The Grapes of Wrath 10/10

[Michael_myers]

The Grapes of Wrath
1940
Genre: Drama
Rated: PG
Directed by: John Ford
Starring: Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine, Charlie Grapewin, Dorris Bowden
Rating: *****/*****

Plot crunch:
The government if forcing the "okies" of their land. They move west to California to live what they think will be a new life, instead they find out what it's really like. Camps and torture lie in wait for the Joad family, the place where the believed work and food to be plenty.

Critique:
"I'll be there" Truthfully, I have never seen a more heroic character than Tom Joad. Henry Fonda is one of the greatest actors of all time, and this is his crowning role. He plays the character so powerfully, it makes you sad. The Grapes of Wrath is very melancholy, and has a very sad atmosphere. Henry Fonda and John Ford play this out to a tee, using these characters, and their surroundings to tell a story. Darwell is her iconic Ma Joad, se is the strength of the Joad clan, and she plays it out till the very end. Pwerfully done. Carradine is Casey, the poor expreacher Tom picks up on his way out of the slammer, his death scene is perhaps one of the most heart wrenching things, and one of the most iconic and famous scenes in one of the most powerful films ever done. The writing on the Grapes of Wrath is one of the best cinemtic jobs ever. Even such near perfections as "Casablanca" and "Psycho" have their plot holes and minutes of boredom, Grapes of Wrath keeps you glued to the screen for the whole 2 hours length. It is a powerful film. It truly is. The Grpaes of Wrath is one of the many films the AFI acknowledges for being fantastic, but many unimpressive films such as "Some like it Hot" and "Star Wars" (both excellent) are both incompetant compared to this film. A true epic, and the winner of two academy awards "Best Director" for Ford and "Best Supporting Actress" for Darwell, Thje Grapes of Wrath is one of those true cinemtic treasures that will stay with you forever.

[The Other]

Completely Agree, Michael_myers!

THE GRAPES OF WRATH (1940) - 10/10

A masterpiece. One of the most engrossing movies I've ever seen and it's slow-moving too. It was so realistic! It just didn't seem like a movie or that I was watching a movie. And to think, it was made in 1940! Wow, just doesn't seem like an older movie, either. The acting was spot-on, Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell and the rest of the supporting cast gave great and realistic performances. They were totally believable! So well directed too. I can't believe this movie only won Best Director (John Ford) and Best Supporting Actress (Darwell) at the Oscars that year (which were deserving, BTW). Henry Fonda was robbed! He lost to James Stewart in The Philadelphia Story (which was clearly a make-up Oscar for losing the Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Oscar the year before!). A travesty since Fonda was leagues above Stewart that year! It lost Best Picture to Rebecca that year. I still need to see that movie so I can't judge, but it would have to be pretty amazing to top the masterpiece that is The Grapes of Wrath!

[The Other]

Has nobody seen THE GRAPES OF WARTH?! Christ! What a fantastic movie and only two posts total!

[Hannibal21]

I agree with everything you guys said. I had very high expectations for this film and all my expectations were met. The film has everything: A great cast, a great script, great, thought provoking story, amazing acting, and great entertainment value. There's hardly a single flaw in the movie and I don't think my eyes were ever off the screen. Henry Fonda was one of the strengths in this film and leads a strong supporting cast, he should've won best actor for this film in 1940 instead of Jimmy Stewart, the character Tom Joad is not an easy one to play, but Fonda pulled it off very well and managed to bring him to life, creating a memorable and likable hero. The supporting players were quite strong also, with Jane Darwell making the most impression as Ma Joad, her supporting oscar was well deserved. This is a wonderful, realistic movie that has so many good elements to it, and the story really moved me from beginning to end. A definite recommendation.

