Directed by Martin Ritt • 1958 • United States
Starring Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Orson Welles
Sex, pyromania, and epic family drama heat up this southern-gothic scorcher adapted from three works by William Faulkner. In his first screen pairing opposite his soon-to-be wife Joanne Woodward, Paul Newman stars as Ben Quick, a handsome drifter trailed by accusations of barn burning, whose arrival in a small Mississippi town upsets the balance of the Varner family, a dysfunctional new-money clan. The Varners’ domineering patriarch (a scene-stealing Orson Welles) takes a shine to the ambitious Quick, igniting the jealousy of his own weak-willed son (Anthony Franciosa).
Up Next in Murderous Melodramas
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Home from the Hill
Directed by Vincente Minnelli • 1960 • United States
Starring Robert Mitchum, Eleanor Parker, George PeppardVincente Minnelli’s baroquely stylized melodrama casts Robert Mitchum as the patriarch of a wealthy Texas family who must confront their hidden secrets when his philandering ways come bac...
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Portrait in Black
Directed by Michael Gordon • 1960 • United States
Starring Lana Turner, Anthony Quinn, Richard BasehartIn this lavishly entertaining noir melodrama, bored, glamorous housewife Sheila Cabot (Lana Turner, swathed in luxe couture), wishing to be free of her crippled husband but not his enormous fo...
