The Grapes of Wrath
by John Ford
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Charley Grapewin, Dorris Bowdon, Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John CarradineDirector: John Ford
Cinematographer: Gregg Toland
Editor: Robert L. Simpson
Producer: Darryl F. Zanuck
Producer: Nunnally Johnson
Writer: Nunnally Johnson
Writer: John Steinbeck
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; Spanish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 128 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-04-06
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Movie Reviews of The Grapes of Wrath
Movie Review: "I'll be there every time a cop is beatin' a guy up..."
Summary: 5 Stars
Directed by John Ford and adapted from the famous novel by John Steinbeck, "The Grapes of Wrath" is a gloomy masterpiece that challenges many of the assumptions we have about capitalism. Indeed, had Franklin Delano Roosevelt not come to power, social revolution would have been a very real possibility during the 1920's.
The reason this film is not as celebrated as, say, "Citizen Kane" or other of the AFI films is because it exposes poverty in America for what it is: as bad as anywhere else. We see the Joad family, a family that could be ours' very easily with a few alterations in time and space, suffering unimaginably.
Tom Joad, played flawlessly by Henry Fonda in a sort of Zen simplicity of growing realization, is the youngest man in the Joad clan. Having served 4 years for murder (justified homicide), he returns to the home in California which no longer exists. The suffering of his parents and two younger siblings is so grievous that he no longer thinks about drinking, dancing so much--his mind is on something much bigger. The powers that be.
Every frame of this film is smothered with misery, heat, and oppression. Perhaps now more than ever we should understand Joad's character and remember his words at the end of the movie to his saintly mother: "I'll be all around in the dark - I'll be everywhere. Wherever you can look - wherever there's a fight, so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever there's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there. I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad. I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry and they know supper's ready, and when the people are eatin' the stuff they raise and livin' in the houses they build - I'll be there, too."
Summary of The Grapes of Wrath
This remarkable film version of Steinbeck?s novel was nominated for seven Academy Awards?, including for Best Picture, Actor (Henry Fonda), Film Editing, Sound and Writing. John Ford won the Best Director Oscar? and actress Jane Darwell won Best Actress for her portrayal of Ma Joad, the matriarch of the struggling migrant farmer family. Following a prison term he served for manslaughter, Tom Joad returns to find his family homestead overwhelmed by weather and the greed of the banking industry. With little work potential on the horizon of the Oklahoma dust bowls, the entire family packs up and heads for the promised land ? California. But the arduous trip and harsh living conditions they encounter offer little hope, and family unity proves as daunting a challenge as any other they face.Ranking No. 21 on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 greatest American films, this 1940 classic is a bit dated in its noble sentimentality, but it remains a luminous example of Hollywood classicism from the peerless director of mythic Americana, John Ford. Adapted by Nunnally Johnson from John Steinbeck's classic novel, the film tells a simple story about Oklahoma farmers leaving the depression-era dustbowl for the promised land of California, but it's the story's emotional resonance and theme of human perseverance that makes the movie so richly and timelessly rewarding. It's all about the humble Joad family's cross-country trek to escape the economic devastation of their ruined farmland, beginning when Tom Joad (Henry Fonda) returns from a four-year prison term to discover that his family home is empty. He's reunited with his family just as they're setting out for the westbound journey, and thus begins an odyssey of saddening losses and strengthening hopes. As Ma Joad, Oscar-winner Jane Darwell is the embodiment of one of America's greatest social tragedies and the "Okie" spirit of pressing forward against all odds (as she says, "because we're the people"). A documentary-styled production for which Ford and cinematographer Gregg Toland demanded painstaking authenticity, The Grapes of Wrath is much more than a classy, old-fashioned history lesson. With dialogue and scenes that rank among the most moving and memorable ever filmed, it's a classic among classics--simply put, one of the finest films ever made. --Jeff Shannon
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