Blu-ray Review The Long, Hot Summer Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

[Matt Hough]

Matt Hough

The Long, Hot Summer Blu-ray Review

A southern fried melodrama based on characters and situations from a series of William Faulker stories, Martin Ritt's The Long, Hot Summer offers romance and drama in equal measure filled with a brilliant cast and lush location photography that makes the most of the Cinemascope screen.

[review]

 

[Steve...O]

Thanks, Matt! This film has long been a favorite of my wife's and I've seen parts but not the whole thing. She and I will be viewing the TT in short order.

This is the kind of release that would have been tailor made for a Nick & Julie (and Lem or another third party of their choice) commentary, but unfortunately real life gets in the way sometimes. Looking forward to watching this and continued best wishes for the TT gang.

 

[Will Krupp]

Great review Matt, thanks! You've whetted my appetite to see this again as it's been quite some while (I had completely forgotten, for example, that Angela Lansbury was in it!)

Glad to know it looks so good!

 

[Angelo Colombus]

Good performance by Orson Welles in a heavy make up chewing up the scenes he's in.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Good performance by Orson Welles in a heavy make up chewing up the scenes he's in.

IMO, Orson's performance was okay, but I thought the younger two male actors were better.

 

[Keith Cobby]

Dull, talky film. For me its only redeeming feature (although it's a big one) is the ever radiant Lee Remick.

 

[bujaki]

Lee Remick and those incredibly beautiful blue eyes. I could just stare into those eyes forever.

 

[Robin9]

Dull, talky film. For me its only redeeming feature (although it's a big one) is the ever radiant Lee Remick.

You'd better not let Rhonda Fleming hear you say that.

I like the film a lot and I don't find it dull and I don't think it's especially talky.

 

[Matt Hough]

Lee Remick and those incredibly beautiful blue eyes. I could just stare into those eyes forever.

Both Lee Remick's and Paul Newman's eyes positively sparkle in this transfer. They're VERY noticeable.

 

[Thomas T]

I love this film to death! Alex North's underscore is one of the most sensual film scores ever composed (only John Barry's Body Heat comes close). I think Welles is terrific here and his performances makes me wish he had played Big Daddy in Cat On A Hot Tin roof instead of Burl Ives.

 

[John Hermes]

Lee Remick and those incredibly beautiful blue eyes. I could just stare into those eyes forever.

Two other great blue eyes in film are Susan Oliver (my all-time favorite) and Anne Francis.

 

[Will Krupp]

I also wouldn't mind seeing the TV remake from the mid 80's again. I don't think I've seen it since its initial airing but I remember thinking (at the time) that is was very well cast (Jason Robards as Will Varner, Judith Ivey as Noel, and Cybill Shepherd as a very oversexed Eula) and well acted with a leisurely running time that suited the material nicely. It was adapted by "Educating Rita's" favorite author, Rita Mae Brown (not since Flannery O'Connor has anyone done Southern fried sex so well.) Has anyone seen it recently? I wonder how it holds up.

 

[Matt Hough]

I remember it vaguely, but I only saw the initial airing and not since then.

 

[Thomas T]

I also wouldn't mind seeing the TV remake from the mid 80's again. I don't think I've seen it since its initial airing but I remember thinking (at the time) that is was very well cast (Jason Robards as Will Varner, Judith Ivey as Noel, and Cybill Shepherd as a very oversexed Eula) and well acted with a leisurely running time that suited the material nicely. It was adapted by "Educating Rita's" favorite author, Rita Mae Brown (not since Flannery O'Connor has anyone done Southern fried sex so well.) Has anyone seen it recently? I wonder how it holds up.

Yes, I've seen it recently. I have the German DVD (it's available on Amazon.de). The transfer is adequate, nothing more. This is what I wrote about it:

A drifter (Don Johnson) with a reputation as a "barn burner" arrives at a small Southern town run by the patriarch (Jason Robards) of the Varner family. The old man takes a liking to the drifter and even urges him to get involved with his spinster daughter (Judith Ivey) while his own son (William Russ) seethes with anger at being displaced. Although the screenplay is attributed to Rita Mae Brown and Dennis Turner based on the William Faulkner novel THE HAMLET, the film is based more on the 1958 film version of the same name rather than Faulkner's book. Some of the dialog is taken verbatim from the previous Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank screenplay. The first half of the film stays closely to the 1958 film but the last 40 minutes drifts off with material that is neither from Faulkner nor the 1958 film and it deflates quickly. Up until then, it was a solid piece of entertainment, well done. The acting however is uneven, ranging from awful (William Russ) to adequate (Don Johnson) to good (Judith Ivey). And I could have done without the hideous droning synthesizer score by Charles Bernstein. Directed by Stuart Cooper. With Ava Gardner (wasted), Cybill Shepherd, James Gammon and Wings Hauser.

 

[PMF]

Lee Remick and those incredibly beautiful blue eyes. I could just stare into those eyes forever.

Both Lee Remick's and Paul Newman's eyes positively sparkle in this transfer. They're VERY noticeable.

Two other great blue eyes in film are Susan Oliver (my all-time favorite) and Anne Francis.

Thus the reasons for Blu.

 

[Robert Harris]

Both Lee Remick's and Paul Newman's eyes positively sparkle in this transfer. They're VERY noticeable.

Strangely, what appears to be a bit of yellow layer failure, may be spiking those beautiful blues...

 

[haineshisway]

One simply cannot have enough BLUE

 

[Thomas T]

One simply cannot have enough BLUE

Tell that to the gang constantly complaining about how "blue" the Fox CinemaScope transfers are (King And I, Anastasia etc.)

 

[Matt Hough]

Strangely, what appears to be a bit of yellow layer failure, may be spiking those beautiful blues...

Could that account for the overly brown skin tones or is that just a color timing choice?

 

[Robert Harris]

Could that account for the overly brown skin tones or is that just a color timing choice?

Could account for many things, including slightly blue highlights on the dark brown furniture in the bedroom, early in the film.