Morgen ist ein neuer Tag

This is the most embarrassing excuse for a serious picture I have ever seen.

I'm sure "Hurry Sundown" tested the pre-ratings MPAA for it's supposedly frank depiction of sexual themes. It probably required television editing as ABC ran this film several times in the early '70s.

You could cut the sexual tension with a knife if it wasn't so funny. Jane Fonda seductively playing the sax with Michael Caine was probably suggestive enough to cause the censors to get nervous. But then we have Faye Dunaway's cartoonish overacting in that bedroom scene with John Phillip Law. At least poor white trash have healthy sex lives.

The only thing criminal about this movie is that it attempted to tackle the thorny subject of race relations in the 1940s in such a cheap, heavy handed manner.

I won't argue with someone who says, "I hated this film". Clearly many people (including film critics) did. But, I disagree with those who say the acting performances were bad-----they were spot on. I disagree with those who say the "trashy" racist characters were over-the-top caricatures-----you haven't met some of my relatives. And, I disagree with those who say that real people never act like these characters do-----pick up a newspaper sometime, either 1950 or 2011. Yes, parts of the movie made me squirm and want to look away-----because the scenes were TOO real and heartbreaking. I, for one, do NOT want racism, past or present, swept under the rug. Show its ugliness. Make people squirm. Hollywood would never make "Hurry Sundown" today, because it is "politically incorrect". The film says our parents, children, neighbors, law enforcement officers, and politicians could be capable of violent racism. Really! No! Surely only in the movies!

This mint julep melodrama is a hooty delight. I suppose that at the time it was meant to shine a light on racial injustice in the south but it just comes off as an over-baked soap opera. Preminger was the wrong director for such a piece of honeyed excess, this is the type of thing at which Douglas Sirk excelled and could make trenchant observations while still entertaining the masses. Still worth watching for the cast alone. Jane Fonda gives the most enjoyable performance even if her honeychile accent comes and goes. And even as a sharecropper's wife with four kids Faye Dunaway manages to look ravishing. If you like overdone melodramas with lots of stars and little sense than this is for you, if not stay away!

I first knew about this film when I read about it in the book, "The Fifty Worst Films of All Time" and I also found out about its location shooting in my current hometown of Baton Rouge, La., either there or elsewhere. I also read that the locals there treated the cast and crew hostilely which makes me glad that my family didn't even move there until 1975 when I was about 7 and being just a kid, I usually got away with getting occasionally angry whenever other children my age called me "Chinese" (I'm actually of Filipino descent). About the movie itself, well, the first 30 minutes seemed all right dramatically-wise with the setting up of characters before Beah Richards' over-the-top heart attack turned the picture into close of an overheated soap opera worthy of "Dallas"-of which George Kennedy, who's a hoot as the sheriff with a penchant for liking the "coloreds", would join the cast of in the late '80s-especially whenever that mentally-challenged kid of Michael Caine and Jane Fonda was constantly crying. Caine had just become a star with Alfie while Ms. Fonda would become a sex symbol with Barbarella though maybe this film also contributed to her status when she played hubby Caine's sax. Another notable appearance was that of Faye Dunaway in an early role just before she became a star in Bonnie and Clyde. Burgess Meredith chews plenty of scenery as a bigoted judge especially when sharing some of that with Jim Backus as one of the attorneys in a court scene. By the way, Backus wasn't the only Sherwood Schwartz series regular-from "Gilligan's Island"-in that sequence as future star of "The Brady Bunch"-Robert Reed-would be his opposite here. And then there's Diahann Carroll who would later star in her own groundbreaking series the following year called "Julia". Okay, with that out of the way, I'll just say that I thought the drama was entertaining but I also knew that it's not for all tastes and leave it at that. So on that note, I recommend Hurry Sundown. P.S. On Wikipedia, I just found out that Preminger picked BR on the recommendation of production designer Gene Callahan who lived and eventually died there.

If Otto Preminger's "Hurry Sundown" is guilty of anything, it's biting off more than it can chew. With a 146 minute running time, a clutter of stars and characters, and what seems like a jumble of conflicting themes, "Hurry Sundown" has been seen by many critics as opportunistic rabble-rousing, overtly melodramatic and clunky. But if you look past Preminger's drive to get attention and Michael Caine's questionable southern accent, you may find a wholly entertaining film or failing that, a period piece that encapsulates the feelings of its maker/s at a time when such issues as racism ran rampant.

When a cannery looks to buy large plots of uncultivated farmland, local big cheese Henry Warren (Michael Caine) enthusiastically becomes partners to the plan selling his wife Julie's (Jane Fonda) family's land at a profit. However, to make the deal he must convince his cousin Rad (John Phillip Law) and his wife's old mammy Rose (Beah Richards) to sell their plots as well. When Rose dies of a heart attack, her son Reeve (Robert Hooks) becomes landowner but is then sued for ownership by Henry. Reeve and Rad must then work together to fight battles both real and legal to keep their homes from being destroyed.

The lack of tact in this film is stupefyingly brilliant. With the bluntness of TNT, "Hurry Sundown" creates not characters but caricatures. George Kennedy makes an appearance as a bumbling Sheriff, Burgess Meredith as a bigoted judge and Madeleine Sherwood as the saintly teacher who eggs Reeves on. All you need is a snooty butler and a buxom blonde bimbo and you got yourself a stock character Christmas. Still it's in their simplicity that you find the true virtue of the film. Their is no nuance in racism, nor is their any when you're exploiting friends and family like Henry does. The good guys are good, the bad guys are bad, their is no in-between and for better or worse, Preminger seems to feel very strongly about that fact.

Racism is the primary theme and focus of "Hurry Sundown" but it is by no means the only theme, nor the only controversy during release. sexuality and fidelity have their time in the sun as well. Rad and his wife Lou (Faye Dunaway) enjoy a healthy sex life while Henry and Julie sexually frustrate each other to the point of violence. Preminger really does seem to take delight in toying with the emotions of his characters (as well as taking suggestive camera shots), as shown when Fonda attempts to seduce Henry with his own saxophone. In addition, family relationships, greed, corruption, religion are also expanded on, creating a solid if hyperbolic worldview. Like a splatter painting its messy yet colorful.

All in all, "Hurry Sundown" has the pulpy sensationalism you can expect from an Otto Preminger production. His passion for the material shines through even when the story strays into melodrama. While filming in Louisiana, locals attempted to sabotage filming to the point of sniping a convoy of cast and crew members. It reminds me of an adage I once heard; "If they're shooting at you, you're doing something right."

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