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Plot Points - The Long Hot Summer (1958)

posted March 29, 2007 - 1:09pm
Plot Points - The Long Hot Summer (1958)

Starring: Paul Newman (Ben Quick), Joanne Woodward (Clara Varner), Orson Welles (Will Varner), Anthony Franciosa (Jody Varner), Lee Remick (Eula Varner), Angela Landsbury (Minnie Littlejohn), Richard Anderson (Alan Stewart) Directed by: Martin Ritt Writers: William Faulkner (story), Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr. (screenplay)

PROTAGONIST BEN'S DILEMMA: He is kicked from one county of Louisiana to another as a "barn burner" although the accusation could not be proven true. He wants to live a good straight life but the dark cloud of bad reputation follows him wherever he goes.

PROTAGONIST'S DESIRE: To settle and live the life of a prosperous Southern gentleman.

HIS CHIEF OBSTACLE: No one will give him the break he deserves in the class-conscious Southern society.

ESTABLISHING SHOT: A barn burning.

INCITING INCIDENT: Ben Quick is asked to leave the county by sundown and look for his fortune somewhere else..

PLOT POINT 1: Ben meets Clara while hitchhiking. Clara is the unmarried daughter of Will Varner who owns everything in the Frenchman's Cove.

MID POINT EVENT: Ben moves into the Big House and takes charge of Will's grocery store, to the immense grief of Jody.

PLOT POINT 2: Jody tries to kill his father Will and implicate Ben by locking Will up in the barn and setting it on fire.

3rd ACT RESOLUTION: Clara stands by Ben at the barn-burning incident and returns his love. Will and Jody make up. Presumably Ben and Clara marry and live happily ever after.



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