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The Southerner (1945)
American Drama.
In this rural drama, Sam Tucker (Zachary Scott) is a Texan cotton picker who aspires to run his own farm and create a better life for his family, which includes two kids and the irritable Granny Tucker (Beulah Bondi).
Aided by his beautiful wife, Nona (Betty Field), Tucker begins to work a neglected plot of land, but numerous difficulties arise, including bad weather and conflicts with jealous neighbors, making it hard for the Tuckers to get ahead.
The Southerner is based on the novel “Hold Autumn in your Hand”, by George Sessions Perry, which won the first National Book Award in 1941.
The release of The Southerner in 1945 provoked intense negative reactions in various locations throughout the southern United States. In spite of Sam Tucker’s portrayal as an honest, hard-working, highly devoted family man in the film, some people in the South strongly objected to The Southerner due to what they viewed as the film’s “sordid depiction of life in the southern states.”
The film was banned on its release by the Memphis Board of Censors, which claimed it gave “a false impression of the South.”
| Directed by | Jean Renoir |
|---|---|
| Screenplay by | Hugo Butler Jean Renoir William Faulkner Nunnally Johnson |
| Based on | Hold Autumn in Your Hand 1941 novel by George Sessions Perry |
| Produced by | Robert Hakim David L. Loew |
| Starring | Zachary Scott Betty Field J. Carrol Naish Beulah Bondi |
| Cinematography | Lucien N. Andriot |
| Edited by | Gregg C. Tallas |
| Music by | Werner Janssen |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
|
Release date
|
May 18, 1945 |
|
Running time
|
92 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $750,000 |
