| | | 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
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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
| 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 |
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| | Professional Reviews | VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever 0 of 10
A man used to working for others is given some land by an uncle and decides to pack up his family and try farming for himself. They find hardships as they struggle to support themselves. A superb, naturalistic celebration of a family's fight to survive and amid all the elements.
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