Movie: "Grapes of Wrath" (1940)

[Bob Pr.]

Shown at our monthly "Great Films at the Cathedral" series.

"Grapes of Wrath" (1940) B&W, 129 min. Received 7 Oscar nominations, won 2.
IMDb rates it 8.3 of 10 stars and it's ranked 157 of the 250 alltime best films ever: The Grapes of Wrath (1940) - User ratings
100% of the (37) film critics listed by "Rotten Tomatoes" rate it favorable:
The Grapes of Wrath Movie Reviews - ROTTEN TOMATOES
It's one of Roger Ebert's "Great Films" and he especially praised Henry Fonda's role as Tom Joad: The Grapes of Wrath :: rogerebert.com :: Great Movies
None of our movie group rated it lower than 9 of 10 stars.

Trailer: The Grapes of Wrath Trailers - ROTTEN TOMATOES

The film is a somewhat simplified version of Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize winning book about an Oklahoma tenant farmer family in the Dust Bowl days. After being evicted from the land they'd farmed for generations, they join many other families migrating to California seeking opportunities to work. In California these Okies were often taken advantage of by affluent land owners who promised fair wages but then paid half what they promised. Those migrants who resisted exploitation were sometimes viewed (and treated) as "reds"; local police (or private security agents) were too often used to intimidate or quell resistance.

Steinbeck's criticism of such exploitation of workers led to banning the book in some places although it became quite popular through most of the US and led to reforms. Henry Fonda's role as Tom Joad earned his stardom; Jane Darwell (as Ma Joad) won a deserved Oscar for best supporting actress as did John Ford for directing.

Steinbeck was very critical of an economic system that allowed such mistreatment of sharecroppers and tenant farmers by wealthy land owners, bankers, etc., (as well as by local officials where they resided). But while the movie piles worst case on worst case, IMO it's a fair view of how bad things sometimes got in the Great Depression era (1929-40).

I spent 2 summers (1949, 1950) in the Bootheel of Missouri working in communities of former sharecroppers who'd been evicted from their jobs and their shack homes in circumstances parallel to that of the Joads and fellow sharecropping families. These evictions happened in the late 1930s when the owners of the cotton farms received agricultural subsidies for NOT growing cotton; they kept the money for themselves, evicted their farmers, and made thousands homeless.

The tenant farmer/sharecropper system was based on the land owners providing substandard housing plus advancing credit (in their company stores) to the farmers for food, clothing, and seed. In return the farm families planted, tilled, and picked the cotton. But the farmers' return from the cotton harvest never was sufficient to get out of debt to the store. The system made them, in essence, indentured servants. Until they were kicked out.

While the motivations (land owners' greed, farm families' struggles to survive in extreme circumstances) and conflicts were very similar to tat faced by the Joads et al., the resolution of the Bootheel crisis was far more uplifting and inspiring than the struggle without a victor presented in the "Grapes of Wrath." But almost certainly the popularity of Steinbeck's book and this movie significantly helped lead the nation to the different outcome only a few years later.

This video describes the Bootheel situation: TeacherTube Videos - Bootheel Sharecroppers' Strike [The first 34" of the actual video (after the ads) is a montage of various scenes from the later civil rights movement that followed the Bootheel crisis during which black and white sharecropping families temporarily united in opposing their uncivil mistreatment.]


Google "Sharecroppers Strike" and "Cotton Patch Moses" and you'll find a number of links that describe the Bootheel issues, conflicts, significant people, and outcomes.
I deleted my original review as being too wordy, IMO. This one, largely based on a later review I posted on IMDb, is more succinct and conveys much the same things.

[Lolabell]

I love "Grapes of Wrath"! Such a wonderful movie and a great book.

I really enjoy John Steinbeck novels. East of Eden and Of Mice of Men are also a couple of my favorites, but I didn't enjoy the movies as much as the books.

Are you a film buff?

[Bob Pr.]

Are you a film buff?

Probably yes, especially for movies rated above (about) 7.3 on IMDb and/or listed as an Ebert "Great Movie"