shadydame I saw this for the first time when I was about 11 years old. Of course, I then had a crush on Don Johnson in "Miami Vice". I am 32 years old now and am still swept away by this movie. I recorded it off regular TV, back in the day. As I have grown older, I love it even more. I don't play it often now as it is completely recorded verbatim in my memory. (plus my vcr recording is wearing thin!) I am not the romantic type, but this movie makes me feel like the romanticized fantasy of a hero of a man pursuing a woman. In this movie there is treachery, scheming, seduction, suspicion, heroism, compassion, and improbable luck. The plot is very basic; people believing their morals are better than the other. White is better than black. Rich is better than poor. I object! The strenght of the oppressed stereotype, rich and race, is exploded all over the screen! Give it a try! It is 3 hours long, but well worth the fantasy!

Greg Couture Taped this from a recent commercial-ridden broadcast recently and had the opportunity to compare it with the 20th-Century Fox film starring Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman, shown tonight on AMC (not letterboxed, darn it!) This TV film suffered from some rather prodigious miscasting, in my view, and certainly seemed tedious and drawn out, compared to Martin Ritt's brisk direction of the CinemaScope mounting. I felt that Judith Ivey and Jason Robards, Jr., especially, were unconvincing and Don Johnson's oily charm, or lack of it, made Paul Newman's turn as Ben Quick look like Olivier's finest hour. Only Cybill Shepherd was given the chance to approximate Lee Remick's verve and sass as Eula Varner. And why did they bother to say that Ava Gardner was a part of the cast? She seems to be seen only in a few long shots, or did they edit out her few scenes to make room for all those advertisers? A disappointment, compared to the theatrical film.

rajahro I first saw this as the mini series in 1985; I have watched it three or four times since then, most recently tonight. It is not consistently the greatest TV movie ever made, but the combination of Judith Ivey, Jason Robards and Don Johnson is wonderful. Cybill Shepherd is somewhat wasted as Eula, and the part of Jody is a pretty difficult one, but William Russ is perfect as the weaselly son of a powerful father. I enjoy this more every time I watch it, the locations, the soundtrack, the love story between Noelle Varner (Ivey) and Ben Quick (Johnson) as two strong willed people, one running from his past, the other hoping for a future. It's definitely worth a look-or two or three.

jobuck Forgive me, but I am writing under false pretenses. I have not seen "Long Hot Summer." Yet I still feel I can base my opinion solely on the cast and other factors. It seems like the producer got a bunch of box office names together, adapted works by William Faulkner for effect, made one film of three different works (I assume they are "Barn Burning", The Pony", and "The Hamlet")-I guess he couldn't afford three separate films-and called the whole thing by a Tennessee Williams play. How pretentious. And how many of those who appeared in it have ever even read a Faulkner book? If even one has (I am not God) I will spare them. Those who may have enjoyed the film probably saw nothing wrong with Yul Brynner as Jason Compson. (Please, no reflection on Yul.) I empathise with "anonymous" of Atlanta. I hope to one day watch it to fortify my opinion.