout, while the alluring undercurrent of barely-bridled sexuality keeps the proceedings energetic and urgent. Ritt's direction is taut but unfussy, allowing the inherent claustrophobia and tension of the film's small-town setting to speak for itself, and the sumptuous Technicolor cinematography is so crisp you can practically smell the marsh and sweat from the Mississippi bayou (and I'm not even just talking about Orson Welles). Although the climax feels like a somewhat forced attempt to escalate the stakes simmering throughout, with an overly hasty resolution to boot, the buildup is calm and confident enough to make the viewing experience worth its while without having to fight to engage its audience.Naturally, like the majority of its contemporaries, the story ultimately exists as a vehicle to foreground the performances of the cast, who are what ultimately make the film worthwhile. Paul Newman, cementing his iconic identity as the shrewd, laconic, effortlessly cool drifter, crackles with charisma as accused arsonist Ben Quick, magnetic throughout even before his surprisingly racy shirtless scene. Joanne Woodward gives arguably the film's strongest performance as the controversially unmarried Clara Varner, practically vibrating in place from a lifetime of feeling discounted and under-appreciated. Rather than playing up her predicament, however, Woodward embodies Clara with a steely confidence, which is altogether more effective and appealing. In contrast, Orson Welles delivers the film's most legendarily outlandish performance as the resident belligerent patriarch. Notoriously mocking the Actors' Studio by mumbling almost incomprehensibly through his cartoonish southern drawl, the vociferous Welles is skilled enough to steal scenes in his sleep (which he may well have been during certain scenes), outrageously fun when hamming it up, with occasional pockets of surprising solemnity and depth, as if coming up for air from his customary grunting and snorting. Anthony Franciosa is also a sturdy presence, even if he does occasionally overindulge in Method hand-wringing and hysteria, while a cameo from the delightful Angela Lansbury as Welles' cheerily aggressive suitor adds a dash of comedic perfection.While it may fall short of the acerbic intensity of similar fare such as Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Long, Hot Summer still serves a healthy slice of all the smouldering, robustly acted 1950s melodrama you could ask for. If only for the incandescent interplay between Newman and Woodward, with the added pleasure of cartoon-character Welles, the film is easily worth sinking into, on a dozy, hot summer evening or otherwise.-7/10

This 1958 Drama literally reeked, from start to finish, of the movie Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (which was released in the very same year). This flick was almost like a continuation of that story.One of the only real differences in this story was that instead of being a drunken, closeted homosexual, and a rich-boy, the Paul Newman character was on the other end of the social scale, being a smart-ass, bad-boy drifter, as well as a suspected "barn-burner".There was almost no action in this movie at all.What this film's story mainly consisted of was the bitching, the complaining and the whining of some insatiable rich brats who held a deep, bitter resentment towards their wealthy, over-bearing father, a man who literally owned half the town.Anyways - One long, hot, summer day Paul Newman's drifting character steps into the middle of all of this vicious family drama and does his intrusive best to upset the whole dysfunctional apple-cart.Set in a small Mississippi town, this decidedly stuffy melodrama seemed to have a lot more going against it, than it did have going for it.I'd say that Orson Welles (who played the "Big Daddy" character, Will Varner) was one of this picture's biggest (and fattest) deficits. Every chance he got this bloated, temperamental slob chewed up the scenery to literal shreds.I think it's interesting to note that Welles and director Martin Ritt ran into some major conflicts with each other during the production of this picture.It seems that the pompous, self-loving Welles refused to learn his lines and requested that they be dubbed in later during the film's editing. This naturally angered Ritt who decided to ignore Welles and just film the scenes around him.When Welles realized that he was being ignored his vanity couldn't take the blow. And, so, somewhat reluctantly, he did finally begin to participate in this film's production like a good boy.All-in-all - I found The Long, Hot Summer to be a less than satisfying movie-experience.

A drifter comes into a Mississippi town and is taken under the wing of the town big shot in this drama based on multiple works of Faulkner. Newman is solid as an ambitious worker trying to escape his past. Welles steals the film in a wonderfully hammy performance as a larger-than-life character who rules over not only his two meek children but also the entire town. Franciosa is fine as Welles's wimpy son, but Woodward's performance seems somewhat wooden. Remick is given little to do except look pretty, which she does well. In the first of six films he made with Newman, Ritt creates an atmosphere befitting the title. The plot element concerning fire-starting is rather silly.

A wealthy but repulsive curmudgeon named Will Varner (Orson Welles) lords over a small Southern town, spouting out orders and expectations to everyone in his orbit, especially his two grown children: Clara (Joanne Woodward) and Jody (Anthony Franciosa), neither of whom have any kids. Thing is ... papa Varner wants grandchildren, to carry forth the Varner empire.One day a drifter named Ben Quick (Paul Newman) wonders into papa Varner's orbit. Quick has developed a reputation among the locals as a no-good drifter. But he's handsome, and he's ambitious, self-assured, bold, and swaggering, just what Will Varner is looking for in a future son-in-law. And therein lies the basis for conflict among the various characters.I didn't much like this film. The plot is cliché-ridden, with clearly a trend toward pasteurized outcomes, wrought by paternalistic Hollywood script writers. Further, all the characters seem fake. Will Varner is highly stereotyped, and so is Ben Quick. Clara is aloof and unapproachable. Jody exists only as a convenient foil for his overbearing father. In short, the script seems watered-down, sanitized from what it could have been.Casting is poor. Most of the actors are not convincing as small town Southerners. Orson Welles tries too hard. And his overdone makeup makes him look grotesque. His character comes across as an aging Charles Foster Kane with a garbled Southern accent.The wide-screen Cinema-Scope projection is annoying. Color photography is too bright. Visuals look stagy, artificial. The overall tone of the film is way too spry, vibrant, pastoral. At times, it's almost like a musical. I kept waiting for Ben Quick to burst into a rendition of "Oh What A Beautiful Mornin'". I could have wished for a darker, more foreboding tone, suggestive of dripping, smoldering Southern Gothic."The Long, Hot Summer" makes a good cinematic vehicle for Paul Newman. And the story's underlying concept is okay, despite its lack of originality. But a dreadfully bland script, poor casting, and an unfortunate visual style sabotaged what could have been a really fine film.