Editing The Night of the Hunter (film) (section)

==Reception==
===Contemporaneous===
''The Night of the Hunter'' was a failure with both audiences and critics at its initial release.<ref name=eiffel/> Laughton took the failure of his first film personally, and never attempted to make another film.{{sfn|Algar|1995|loc=13:55}}

[[Bosley Crowther]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' called the film "a weird and intriguing endeavor", adding: "unfortunately the story and the thesis presented by Mr. Grubb had to be carried through by Mr. Laughton to a finish—and it is here that he goes wrong. For the evolution of the melodrama, after the threatened, frightened children flee home, angles off into that allegorical contrast of the forces of Evil and Good."<ref>{{cite news|last=Crowther|first=Bosley|author-link=Bosley Crowther|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1955/09/30/archives/bogeyman-plus.html|title=Screen: Bogeyman Plus|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=September 30, 1955|access-date=January 30, 2018}}</ref> Gene Arneel of ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' summarized: "The relentless terror of Davis Grubb's novel got away from Paul Gregory and Charles Laughton in their translation of ''Night of the Hunter''. This start for Gregory as producer and Laughton as director is rich in promise but the completed product, bewitching at times, loses sustained drive via too many offbeat touches that have a misty effect."<ref>{{cite news|last=Arneel|first=Gene|url=https://archive.org/details/variety199-1955-07/page/n133/mode/2up|title=Film Reviews: The Night of the Hunter|work=Variety|page=6|date=July 20, 1955|access-date=June 10, 2021|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> ''[[Harrison's Reports]]'' wrote, "The picture might have some appeal for those who patronize art houses in search of the unusual in movie fare, but the great majority of those who see it will look upon it as a choppily-edited, foggy melodrama peopled with foggy characters."<ref>{{cite magazine|title='The Night of the Hunter' with Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters and Lillian Gish|url=https://archive.org/details/harrisonsreports37harr/page/n139/mode/2up|magazine=Harrison's Reports|page=120|date=July 23, 1955|access-date=June 10, 2021|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' summed up the film, "If sometimes it strains too hard at being simple and winds up being pretentious, it still is one of the year's most interesting and provocative films."<ref>{{cite magazine |title=A Diabolical Preacher Runs Amok |magazine=[[Life (magazine)|Life]] |page=49 |date=August 1, 1955 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xlYEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA49 |via=Google Books |access-date=February 8, 2020}}</ref>

The [[Legion of Decency]] gave the film a B because it degraded marriage, and the Protestant Motion Picture Council rated it "objectionable", saying that any religious person would be offended by it. The film was also banned in [[Memphis, Tennessee]], by the city's head of censorship, [[Lloyd Binford]].{{sfn|Clubb|Rosas|2010|loc=35:55}}<ref name="afi" /> Great Britain rated the film "adults only."<ref name="afi" />

===Retrospective===
Over time, ''The Night of the Hunter'' has been reassessed and recognized as a classic.{{sfn|Clubb|Rosas|2010|loc=37:26}} It began as a [[cult film]], with a small group of fans, and regularly played at museums and in revival houses. Its popularity grew as a new generation of children were exposed to the film when it played on television.{{sfn|Clubb|Rosas|2010|loc=36:13}} In the 1970s, as the field of film criticism began to expand, many articles were written about the film.{{sfn|Clubb|Rosas|2010|loc=36:55}}

[[Roger Ebert]] wrote, "what a compelling, frightening and beautiful film it is! And how well it has survived its period. Many films of the mid-1950s, even the good ones, seem somewhat dated now, but by setting his story in an invented movie world outside conventional realism, Laughton gave it a timelessness... It is one of the most frightening of movies, with one of the most unforgettable of villains, and on both of those scores, it holds up... well after four decades."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F19961124%2FREVIEWS08%2F401010344%2F1023 |title=The Night of the Hunter (1955) |website=Chicago Sun-Times |last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |date=November 24, 1996 |access-date=October 17, 2006 |archive-date=December 7, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081207070242/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F19961124%2FREVIEWS08%2F401010344%2F1023 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Dave Kehr]] wrote that "Charles Laughton's first and only film as a director is an enduring masterpiece—dark, deep, beautiful, aglow... The source of its style and power is mysterious—it is a film without precedent and without any real equals."<ref>{{cite news |last=Kehr |first=Dave |date=October 26, 1985 |title=The Night of the Hunter |work=[[Chicago Reader]] |url=https://chicagoreader.com/film/the-night-of-the-hunter/}}</ref>

