Hurry Sundown (film)
| Hurry Sundown | |
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Original poster
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| Directed by | Otto Preminger |
| Produced by | Otto Preminger |
| Written by |
Horton Foote Thomas C. Ryan Based on the novel by K.B. Gilden |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Hugo Montenegro |
| Cinematography | Loyal Griggs Milton R. Krasner |
| Edited by |
Louis R. Loeffler Tony de Zarraga James D. Wells |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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146 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3,785,000 |
| Box office | $4,050,000 (rentals) (US/Canada) |
Hurry Sundown is a 1967 American drama film produced and directed by Otto Preminger. It stars Jane Fonda and Michael Caine. The screenplay by Horton Foote and Thomas C. Ryan is based on the 1965 novel of the same title by K.B. Gilden, a pseudonym for married couple Katya and Bert Gilden.
In 1946, bigoted, draft-dodging Henry Warren and his wife Julie Ann, owners of a Northern canning plant, are determined to purchase a large tract of uncultivated farmland in rural Georgia. Two plots remain beyond their grasp, one owned by Henry's cousin Rad McDowell and his wife Lou, the other by black farmer Reeve Scott, whose mother Rose had been Julie's mammy. Neither man is interested in selling his land, and they form a partnership to strengthen their claim to it, which infuriates Henry.
When Rose suddenly dies, Henry tries to persuade his wife to charge Reeve with illegal ownership of his property, but local teacher Vivian Thurlow searches the town's records and uncovers proof that Reeve legally registered the deed to his land. Julie, upset with Henry's treatment of their mentally challenged son, decides to leave him and drops her suit against Reeve.
With the help of Ku Klux Klansmen, Henry dynamites the levee above the farms, and Rad's oldest child drowns in the ensuing flood, much to Henry's dismay. Rather than admit defeat, Rad and Reeve decide to rebuild their decimated property with the assistance of their neighbors.
Otto Preminger was shown the galley proof of the 1,064-page Gilden manuscript by his brother Ingo and, fully expecting it to be another Gone with the Wind, purchased the film rights to the novel for $100,000 eight months prior to its publication. He initially intended to adapt it for a four-and-a-half-hour epic film that would be shown twice-a-day at what would be the highest price scale in the history of American film exhibition, with a top admission of $25 on Friday and Saturday nights. When the book sold a mere 300,000 copies, Preminger decided a less grandiose project might be in order.
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