The Long, Hot Summer (Ritt, 1958): Regent St Cinema, 2pm
Time Out review:
A steamy, Freudian tale of family intrigue set in the deep South, based on a compilation of stories by William Faulkner. Orson Welles is the tyrannical Varner, whose rejected weakling son (an excessively neurotic performance from Anthony Franciosa) seeks consolation in bed with his sexy wife (Lee Remick). A suspected 'barn burner' and definite trouble-maker, Ben Quick (Paul Newman) arrives in town, and is welcomed by Varner as a suitable heir to his empire. The sparks fly between Quick and Varner's schoolmistress daughter (Newman and Joanne Woodward together for the first time), but under her cold exterior beats a passionate heart, and predictably they are in each other's arms by the final shot. The ending is an unconvincing cop out, but it can't spoil the film's compulsive dramatic tension (or a marvellous comic cameo from Angela Lansbury as Welles' long-suffering mistress).
Here (and above) is the trailer.
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