10/10

[urbanlegend23]

THE GRAPES OF WRATH (1940)

THE GOOD:

--"The Grapes of Wrath" is a film that is constantly connecting with the audience, successfully teaching us things, exploring new-found subjects that all the cast and crew are passionate about. The best example of this is how well the film showcases the pain of losing family land. In the film, the Joad family (along with several other families) is forced to move off their land and find work and refuge somewhere else. Throughout many situations in the film we see the hardships of moving away from somewhere you've loved for so many years and how difficult it is to settle somewhere else in the labour union.

--As well as being a beautifully moulded drama and a great-depression piece, "The Grapes of Wrath" also immaculately discovers its characters, making it one of those amazingly well-crafted character pieces. It doesn't only explore one particular character but several, and those several on many different perspectives (for example, Tom being a homicidal ex-convict and a beloved family man). We also see the family dynamic from many angles, the best being through the communicative relationship of Ma and Tom Joad. They have so many touching scenes together (particularly the third-to-last scene which will forever stick out in my memory) and the actors - Academy Award winners Jane Darwell and Henry Fonda - give absolutely astonishingly good performances. In one bullet point I've summed up a lot of GREAT things about the movie, so if my review doesn't look all that chunky, look at how in-depth this bullet point is!

--This is the type of classic that easily blends in many different genres without looking hokey or fake. You've got your essential South American big-family comedy (not in the cheesy way though) with the Grandpa being the standout comedian (where's my ribs!). I also loved the scene where the kids thought the toilet was a bathtub. There is a sense of adventure and many willing prospects for future jobs as the family travels across several states to get their destination, giving the movie a kind of on-the-road feeling. At heart the movie is an intense drama though, an in-depth exploration of rights, prejudice and how a family needs to always stick together.

THE BAD:

--Sometimes the movie feels a little bit awkwardly acted, like the scene where Grandpa doesn't want to leave his house. While kind of funny (see third GOOD bullet point) the scene ultimately feels forced because the dialogue sounds too dubbed (who else had trouble hearing what Grandpa was saying?) and the actor who plays Grandpa just over-did it in my opinion. It wasn't a very subtle performance (though the ribs stuff was great). Speaking of subtle - those kids need to learn how to NOT do exaggerated facials! But they were kind of cute. You see, almost every bad thing about this movie has its good point also.

RATING:

10/10 - The kind of exquisitely moving film you can't help but adore everything it represents.

IF YOU LIKED THIS MOVIE I RECOMMEND:

About Schmidt (6/10)
The Cider House Rules (8/10)
Citizen Kane (6/10)
Road to Perdition (10/10)
To Kill a Mockingbird (10/10)

[chinton]

You know I saw this in my appreciation of John Ford class and all I could think was how overrated. While the acting is certianly fine this movie is one of the most over-indulgent melodramatic movies Ive ever seen. Trust me if you dont get the point to this film Ford will pound it into your head. On top of that did he have to make everything so black and white. You were either good or evil in this film. how incredibly boring. It had one powerful scene with ma throwing all the stuff into the stove fire. Aside from that this film was ponderous and so annoying.

4/10

[urbanlegend23]

Characters black and white? Well, that's weird...I thought many of them were 'grey', if you're going by colours. Many instances in the film characters are shown to be more than they appear - such as when the policemen offering jobs show caring sides (there were a few scenes with this) and the preacher having lost his faith (not done in a cliche way might I add). Actually, 'lost his faith' isn't perhaps the best way to put it, he had just basically seen there is more to life I think...and there's more to his character as well, and to a few others.

Or simply, maybe things WERE black and white in those days. Prejudice is the subject of the film, and discrimination. And prejudice and discrimination are black/white things, that's the point.

[chinton]

I agree with you prejuidice is black and white but that doesnt make for interesting characters. While John Ford has made some really good movies he seems to ahve never gotten away from this problem but here it comes full front to me. On the most part cops and government act like fascists Nazis and our main charatcers and poor people are the good ones. This might have been true back then but it makes for boring characters.


The only effective scene for me was the shot where the mother looks into the holding the earings up. The most subtle thing in the film, something which Ford was not very familiar with