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 Southern Gothic
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Wise Blood
Directed by John Huston • 1979 • United States
Starring Brad Dourif, Ned Beatty, Harry Dean StantonIn this acclaimed adaptation of the first novel by legendary Southern writer Flannery O’Connor, John Huston vividly brings to life her poetic world of American eccentricity. Brad Dourif, in an imp...
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Down by Law
Directed by Jim Jarmusch • 1986 • United States
Starring Tom Waits, John Lurie, Roberto BenigniDirector Jim Jarmusch followed up his brilliant breakout film STRANGER THAN PARADISE with another, equally beloved portrait of loners and misfits in the American landscape. When fate brings together t...
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Wildcat
Directed by Ethan Hawke • 2023 • United States
Starring Maya Hawke, Laura Linney, Philip EttingerDirected and cowritten by Ethan Hawke, WILDCAT invites viewers to weave in and out of the mind of the celebrated southern gothic writer Flannery O’Connor as she ponders the great questions of her wr...
