The Long Hot Summer (1958)

The Long, Hot Summer is a rich and steamy Southern melodrama that simmers with ambition, sexual tension, and familial rivalry. Directed by Martin Ritt in his first major studio feature and boasting a top-tier cast led by Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, the film is based loosely on the works of William Faulkner but infused with a distinctly Tennessee Williams-style heat and emotional volatility. Released in 1958, the same year as Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, it draws frequent comparisons for its similar themes and sultry Southern atmosphere, but it stands on its own as a sharp, sometimes slyly humorous, exploration of class, masculinity, and power in the post war American South.

Plot Summary

Set in the fictional town of Frenchman's Bend, Mississippi, The Long, Hot Summer introduces us to Ben Quick (Paul Newman), a charming but notorious drifter with a shady past—he’s believed to be an arsonist who burned down a barn. After being run out of one town, Ben arrives in Frenchman’s Bend seeking work and a fresh start. His confident swagger soon catches the attention of Will Varner (Orson Welles), the town's wealthy and domineering patriarch who owns most of the land and businesses in the area.

Will takes an immediate liking to Ben, seeing in him a younger version of himself—a man of ambition and appetite—and quickly installs him as a foreman and confidant. But Will has a deeper, more calculating motive: he wants to marry off his strong-willed, unmarried daughter Clara (Joanne Woodward) to a man he considers worthy and capable of taking over the Varner legacy. Ben becomes his candidate of choice.

Clara, educated and emotionally cautious, is initially repelled by Ben’s brashness, but their romantic tension gradually escalates into a complex courtship. Meanwhile, Clara’s brother Jody (Anthony Franciosa), who is insecure and ineffectual, feels threatened by Ben’s growing influence over their father. Subplots involving Will’s mistress Minnie (Angela Lansbury), and Jody’s flirtatious wife Eula (Lee Remick), further enrich the tapestry of Southern life portrayed in the film.

Performances

Paul Newman, in one of his most magnetic roles, delivers a performance full of charisma, edge, and erotic energy. His Ben Quick is a classic Newman anti-hero—morally ambiguous but endlessly compelling. He straddles the line between drifter and dreamer, crook and suitor. Newman plays him with a glint of mischief and a coiled physicality that makes it easy to see why both Clara and Will Varner are drawn to him.

Joanne Woodward, in her first on-screen pairing with Newman (whom she had just married), matches him beat for beat. Her Clara is smart, guarded, and torn between duty and desire. Woodward excels at playing women who possess a keen emotional intelligence, and she brings those qualities here in a performance that is layered, restrained, and quietly heartbreaking.

Orson Welles, larger than life in every way, commands the screen as Will Varner. With a booming voice and theatrical delivery, Welles embodies the archetype of the Southern patriarch—blustery, manipulative, and obsessively concerned with legacy. Some critics have noted his performance borders on hammy, but in the heightened emotional world of the film, his excess feels both intentional and effective.

Lee Remick is deliciously flirtatious and provocative as Eula, offering a lighter, more comedic counterpoint to Clara. Angela Lansbury, in a small but memorable role, brings unexpected warmth and wit as Will’s mistress Minnie, offering one of the film’s few notes of emotional honesty and vulnerability.

Direction and Screenplay

Martin Ritt’s direction is confident and sensual, clearly influenced by his background in theatre and television. He creates an atmosphere thick with Southern heat—both literal and metaphorical—and draws strong, emotionally rich performances from his ensemble cast. The film marked the beginning of a long collaboration between Ritt and Newman, leading to future classics like Hud (1963) and The Hustler (1961, with Ritt uncredited as a key creative influence).

The screenplay, adapted by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr., draws from several of Faulkner’s works, chiefly The Hamlet, Barn Burning, and Spotted Horses, but crafts a more cohesive and accessible narrative. The dialogue is sharp and often witty, mixing literary elegance with earthy Southern rhythms. While Faulkner purists may balk at the liberties taken with the source material, the script succeeds in translating his themes—decay, inheritance, moral ambiguity—into an engaging cinematic form.

Themes

At its core, The Long, Hot Summer explores power, masculinity, and class mobility. Ben Quick’s rise from outsider to potential heir is a classic American story of ambition—but one complicated by suspicion, lust, and generational conflict. The film also dissects the Southern tradition of patriarchal control, as embodied by Will Varner, whose desire to manipulate his children’s futures leads to tension and rebellion.

Romantic repression plays a major role in Clara’s arc—she is caught between her intellect and her longing, afraid of becoming vulnerable in a world that does not reward female independence. Meanwhile, Jody’s inferiority complex and Eula’s sexuality dramatize the pressures of masculine inadequacy and the precarious role of women in a male-dominated society.

Visuals and Atmosphere

Shot in Cinemascope and rich Technicolor, the film captures the beauty and tension of the American South with lush imagery. The Mississippi heat practically radiates from the screen, and the rural settings—fields, porches, decaying mansions—create a sense of place that is both romanticized and decaying.

Elmer Bernstein’s score enhances the mood with Southern-inflected instrumentation, building an undercurrent of emotional tension and longing that complements the visual storytelling.

Reception and Legacy

Upon release, The Long, Hot Summer was met with critical acclaim and commercial success. It helped solidify Paul Newman’s reputation as a leading man of depth and charisma, and the chemistry between Newman and Woodward became legendary. The film was seen as a more accessible counterpart to the darker, more psychologically intense Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and remains an excellent example of the 1950s Hollywood melodrama—a genre that combined big emotions with social commentary and sexual tension cloaked in suggestion.

It also marked a turning point in Martin Ritt’s career, allowing him to go on to make more politically and emotionally ambitious films in the 1960s and beyond.

Conclusion

The Long, Hot Summer may not have the cultural gravitas of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof or the literary reverence of its Faulkner origins, but it is a beautifully made, emotionally intelligent film that continues to resonate. With a powerhouse cast, expert direction, and enduring themes of desire, control, and reinvention, it stands as one of the most evocative Southern dramas of its era.

A sultry, stylish slice of Southern Gothic, elevated by magnetic performances and a sharp sense of character and place.