On [[Rotten Tomatoes]], 93% of {{nowrap|80 critics}} gave the film a positive review, with a [[weighted average]] rating of 9.10/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Featuring Robert Mitchum's formidable performance as a child-hunting preacher, ''The Night of the Hunter'' is a disturbing look at good and evil."<ref>{{Citation|title=The Night of the Hunter (1955)|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/night_of_the_hunter|language=en|access-date=September 20, 2022}}</ref> {{Metacritic film prose|97|21|access-date=January 21, 2025}}<ref>{{Cite Metacritic |title=The Night of the Hunter |id=the-night-of-the-hunter |type=movie |access-date=January 21, 2025}}</ref>

In 2015, Taste of Cinema ranked the film 21st among the "30 Great [[Psychopathy|Psychopath]] Movies That Are Worth Your Time", and [[GamesRadar+]] named Powell one of the "50 Creepiest Movie Psychopaths.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Turer |first=Jason |date=2015-04-09 |title=30 Great Psychopath Movies That Are Worth Your Time |url=https://www.tasteofcinema.com/2015/30-great-psychopath-movies-that-are-worth-your-time/ |access-date=2025-03-08 |website=Taste of Cinema - Movie Reviews and Classic Movie Lists |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=published |first=Joshua Winning |date=2013-03-14 |title=50 Creepiest Movie Psychopaths |url=https://www.gamesradar.com/50-creepiest-movie-psychopaths/ |access-date=2025-03-08 |website=gamesradar |language=en}}</ref>

===Legacy===
In 1992, the United States [[Library of Congress]] deemed ''The Night of the Hunter'' to be "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", and selected the film for preservation in its [[National Film Registry]].{{sfn|Couchman|2009|p=216}} The film was rated No. 90 on [[Bravo (US TV channel)|Bravo]]'s [[100 Scariest Movie Moments]]. In a 2007 listing of the 100 Most Beautiful Films, ''[[Cahiers du cinéma]]'' ranked ''The Night of the Hunter'' No. 2.<ref name="cahiers-du-cinéma"/> It is among the top ten in the BFI list of the 50 films you should see by the age of 14. In 2008, it was ranked as the 71st greatest movie of all time by ''[[Empire (magazine)|Empire]]'' magazine in its issue of ''The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time''.<ref>{{cite web|website=Empire|url=https://empireonline.com/500/85.asp|title=The 500 Greatest Films Of All Time|access-date=January 28, 2018|date=June 12, 2017|archive-date=September 24, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924011912/http://www.empireonline.com/500/85.asp|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2012, ''[[Sight and Sound]]'' magazine's decennial "Greatest Films of All Time" poll ranked it as the 63rd greatest film ever made; in 2022, the same poll put it at No. 25.<ref>{{cite web | title = The 100 Greatest Films of All Time 2012 | url = https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/polls/greatest-films-all-time-2012 | date = 2021-06-28}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = The Greatest Films of All Time | url = https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/greatest-films-all-time | date = 2022-12-01}}</ref>

[[American Film Institute]] recognition
* [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills]] – No. 34
* [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains]] – Preacher Harry Powell - Villain No. 29

Powell's speech about love and hate has become a memorable moment in film history. In the 1989 [[Spike Lee]] film ''[[Do the Right Thing]]'', the character [[Radio Raheem]] wears [[brass knuckles]] saying "love" and "hate" on each hand and gives a speech that is an almost verbatim copy of Powell's.<ref>{{cite web |last=Valladares |first=Carlos |title=Waking up to the genius of 'The Night of the Hunter,' showing at the Stanford |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/movies/article/Waking-up-to-the-genius-of-The-Night-of-the-12857435.php |website=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |date=April 23, 2018 |access-date=February 8, 2020}}</ref>

The [[Coen brothers]] have referenced ''The Night of the Hunter'' in several of their own films, including ''[[The Big Lebowski]]'' ("the Dude abides", an echo of Rachel's closing line "They abide, and they endure") and ''[[True Grit (2010 film)|True Grit]]'' (the visual style of Rooster's night ride with Mattie is similar to that of John and Pearl's river journey, and the score uses the music from ''Leaning on the Everlasting Arms'').<ref>{{cite web |last=Whipp |first=Glenn |title=The Coen brothers' gritty tale for kids |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2011-jan-11-la-en-true-grit-20110111-story.html |website=[[The Los Angeles Times]] |date=January 11, 2011 |access-date=January 23, 2021}}</ref>