The Long, Hot Summer is a 1958 American drama film starring Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Anthony Franciosa and Orson Welles.

It was directed by Martin Ritt, with a screenplay by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr., based in part on three works by William Faulkner: the 1931 novella "Spotted Horses", the 1939 short story "Barn Burning" and the 1940 novel The Hamlet.

Some characters, as well as tone, were inspired by Tennessee Williams' 1955 play, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, a film adaptation of which – also starring Newman – was released 5 months later.

Filmed in Clinton, Louisiana, the cast was composed mostly of former Actors Studio students, whom Ritt met while he was an assistant teacher to Elia Kazan.

Will is also disappointed that his 23-year-old daughter, Clara, has not married the man she has been seeing for five or six years: Alan Stewart, a genteel Southern "blue blood" and a mama's boy.

Ben talks his way out by telling Jody about buried Civil War-era coins he has supposedly found on a property that Will gave him, a down payment to seal their bargain over Clara.

[8][9] The supporting roles were played by: Producer Jerry Wald hired former co-worker and Warner Brothers director Martin Ritt to shoot the adaptation of two William Faulkner novels based on a recommendation by script writer Irving Ravetch.

[13] Ravetch and Harriet Frank, Jr. wrote the script, also adding fragments from Faulkner's short stories "Barn Burning" and "Spotted Horses".

[17] The final product was heavily influenced by Tennessee Williams' play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,[6] resulting in an "erotically charged" story.

20th Century Fox wanted to avoid casting Welles because of his temperament, but the studio was persuaded by Ritt, who considered him the right actor for the role.

[10] Immediately after filming was completed, during an interview with Life, Welles explained that the cause of his behavior was that he did not know what kind of "monkeyshines" his co-stars would be or the "caprices" they would receive from him.

The lyrics of the song were written by Sammy Cahn, while instrumental variations of the melody were used throughout the film, underlining the progression of the relationship between Ben and Clara.

[27] On another review, Billboard favored the album, stating that it "makes for good listening out of the cinematic context" and that the financial success of the soundtrack may have been propelled by Jimmie Rodgers' "smooth vocal treatment".

[27] Meanwhile, The Reporter highlighted the film's similarities to the play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and described the cast as "an impressive one", but remarked that the actors and characters "never seem to get together".

[36] For The New York Times, critic Bosley Crowther noted Ravetch and Frank's "tight, word-cracking" script that featured fast-paced scenes with "slashing dialogue".

The reviewer felt that the cast was "clicking nicely" until the story of the writers "plunged" from the dramatic scenes to "sheer story-telling make-believe", while Crowther concluded that it went from "superb" to a "senseless, flabby heap".

While critic Phillip K. Scheuer failed to see the plot's relation to The Hamlet, he praised the work of writers Ravetch and Frank, as well as the "exacting direction" of Ritt.

Scheuer perceived the southern accents of the cast and the use of redness on their make-up to be unauthentic, but he felt that the use of the Louisiana landscapes and the development of the characters gave the film a "comulative bite" and a "powerful persuader" that "you are there".

Closing the piece, Scheuer wrote that he could not "get the sense" of the ending, while it mentioned as "top credits" the contributions of North on the soundtrack and Lashelle's camerawork.

[40] Also in Memphis, The Commercial Appeal defined The Long, Hot Summer as a "sizzler", that showed a "superior" performance by Woodward, as well as a "stellar" cast.

The piece determined that the "tempestuous, earthy" plotline would not be suitable for the "immature", rather for the "adult" that would find it to be a "dynamic drama" for the "swirling turbulence" of the Varner family and the "frank omnipresence of sex".

[41] The Austin American-Statesman considered that Welles represented "one of the picture's more entertaining features" that made the film "gripping", along with the "able performances" and "crisp dialogue".

[47] Paul Newman's performance as Ben Quick brought him national fame,[48] as well as the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival.

[49] A television series based on the film aired between 1965 and 1966, featuring Dan O'Herlihy, Roy Thinnes, Nancy Malone, Lana Wood, Ruth Roman, and Edmond O'Brien.