Region 2 Spanish import, plays in English without subtitles. Ben Quick (Paul Newman) returns to a small town where his father was a notorious arsonist and slowly wins over the begrudging town patriarch, Will Varner. Things seem fine until Varner´s future son-in-law decides to implicate Quick in a terrible crime. Ben Quick (Paul Newman), a sullen but self-confident drifter, arrives in a small Mississippi town where his father had a bad reputation as a firebug. Will Varner (Orson Welles), the town´s patriarch, still holds a grudge against Quick´s dad, and when the young man decides to stay in town and sharecrop on Varner´s land, Will goes out of his way to make his life difficult. However, Will develops a grudging respect for Quick´s guts and determination, and he wishes that his weak-willed son Jody (Anthony Franciosa) could be more like him; Jody´s wife Eula (Lee Remick) happens to agree. In time, Will gets the idea that Quick might be a good match for his daughter Clara (Joanne Woodward) and a better choice to take over his business dealings than Jody. However, neither Clara nor Quick care to be told what to do, and moreover, Clara already has a beau, Alan (Richard Anderson). But Alan is even more of a milquetoast than Jody and is led by the nose by his mother (Mabel Albertson). Sparks begin to fly between Clara and Quick. When Jody fears he may lose his place as heir of Will´s estate, he takes drastic action, trapping his father in a barn, setting it on fire and planting evidence that would suggest that the blaze was Quick´s doing..
