As Summers Die


As Summers Die is a 1986 American made-for-television drama film starring Scott Glenn, Jamie Lee Curtis, Bette Davis and Beah Richards, directed by Jean-Claude Tramont. The film is loosely based on Winston Groom's 1980 novel of the same name about greed, bigotry and justice in late 1950s segregationist southern Louisiana. It was filmed in Valdosta, Georgia and premiered on HBO on May 18, 1986. This is last television film produced by HBO Premiere Films before folden into HBO Pictures, the next HBO Premiere Films' should be Apology. It was later released on VHS by HBO/Cannon Video.

Plot

Lawyer Willie Croft is indifferent, letting his practice run itself, when the town's richest family begins a determined effort to obtain the farm of an old black woman, Elvira Backus. Elvira claims she was given her land by the dead family patriarch, Jonathan Holt, and finds an unlikely ally in Jonathan's aging sister, Hannah Loftin, whose mental competence is being challenged by the Holt clan. As for Croft, his growing involvement in the case intensifies when he begins to fall in love with Hannah's high-spirited niece, Whitsey.

Cast