Very Cool!!!

The Worst Film Ever

Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

After watching the original 1958 "The Long Hot Summer" with Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Lee Remick, Arson Wells, Angela Lansbury and Anthony Franciosa I would title this TV nonsense "The Long Cold Winter" Don Johnsson is no actor so do yourself a favor and watch the 1958 original to find out the superb performance by the cast, the fine directions by Martin Ritt, the beautiful Baton Rouge locations, the classic writing and off course the great soundtrack by Alex North. Just watching the beautiful Lee Remick and Joanne Woodward is enough treat, and will make you don't want to look to another woman they're truly two American peach pies.

Taped this from a recent commercial-ridden broadcast recently and had the opportunity to compare it with the 20th-Century Fox film starring Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman, shown tonight on AMC (not letterboxed, darn it!) This TV film suffered from some rather prodigious miscasting, in my view, and certainly seemed tedious and drawn out, compared to Martin Ritt's brisk direction of the CinemaScope mounting. I felt that Judith Ivey and Jason Robards, Jr., especially, were unconvincing and Don Johnson's oily charm, or lack of it, made Paul Newman's turn as Ben Quick look like Olivier's finest hour. Only Cybill Shepherd was given the chance to approximate Lee Remick's verve and sass as Eula Varner. And why did they bother to say that Ava Gardner was a part of the cast? She seems to be seen only in a few long shots, or did they edit out her few scenes to make room for all those advertisers? A disappointment, compared to the theatrical film.

This is not as good as the original, but the storyline has been changed some so that helps. This is an excellent movie for Don Johnson fans. He has the cocky attitude, with a deep sensitiveness underneath that fits the character, as Paul Newman did. Only when he parrots the same dialogue does he seem out of place. Judith Ivey is lovely as she is allowed to wear her hair down instead of in a severe bun. Jason Robards tries his best, but in spite of being an excellent actor, he doesn't have the bombastic spirit that made Orson Welles so right for the role. The clothes are modern as most fashion borrows from many years. Accents don't bother me. (How about Germans speaking broken English in war movies?) I liked it better the second time I watched it, so try it twice if you are uncertain. It's worth it; and watch the actors' faces throughout as they do their best with roles that were strongly created in the first movie.

Saw this movie on the Romance channel. What a complete waste of broadcasting time! This adaptation cut anything of value out of the original. The casting was incredibly bad. Who would ever believe that Don Johnson's character would be interested in the character playing his supposed "love interest". The acting was quite bad as well, complete with bad southern accents. Now, for the wardrobe and hair, what the hell was going on? There was a mix of 1930's and 80's style clothes and haircuts that was just plain rediculous. Cybil Shepard was dressed in 80's sunglasses and dresses while Don Johnson kept dressing up in 30's/40's clothes. Of course, once in a while he'd have the Miami Vice outfit on as well. We kept wondering what time period the movie was set in. Even down to the cars - mixtures of cars from the 40's all the way up to 80-something GMC pickups. The general store had ladies boots (and everything else) that looked like they were borrowed from the Little House on the Prarie set. Then you would see Igloo coolers on a shelf. The thing I really don't get is, if it WAS set in the 80's, then why the hell didn't they use air conditioning?Stupid, stupid, waste of time and space piece of garbage. Makes me mad to think about it!