rixrex I saw this film when very young back in the 70s, and didn't remember much about it except that it had some sort of big problem. Saw it again recently, and realized what the problem was right at the end of the film.Other than being quite melodramatic with many caricatures, Michael Caine with a southern accent, uneven and moving between seriousness and lampooning, I realized the ending was really miserable.All the other things could be forgiven since the film does capture a viewer's interest, but the ending is such that it seems about 20 or 30 minutes of film was left on the cutting room floor. We have a tragic incident where a white farmer's son is killed in an ill-planned blasting by a KKK styled group of men, and barely a minute after he is set out on a neighbors table, the father is back outside promising to rebuild with no sense of anyone grieving.Then a couple more minutes pass, and he and his black neighbors are marching to his property with tools and implements, pushing past the Sheriff, to put the farm back into order, with no resolution or prosecution of those responsible for killing the child. It's as if a whole sequence is missing, meaning the boy's funeral, an investigation and the capture of the main character who caused the death, or at least that he has some sort of retribution for his murderous act. It just seems like the editors were told by the producers to make cuts because the film was already too long.Besides this weird and unsettling rushed ending, the whole setup of the film seems much more like the 1960s when it was filmed rather than the 1940s when it supposedly took place. Had it been about a Vietnam Vet returning home and fighting against a corrupt and bigoted system, rather than a WW2 Vet, it would have been more believable. Even some of the attitudes and clothing, and soundtrack seem more 1960s, when it was filmed, than 1940s. Indeed the battle against racial inequality as presented here is more believable as a 1960s attitude, as it seems more modern than the attitudes of the 1940s.Other than these two problems, the film is a fairly mediocre but entertaining melodrama, with capital M.

mark.waltz And it has an all-star cast. Director Otto Preminger trails down Tennessee Williams territory in this southern saga of greed, prejudice, power struggles and romantic longing. Set in Georgia just after the end of World War II, the epic surrounds the attempts of a land developer (Michael Caine) to get his hands on two farms-one owned by white John Phillip Law, the other supposedly by aging Beah Richards. Ms. Richards was the nanny of Caines' heiress wife (Jane Fonda), and claims that decades ago, her grandfather purchased the land. Fonda and Caine have many difficulties in their married, one of which is a mentally disturbed young son who throws tantrums and cries at just about anything. Law is married to the beautiful Dunaway, and has three children, one of whom resents his parents and wishes he were Caine's son. Ms. Richards' recently returned veteran son (Robert Hooks) has been taking care of the farm for her, and has hopes that beautiful school teacher Diahann Carroll will marry him. Everything explodes for these people when Fonda pays a visit on Richards at Caine's request to ask her to move. Richards refuses, and the resulting trial (from a lawsuit filed by Fonda) explodes into chaos with a violent outcome.Family ties and long acquaintances are all threatened in this tragedy that makes "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" look like "Song of the South". The plot line is convoluted and the film a bit overlong, but it moves fast, and features outstanding production values. The acting is another matter. Some performances are mixed (Fonda and Caine's Southern accents are not always convincing), overacted (Burgess Meredith as the town's bigoted judge), subtle (Madeline Sherwood as his seemingly loyal wife who has a mind of her own), or heartbreaking (Richards). Familiar faces as Robert Reed, Jim Backus and Doro Merande also appear. I was looking forward to seeing future mega-stars Jane Fonda and Faye Dunaway working together, but the only scene they share does not have any real dialogue between them. Both of them do share scenes with the lovely Diahann Carroll, and her scene in a white ladies' bathroom with Fonda is unforgettable. As I mentioned, Meredith overacts. It seems like he hadn't gotten "Batman's" Penguin out of his system before doing his scenes, only the makeup. The film seems very well intended, but with the plethora of Southern based melodramas at the time ("The Chase", "This Property is Condemned"), "Hurry Sundown" comes off as just another trashy novel flashily adapted for the screen.

JasparLamarCrabb Otto Preminger really missteps with this half-hearted expose of racism in the US south shortly after the end of WWII. It's really about a money hungry land grabbing scheme and quite a bit less about racism than one would think. Michael Caine (sporting the worst southern accent imaginable) is married to wealthy Jane Fonda and wants to sell her land (and two adjacent lots) to a developer. He's stopped by farmers John Phillip Law & Robert Hooks. Despite the inflammatory issues that are raised, Preminger pulls his punches and instead of making anything as socially relevant as IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, he makes a glossy soap opera with one caricature after another paraded out. Law and Hooks are the noble poor, Caine is nearly psychotic, Burgess Meredith (as a bigoted judge) is a complete travesty and Madeline Sherwood (as his social climbing wife) comes across as community theater version of Big Mama. Dismal in the extreme and featuring what may very well be the least erotic seduction scene ever filmed (Fonda "plays" Caine's saxophone in hopes of luring him into bed). Blech! The typically large Preminger cast includes Faye Dunaway, Diahann Carroll, George Kennedy, Robert Reed, and Jim Backus.

esolis20041 The job of an actor is to find 'THE' moment in his/her material and to stir the audience in either dramatic or comic terms. All the negatives and some positives have already been stated in this column about "Hurry Sundown." However, no one has bothered to really tell about the actress who plays Rose. Her name was Beah Richards, best remembered by some as Sidney Poitier's mother in "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner." Ms. Richards has lingered in my memory since I saw "Hurry Sundown" in the theatre all those years ago. Her performance is monumental here, although, the material, as already stated by many, stunk as skunk! She 'rose' over all the 'stars' in this sorrowful piece to create her memorable portrait. The only reason I'd want to see this film on DVD would be to see her amazing performance once again. Ms. Richards truly found that moment to stir the emotions in an otherwise poorly conceived film.