The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

User Rating:

8.2/10   

Director:

John Ford

Writers:

Nunnally Johnson (screenplay)
John Steinbeck (novel)

Release Date:

15 March 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

The thousands who have read the book will know why WE WILL NOT SELL ANY CHILDREN TICKETS to see this picture!

Plot:

A poor Midwest family is forced off of their land. They travel to California, suffering the misfortunes of the homeless in the Great Depression.

Plot Keywords:

California | Farm | Jail | Oklahoma | Great Depression

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 5 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Henry Fonda	...	Tom Joad
Jane Darwell	...	Ma Joad
John Carradine	...	Casy
Charley Grapewin	...	Grandpa
Dorris Bowdon	...	Rose of Sharon
Russell Simpson	...	Pa Joad
O.Z. Whitehead	...	Al
John Qualen	...	Muley
Eddie Quillan	...	Connie
Zeffie Tilbury	...	Grandma
Frank Sully	...	Noah
Frank Darien	...	Uncle John
Darryl Hickman	...	Winfield
Shirley Mills	...	Ruth Joad
Roger Imhof	...	Thomas

Also Known As:

Highway 66 (USA) (fake working title)

Runtime:

128 min | West Germany:108 min (cut version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | Canada:G (Nova Scotia/Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba) | UK:PG (video rating) | West Germany:12 (f) | South Korea:12 | Soviet Union:(Banned) | Argentina:13 | USA:Approved (certificate #5789) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Brazil:12 | Australia:G (original rating) | Australia:PG (DVD rating) | Finland:K-16 | Portugal:M/12 (re-release) | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

The production had a fake working title, "Highway 66", so that the shoot of the controversial novel would not be effected by union problems. Much of the dire straits portrayed in the film continued during and after the release of the movie.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Tom Joad's semi-retarded brother, Noah, vanishes after the swimming-in-the-river sequence. In the book, Noah believes he's a burden on the family and runs away. In the film, no explanation is given for his disappearance.

Quotes:

Tom Joad: That Casy. He might have been a preacher but he seen things clear. He was like a lantern. He helped me to see things clear.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Fedora (1978)

Soundtrack:

Going Down the Road Feeling Bad

A marvellous production of Steinbeck's epic.

Henry Fonda's portrayal of Tom Joad captures perfectly the humanity and compassion of the Steinbeck character, an ex-con who breaks his parole conditions by joining his family in their epic journey across the southern US to a "better life" in California.

This is not the usual Hollywood fare. Tragedy and betrayal beset the Joad family from the outset. But it is nonetheless an uplifting movie. Spirit, compassion and tenderness mark them out. Fonda's role is particularly understated, and we see, as in Steinbeck's masterly epic, the maternally robust figure of Ma holding the family together.

The performances all round are wonderful, and Ford's direction and sense of space under the big sky of the Midwest is breathtaking.

This film is now largely a testament to the time in which it was set, but like the war movies that were soon to follow, a story that needed telling lest we forget.