Review of The Long, Hot Summer (1958) by Anthony S — 01 Feb 2009

Paul Newman was hot. Ok, I said it. I'd never seen a film with him in it as a young man until seeing this film, and thus I had no idea he was just...like...that hot!

But I digress... As I continue trying to open up my cinematographical spectrum by watching more old movies, and generally having a hard time with the over acting and melodrama of anything made before the 70s, I have to admit that I did enjoy Ritt's "The Long, Hot Summer," and not only because I discovered the body of Paul Newman. I found the story to be a little more believable, in a 50s, women-totally-repressed sorta way, and the acting, for once, was not incredibly over done. Woodward as a woman whose father is pushing marriage on her is quite effective, actually giving her female character some strength, something so often absent from films back then. Not to mention Anthony Franciosa, yet another gorgeous discovery, in a strong performance as the son being left behind when Newman's Ben Quick enters their lives. Orson Welles, as the head of the household, inexplicably looks like he has a really bad sun tan through the entire film, and once again is hard to understand at times because he still seems to have cotton in his mouth, and yes, he overacts at times, but his character was supposed to be a control freak of the highest calibre, and thus the performance worked.

So, yeah, if more old movies were like this, maybe I'd be able to get into them more....in the mean time, I will definitely say that this Hot Summer was definitely worth the viewing!