Sponsored Advertisement:

Compare hotel rates and book a hotel online. Reserve cheap airport car rentals at discount rates. Find computer deals now. Find car parts and their prices.

Browse a category or products!

Home >> DVDs >> Drama >> Southerner
Product Information
1360076
Southerner
 
A story of America... As warm and vibrant as the people themselves!
 
 
Features: DVD, Dolby, Digital Audio
 
French director Jean Renior came up with a real-life slice of Americana in this drama, which he also helped to write, chronicling a year in the life of a tenant-farmer and his family. Zachary Scott abandoned his usual smooth characterizations to portray the beleaguered man, coping with trying to survive against the problems of farming and a troublesome neighbor. Excellent photography and top performances by all make this a special film not to be missed by any classic film fan. Based on George Sessions Perry's novel, Hold Autumn in Your Hand, The Southerner was Renoir's favorite among his American films. The film, though not a huge box office success for United Artists, garnered a large amount of critical acclaim and won the Venice Film Festival's Best Picture Award.
 
"Superb drama of family struggling to make farmland self-supporting against serious odds."  Leonard Maltin
"A superb, naturalistic celebration..."  VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever

 


Editor's Note

Zachary Scott stars as Sam Tucker in this story of a Texas sharecropper who decides, with the support of his wife Nona (Betty Fields), to buy a small piece of land and work for himself. The property they buy is rundown and with their young children, they must struggle to survive. A misanthropic neighbor, Devers (J. Carroll Naish), who grudgingly offers them the use of his well but refuses the milk they need when their son, Jot (Jay Gilpin), is dangerously ill, sets the tone for much that will follow.


Plot Summary

A harsh, unsentimental view of rural life in the Southern United States, THE SOUTHERNER stars Zachary Scott as Sam Tucker, a sharecropper who has spent his life picking cotton. Taking to heart the dying words of his Uncle Pete (Paul E. Burns), he decides to buy a small piece of land and try to make it work as a family farm.The scrap of land he's able to afford needs a great deal of work, but his wife Nona (Betty Field) and his children Jot (Jay Gilpin) and Daisy (Bunny Sunshine) pitch in. Their misanthropic neighbor, Devers (J. Carroll Naish), allows them to use water from his well, but in the winter, when Jot becomes extremely ill, he refuses to lend them the milk the doctor prescribes. Although the boy survives, Sam finds that Devers's attitude is shared by local grocer Harmie (Percy Kilbride) and others in the mean-spirited little hamlet. Running low on food, Sam contemplates the offer of a factory job, but decides to hold out until after the harvest. William Faulkner contributed to the script of this superb portrait of struggling farmers, which director Jean Renoir considered the best of his American films.

 
Features
Interactive Menus
Standard Version
English Dolby Mono
Additional Footage
Cast/Crew Bios
Scene Access
 
Technical Info

Release Information
Studio: Video Communications
Release Date: 7/3/2001
Running Time: 91 minutes
Original Release Date: 1945
Catalog ID: 8211
UPC: 00089859821127
Number of Discs: 1

Audio & Video
Original Language: English
Available Audio Tracks: English
Video: B&W

Aspect Ratio
4:3

 
Cast & Crew
Betty Field
Beulah Bondi
Blanche Yurka
J. Carrol Naish
Zachary Scott
Jean Renoir - Director
Lucien Andriot - Director of Photography
Werner Janssen - Musical Score
David L. Loew - Producer

 
Awards

Oscar (1946)
   Jean Renoir, Nominee, Best Director
   Werner Janssen, Nominee, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture
   Jack Whitney, Nominee, Best Sound, Recording

Home | Terms | Privacy | Resources | About Us | Contact Us