Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with the next installment of A Movie A Week.
[For those who new to the column, A Movie A Week is just that, a dedicated way for me explore vintage cinema every week. I’ll review a movie every Monday and each one will be connected to the one before it via a common thread, either an actor, director, writer, producer or some other crew member. Each film, pulled from my DVD shelf or recorded on the home DVR (I heart TCM) will be one I haven’t seen.]
Today we follow the legendary Paul Newman over from last week’s ‘70s thriller THE MACKINTOSH MAN and dive back a good 15 years to an early work by Newman called THE LONG HOT SUMMER.
We cover a lot of different genres with this column and the A Movie A Day column before that, but it’s been a while since we’ve hit a straight up drama. The list tends to lean towards thrillers, noir, comedy, musicals, westerns and war flicks, mostly because that’s how my own personal tastes run.
But that’s what I particularly love about doing this column with the stringent rules in place… it forces me to watch movies I might have kept putting off, like today’s flick, a sweaty, steamy tour de force for Paul Newman.
Based on original stories by William Faulkner this flick follows Paul Newman’s Ben Quick as he casually meanders into a small Southern town. Seems he was kicked out of the last town following accusations of barn burning, which is apparently on the same level of raping the local sheriff’s grandmother in the 1930s deep south.
Newman plays Quick with a lazy charm and pulls of a Southern accent without sounding ignorant or forced, which seems to be the only way modern actors put on a southern accent (see any random episode of TRUE BLOOD). Not Paul Newman, especially not 1958 Paul Newman.
It’s fascinating exploring Newman’s career and seeing just how he must have hit Hollywood like a ton of bricks. Everything that Marlon Brando brought to film is encompassed in Newman’s early, hungry performances, but with a down home flavor. Newman is just as natural as Brando was, always giving a calm, assured performance and with the same ability to show us glimpses of TNT behind the eyes. But he seems more accessible if that makes any sense. Brando is a guy who’s scary-good and Newman is a dude you want to be friends with.
You watch a movie like THE LONG, HOT SUMMER or THE YOUNG PHILADELPHIANS and Newman just comes across as one of those rare beings that was born to live on the silver screen. Everything about the man’s voice, eyes, body language, line delivery and presence just screams big screen to me… even on the small screen.
And what’s particularly awesome about this movie in particular is that it pits the young, hungry Paul Newman against the older, chubbier, but still formidable Orson Welles. Watching these two chew scenery in IB Technicolor Cinemascope is worth watching the flick just by itself, but on top of the great casting of the two male leads Martin Ritt’s direction and Irving Ravetch & Harriet Frank Jr.’s screenplay are all top notch.
But let’s not forget about the actresses in the picture. Basically Ben Quick works his way into the lives of a rich family, originally brought on as a hired hand, but through charm and guts he works his way deeper into the family.
Orson Welles is the boisterous head of the household and owner of goddamn near everything in this small town. His son is a fuck-up, flustered every time he is put in charge of any of the family affairs because he’s trying too hard to impress his father. Welles’ daughter is played by the soon to be future Mrs. Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward. In fact, by the time the film was release they were married.
There’s a love triangle at the center of this story… or maybe a love pentagon is more accurate. Woodward’s character has been courting a local (Richard Anderson) for years, but the guy is a mama’s boy and mama has no intention of giving up her son. The dude is nice, kind, but has no backbone… perhaps no real romantic interest in Woodward period. So you already have that triangle before Newman enters the picture.
Then comes Ben Quick with his confident, sweaty charm. He’s got a thing for Woodward, but she resists. Ultimately, her father demands that she shit or get off the pot (in a much more Southern gentlemanly way, of course) with the mama’s boy or he’s going to force an arranged marriage between her and Quick, who has earned his affection far more than his own son has.
So, you have the mama’s boy, the mother, Woodward, Newman and Welles… that’s the pentagon I was referring to.
But this flick isn’t really a romance film. That’s a big part of it, but I think it’d be a disservice to the flick to label it as such. It’s really a movie about exploring characters and character relationships over one sweaty southern summer. Thankfully it is never dull thanks to the sheer caliber of acting talent constantly on display.
I can’t forget Welles’ daughter in law, the absolutely stunning Lee Remick. The image in my mind of Remick will probably always be Damien’s mother in THE OMEN, so it was almost a shock to see her in this. I didn’t recognize her, even though I’ve seen her younger self in film before. Absolutely adorable.
Oh, crapper! I almost forget Angela Lansbury! I love Angela Lansbury and while she doesn’t have a lot to do in this flick, she brings a lot of heart to Welles’ girlfriend who just wants to finally be married to the man. This character could have gone in an entirely different (and more typical) direction. She could have been a conniving gold-digger, but Lansbury brings so much innocence to the role that I never questioned her motives.
From what I understand this flick was famous for being a more dangerous movie of the time and while it seems tame these days I can see where the reputation comes from. There is a lot of subtle lust in the film, but there’s also a lot of frank talk. It’s not all subtext. Woodward has a scene where she’s talking about a woman’s sexual appetite (and make no mistake that it’s any different from a man’s) which still comes off as edgy for some reason even today and I’m sure would have been down right shocking at the time.
If IMDB is to be believed, director Ritt got the reputation of being the man who tamed the famously bigger than life Orson Welles by driving him into the middle of a swamp after one of Welles’ outbursts and let him find his own way back. How cool is that? I hope it’s true and if it isn’t, I hope I never find that out.
Final Thoughts: While it’s not high up on the rewatchability list for me, I can’t deny that this film is one of the hands down best showcases of acting talent to be caught on film, the kind of lightning in the bottle that you can’t plan for as a filmmaker, but comes along every once in a while. Joseph LaShelle (The Apartment, Irma la Douce)’s cinematography is gorgeous, Ritt’s direction is assured and the whole isn’t lacking any single thing. Any Paul Newman fan who hasn’t seen this should pick it up straight away and give it a watch to remind themselves just why they love Paul Newman so much.
Upcoming A Movie A Week Titles:
Monday, July 13th: JOURNEY INTO FEAR (1943)
Monday, July 20th: HOW THE WEST WAS WON (1962)
Monday, July 27th: CALL NORTHSIDE 777 (1948)
Monday, August 3rd: ROPE (1948)
Next week we follow Orson Welles over to JOURNEY INTO FEAR, something recorded off of TCM. Not sure if it’s out on DVD or not, but a mystery/suspense flick written by and starring Joseph Cotton? Fuck yeah, I’m in.
Oh, and if you have any desire to hear me ramble on with Film School Rejects’ Cole Abaius, you can click here to listen to their latest podcast, featuring yours truly rambling on and being incoherent as usual.
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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