Two short stories and a novel by William Faulkner were glued together to form the script of this torrid Deep South melodrama with a simply marvellous cast. Paul Newman is the drifter and redneck who catches the eye of Lee Remick and wins the favour of her father-in-law, local tyrant Orson Welles, who tries to pair him off with daughter Joanne Woodward. Ludicrously overheated but magnificent with it, this was the first of several pictures Newman made with Woodward; the couple were married shortly after filming was completed.

Accused barn burner and conman Ben Quick arrives in a small Mississippi town and quickly ingratiates himself with its richest family, the Varners.