Last of the Mobile Hot Shots

Last of the Mobile Hot Shots
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Sidney Lumet
Produced by	Sidney Lumet
Written by	Gore Vidal
Based on	The Seven Descents of Myrtle by Tennessee Williams
Starring	James Coburn Lynn Redgrave Robert Hooks
Music by	Quincy Jones
Cinematography	James Wong Howe
Edited by	Alan Heim
Distributed by	Warner Bros.-Seven Arts
Release date	14 January 1970
Running time	100 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Last of the Mobile Hot Shots (1970) is an American drama film. The screenplay by Gore Vidal is based on the Tennessee Williams play The Seven Descents of Myrtle, which opened on Broadway in March 1968 and ran for 29 performances.

Sidney Lumet directed Lynn Redgrave as Myrtle, James Coburn as Jeb, and Robert Hooks as Chicken. The film was made in New Orleans and St. Francisville, Louisiana. It was released as Blood Kin in Europe.

In New Orleans, Myrtle Kane (Lynn Redgrave) and Jeb Thorington (James Coburn) arrive on The Rube Benedict Show where the eponymous host (Reggie King) selects them and another couple as contestants. Despite not knowing each other, the couple wins the competition, and decides to earn $3,500 on one condition to have their marriage ordained by a minister on set. Using the check to restore Waverley Plantation, the couple arrives there, about 100 miles upstream from New Orleans, where Jeb introduces his wife to the decaying plantation mansion his family has owned since 1840. Sometime later, Jeb introduces Myrtle to his multiracial half-brother Chicken – on his father's side – who earned his name for hoarding chickens to the rooftop during their childhood. Myrtle eventually shares her background in show business as the last surviving member of an Alabama female quintet named the Mobile Hot-Shots.

After Myrtle steps out, Jeb and Chicken engage in an argument where Jeb states his ownership over the mansion while Chicken states that when Jeb succumbs to terminal lung cancer, he will become the new owner as he is next of kin. Then, Jeb reveals to Myrtle in a flashback that he was discharged from the army, he engages in a "war" with Chicken ordering his half-brother to leave the mansion, though Chicken would return to sign an agreement making him the next subsequent owner.