The Southerner (1945 film)
| The Southerner | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Jean Renoir |
| Produced by |
Robert Hakim David L. Loew |
| Screenplay by |
Hugo Butler Jean Renoir William Faulkner Nunnally Johnson |
| Based on |
Hold Autumn in Your Hand 1941 novel by George Sessions Perry |
| Starring |
Zachary Scott Betty Field J. Carrol Naish |
| Music by | Werner Janssen |
| Cinematography | Lucien N. Andriot |
| Edited by | Gregg C. Tallas |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
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Release date
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Running time
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92 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $750,000 |
The Southerner is a 1945 American film directed by Jean Renoir, based on the 1941 novel Hold Autumn in Your Hand by George Sessions Perry. The film received Oscar nominations for Best Director, Original Music Score and Sound. Renoir was named Best Director by the National Board of Review, which also named the film the third best of 1945.
Future director Robert Aldrich was an assistant director on this film.
Filming location for flood is below the site where Millerton Lake is located today. The flood was created by releases from the then recently completed Friant Dam.
Sam Tucker (Zachary Scott) is a cotton picker in Texas who decides to start his own farm. He and wife Nona (Betty Field), Granny (Beulah Bondi) and children Jot and Daisy set out with nothing but two mules and a bit of seed.
The land they lease has no working well, so neighbor Henry Devers (J. Carrol Naish) reluctantly lets the Tuckers share his water supply. They nearly starve and freeze during a hard winter. Come spring, the child Jot falls ill with "Spring Sickness" and desperately needs milk and vegetables to survive, but general store owner Harmie (Percy Kilbride) refuses the Tuckers credit.
Sam's friend Tim (Charles Kemper) offers to help find him a city job in a factory. Sam remains determined to make the farm work, and Harmie answers the family's prayers with the gift of a cow. Cotton blooms and a vegetable garden is planted. The bitter Devers and his nephew Finlay (Norman Lloyd) conspire to ruin the Tuckers, though, because Devers wants their land.
After a fight, Devers comes armed with a gun, only to find Sam about to catch a catfish that Devers has been after for years. In return for the fish and bragging rights that he caught it, he agrees to leave Sam's family alone. Harmie (Percy Kilbride) ends up marrying Sam's mother and life seems fruitful at last, only to have a terrible thunderstorm ruin their crop and ravage the Tuckers' home. They must start over once more.
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Wikipedia