Hurry Sundown

Otto Preminger, a director who liked to court controversy with provocative subject matter, took on race in the American South in this overheated melodrama with a screenplay by Horton Foote and Thomas C. Ryan, based on the bestselling titular novel by K.B. Gilden. Set in post–World War II Georgia, where the antebellum past is still alive, if not well, Hurry Sundown tells the story of privileged landowners trying to cheat poor blacks and whites out of their land, and an ensuing communal stand against corruption that plays out like an exaggerated version of the civil rights struggles of the '60s. Overwrought tension abounds in the torn allegiances, community loyalties, and marital strife, notably between Michael Caine and Jane Fonda as Henry and Julie Ann Warren, the land-rich but cash-poor children of privileged Southern aristocracy. John Phillip Law is Henry's sharecropping cousin, Rad, while Robert Hooks plays Rad's black neighbor, Reeve; together, the two join forces to combat Henry's attempted land grabs. The stereotypes were heavy-handed even in 1967 (and are almost cartoonish now), and the sociopolitical message lacks nuance, but the film is still entertaining as soap opera, thanks to the lively cast, which also includes Burgess Meredith as a flamboyantly corrupt judge, Beah Richards as Reeve's mother (and Julie Ann's one-time nanny), George Kennedy as the sheriff, Faye Dunaway (in her second screen appearance) as Rad's wife, and Diahann Carroll in a minor but pivotal role. A handsome-looking if flawed widescreen epic, this is a strong optional purchase. (S. Axmaker)[Blu-ray Review—Dec. 30, 2014—Olive, 142 min., not rated, $29.95—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1967's Hurry Sundown features a fine transfer and a DTS-HD mono soundtrack, but no extras. Bottom line: Preminger's uneven epic looks good on Blu-ray.]