Kat's Film Reviews: The Grapes of Wrath

Tuesday, May 18, 2004

The Grapes of Wrath

But then there's John Ford. Who can turn any film into a social diatribe, and make it entertaining and informational as well. (Say what, you say? See my review of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?) So, classic film is not all silly and overblown, of course not. I've never read Steinbeck's book, so I don't know how this film compares. (In general, I like reading books after watching films of books. The other way around doesn't work for me; for that reason, I won't watch Seabiscuit or The Cider House Rules.) The film is such a polished production, I'm not sure it would matter much in this case. Henry Fonda is once again perfect, this time as an ex-con traveling back to his Dust bowl-era family in Oklahoma, only to find them kicked off their land and in the process of moving the whole family to California. It is as apt a depiction of the lives of farmers, migrant workers, and the poor today as it was in 1940. Although there may be additional factors at work today, the plight of those who depend on rich landowners is as close to the same as to make no never mind. Ford's characters talk about workers' rights nearly non-stop throughout the picture, which sounds as if it could be too much like your college-level American history class, but this is not at all the case. Mostly because of the excellent acting -- Fonda and Jane Darwell and John Carradine (yes, the father of David Carradine) and, well, everyone really. I rank this film up there with Sullivan's Travels, another must-see Depression-era film. If you ever see these double-billed at your local art film theater, drop everything and go.

year: 1940
length: 128 min.
rating: 4.0
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032551/combined

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