The Long Hot Summer (1958) Question (Spoilers)

Cafe Society
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So I watched The Long Hot Summer yesterday afternoon (thanks, Netflix!) and one thing was unclear to me.

Was Alan Stewart’s character (played by Richard Anderson of Six Million Dollar Man fame) supposed to be gay?

He’s continually portratyed as a ‘momma’s boy’ or somesuch and when confronted at the Church Bazaar he tells Clara something along the lines of ‘I do love you…just not the way you want’.

So it left me confused as to whether the intent was to portray him as southern aristocracy completely dominated by his mother (perhaps to offset him from the Varner girls who are dominated by their father) and therefore unable to commit to another woman or whether he was gay (and the film being made in 1958 the topic being ‘unmentionable’ or something).

It’s not like it’s pivotal to the plot or anything. But it left me confused as to the motivations of the character.

I know there are people more knowledgeable about films that I here. Can anyone help clarify?

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JC, I’ve spent a pleasant half-hour or so browsing through online reviews of the movie, and I can’t find a single reference to the character possibly being gay! But as you mention it, I am struck by the similarity to Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, where the husband was supposed to be gay and they changed it for the movie. However, that was a play written by Tennessee Williams, and this is based on William Faulkner short stories. I’m no Faulkner expert, but I don’t think gayness was a “problem” he dealt with in his fiction.

So, I have no answer, but am looking forward to someone who may come along and provide one. Archive Guy you out there? :slight_smile:

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Well, that’s sort of what I thought, too (about Faulkner).

But I still think it was too vaguely portrayed. I never got WHY he couldn’t marry Clara. Whatever reason he had was vague and unspecific enough to leave it open to interpretation, which is fine but I’m thinking wasn’t quite the goal.