It's all Austin's fault

Alexzander 2022-04-09 08:01:03

Based on William Faulkner's novel "The Village" (the first of the "Snopes" trilogy), the film depicts the history of poor boys starting from scratch. Except for the poor boys, the film almost completely weakens the original work. The social significance is replaced by a twists and turns love story. I read William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" a few years ago. By the time I saw the end, my memory of the beginning was blurry. The lack of cultural background knowledge was a major obstacle to reading. So-called symbolist stream of consciousness and other techniques seem to lead people into a garden of bifurcated paths. So I still watch Hollywood movies and chick literature on my own. It is said that when the most outstanding American writer is short of money, he also does odd jobs for Hollywood production companies on and off, writing and writing scripts to earn some extra money. As the original author, Faulkner may have some heartache for "The Long Hot Summer", but the script must adapt to the needs of consumers when it arrives in Hollywood.

Although from a modern point of view, the drama of the forty or fifty years of movies is a bit heavier, and the story is a bit older, but the role of Clara in it is a brilliant summary of today's leftover women. She has a stable job, good looks, and arrogant personality, but she has never been able to find the right person. She can only deceive herself into thinking that she loves someone and someone loves her, and she faces the censure and urging of her dictatorial father at any time. marriage. To the father, she felt like a reproductive tool to strengthen his family, which is a shame for women who have great fantasies about love. But life is so frustrating sometimes.

The rich young master she loves treats her indifferently and restrained, but the hillbilly who doesn't know where she came from is haunting her like a nightmare. The acquaintance of Newman and Woodward in real life is also quite similar to the beginning of the movie. Newman opened the prelude to love at first sight with the phrase "Jeez, what an extraordinarily pretty girl". It is said that Woodward thought this good-looking man was very noisy. . Their relationship heated up with the rehearsal of the Broadway play "Picnic," and because Newman was already married and a father of three children, they avoided it for the next few years. On the other side, Newman had to get caught up in a divorce tug of war. In fact, the original protagonists of "The Long Hot Summer" were not the two of them. In the end, Newman squeezed out Brando, and Woodward replaced the pregnant heroine. By the end of the filming of "The Long Hot Summer", the lovers had happily arranged their marriage plans.

Although the story is the cliché of the princess falling in love with the poor child + arrogance and prejudice, there are also many notable points in the characters and development. Ben Quick is not an infatuated man with a spirit of fearless sacrifice. His cunning and shrewdness is appreciated by the old rich man. He is confident that he can get Clara's favor, even if every direct and rude words always stir the beauty's heart into ripples, secretly resentful and indifferent. Be right. When Clara said she gave him hope at the first sight of his grim blue eyes, he replied sarcastically, "You're right about the color."

Back to the topic of leftover women, Clara, who is obsessed with Austin and has a straight life, is completely the prototype of the modern leftover women. Her monologue analyzes the crux of the leftover women invariably, "Mr. Quick, I am a human being. Do you understand what that means? It means I set a price on myself, a high high price. You may be surprised to know it, but I've got quite a lot to give. I've got things I have been saving up my whole life, things like love and understanding and, and jokes and good times and good cooking. I'm prepared to be the queen of Sheba for some lucky man, or at the very least the best wife that any man could hope for. Now that's my human history, and it's not gonna be bought and sold, and it's certainly not gonna be given away to any passing stranger. ”

… Forgetting some analysis, I'm a little sleepy.

Queen Sheba, who was born as an ideal husband, still couldn't resist the rogue's ice blue eyes (of course, who called that person Paul Newman), Newman's light in the movie The shot of holding the pillow on the arm is so sexy that it makes people's face full of anger, and "you are cute with glasses, and you are very beautiful without glasses", flirting with people sleeping in the back room, tsk tsk.

I also forgot to mention the important character in the movie, Clara's irritable and authoritarian father, Old Varner. In fact, Orson Welles who played this role was only in his early 40s, but the weight of BH almost made him do not need any makeup. Entering the role (although he has a fake nose in it), Zizi's sweaty and oily face is directly reminiscent of the long hot summers in Mississippi, and it is not easy to be an actor.

In the DVD's tidbits, watching Newman rubbing his reading glasses on his lap, his wife of 50 years happily recalling the past, made us onlookers feel romantic.

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Extended Reading

The Long, Hot Summer quotes

  • Will Varner: I've been watching you. I like your push, yes. I like your style. I like your brass. It ain't too dissimilar from the way I operate.

  • Ben: That's a long time to live in one place.

    Alan Stewart: You don't believe in living in one place, Mr. Quick?

    Ben: Well, my family moved. Not that they wanted to. They was encouraged by the local citizens.