Tom Joad returns to his home after a jail sentence to find his family kicked out of their farm due to foreclosure. He catches up with them on his Uncle’s farm, and joins them the next day as they head for California and a new life... Hopefully.
Henry Fonda Jane Darwell John Carradine Charley Grapewin Dorris Bowdon Russell Simpson O. Z. Whitehead John Qualen Eddie Quillan Zeffie Tilbury Frank Sully Frank Darien Darryl Hickman Shirley Mills Roger Imhof Grant Mitchell Charles D. Brown John Arledge Ward Bond Harry Tyler William Pawley Charles Tannen Selmer Jackson Charles Middleton Eddy Waller Paul Guilfoyle David Hughes Cliff Clark Joe Sawyer Show All…
Les raisins de la colère, 怒火之花, De druiven der gramschap, 분노의 포도
Politics and human rights Faith and religion racism, african american, powerful, hatred or slavery political, democracy, documentary, president or propaganda journey, scientific, documentary, humanity or earth political, president, historical, politician or democracy family, emotional, touching, emotion or kids Show All…
It's hard to imagine that The Grapes of Wrath was ever published in America, let alone made into a Hollywood film. Class consciousness is something rarely seen in the media, but it's important that we're aware of it. As the film shows, fighting inequality is not about ideology (being a 'red') but about acknowledging an obvious injustice. John Ford, despite his conservative associations, did make films about unions (see also How Green Was My Valley) and he creates a poetic melancholy in The Grapes of Wrath through the tale of poverty and desperation. His technique is, as always, well considered and his use of shadows and silhouettes creates anonymity amongst the suffering.
It's difficult to approach a classic like The Grapes of…
“Grapes of Wrath” is a shadow of the American odyssey.
As directed by John Ford, the lumbering, towering automobile of the Joad family makes its way across the frontier looking like a wagon train rattling along the Oregon Trail. Where the wagons would leave tin and furniture at the crossings of vast rivers and steep mountains, Ford films piles of discarded sundries on the outskirts of migrant camps in Southern California.
As captured by cinematography great Gregg Toland, “Grapes” was, as Ford put it, “a beautifully photographed movie with nothing beautiful in it to shoot.” Toland and Ford switch effortlessly between tones in the film. The Hoovervilles have the sharp edges and claustrophobia of German expressionism. The unending plains and…
(Catching Up on the Classics Series)
Throughout the course of human history, it has become inevitable that those in power will exploit everyday people.
"We're the people that live. They can't wipe us out; they can't lick us. We'll go on forever, Pa, 'cause we're the people."
Ever since I read author John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice and Men' in school, I have always been curious to learn more about his other famous story The Grapes of Wrath, which is about The Dust Bowl of the 1930s'. During this period in history, the combination of The Great Depression and drought caused prairie farmers to lose their farms. And in The Grapes of Wrath, the Joads from Oklahoma are among the failed…
If there was a law, they was workin' with maybe we could take it, but it ain't the law. They're workin' away our spirits, tryin' to make us cringe and crawl, takin' away our decency.
-Tom Joad
John Ford the man that had made a career off of films depicting the beginning of the American Dream and the conquering of the West, here adapts John Steinbeck's novel depicting the end of that dream. I'm in awe at how a film that should be just the most depressing viewing experience imaginable could turn out to be so engrossing.
One of the primary reasons, but not the only one, is the incredible performance by Henry Fonda as Tom Joad. One of the…
Painting a gritty yet authentic portrait of family life ravaged by economic hardships, The Grapes of Wrath covers the strenuous ordeal faced by one family as it struggles to keep itself together when everything around them is falling apart. Steered by John Ford's assured direction & powered by a couple of stellar performances, it remains one of the most memorable works of its era.
Set during the Great Depression, the story of The Grapes of Wrath follows Tom Joad who's out of prison on parole, only to find that his family has been forced off their own land. Managing to reunite with them eventually, Tom & the Joad family set off to California in search for better work, opportunities & a hopeful future…
Cinematic Time Capsule
1940 Marathon - Film #43
”Sure don’t look none too prosperous”
The Joads travel from one situation to the next looking for an ounce of hope, and every time it feels like things are finally looking up, this film hits you upside the face like a lead pipe and reminds you that it’s all about despair.
This film is the very definition of despair.
Every time I watch it I get equal parts depressed and equal parts grateful for the luck I’ve had. To think what these people went through in the midst of the great depression. It’s one thing to read about it or be told about it, but John Ford earns his directing Oscar by…
Henry Fonda appears out of the ether walking down the middle of a deserted highway. Telephone poles line the road like tombstones. It is the perfect opening to a movie and a quintessential black and white shot. This shot was most likely filmed in 1939. It was done by arguably the greatest cinematographer ever – Greg Toland. The following year he would hook up with Orson Welles and change the game forever with a little film called Citizen Kane. But here Toland is just “slumming” it with John Ford. Yeah that John Ford. The one who did all those John Wayne westerns with doorway shots in Monument Valley. Movies should have just packed it in after The Grapes of Wrath.…
"I ain't going to California! This is my country and I belong here. It's my dirt... it's no good, but it's mine."
- Grandpa Joad
This is quite spectacular: a gorgeously old-fashioned, beautifully framed, wonderfully scripted piece of early 40's Hollywood history.
It's a well told screenplay that tells of the Joad's eviction from their Oklahoma prairieland farm following continued drought and their travels to a new life in the promised land of Califor-ni-yay.
The Grapes of Wrath is mostly about the hope of people though. There is a significantly large cast in the film, and everyone plays their part to deliver thrills, spills and a few tears along the way. Classic.
One of the first and still hailed as one of the best slice of life road trip movies ever. This film, being the classic that it is, has been picked to pieces, so I'll just leave my personal feelings on the flick here. I had studied this period in my history classes in college, but I think this film depicts the stark desperation of the circumstances better than any text I read in school. I can see why this one makes it onto so many must watch lists, it's making it onto mine. It's a film that leaves an impression, one I'll take with me and remember. It's a long film, one that admittedly moves a bit slow at times.…
In The Grapes of Wrath, director John Ford has created a gut-wrenching masterpiece full of emotion and raw intensity. The film dives deep into the lives of a struggling family in the 1930s who are forced to leave their Oklahoma home due to the onset of the Great Depression. Henry Fonda delivers a powerhouse of a performance in the role of Tom Joad, the family's patriarch. He is the rock that holds the family together, and he shows us the raw emotions his character feels in every moment. Fonda is able to convey the weariness, anguish, and desperation felt by Joad as he struggles against unfair adversity, and we are able to connect with his character on a deeper level.
The…
Henry Fonda is amazing in this film.
The film is about the all American dream and how much hardship arises when trying to achieve it. A brutal yet beautiful film from 1940 that feels seemingly ageless over 80 years later.
Fonda is the heart of this film! Similar to 12 Angry Men, it's an amazing film lifted even higher by the hands of Fonda. He brings so much charm and hope for the audience and is a driving force as to why I was invested in them.
I'm fond of Fonda... Letterboxd please don't delete my account for this horrible pun.
