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 | Great Depression | Labor | Jail

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	...	Rosasharn
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
Grant Mitchell	...	Caretaker
Charles D. Brown	...	Wilkie
John Arledge	...	Davis
Ward Bond	...	Policeman
Harry Tyler	...	Bert
William Pawley	...	Bill
Charles Tannen	...	Joe
Selmer Jackson	...	Inspection Officer (as Selmar Jackson)
Charles Middleton	...	Leader
Eddy Waller	...	Proprietor (as Eddie Waller)
Paul Guilfoyle	...	Floyd
David Hughes	...	Frank
Cliff Clark	...	City Man
Joe Sawyer	...	Bookkeeper (as Joseph Sawyer)
Frank Faylen	...	Tim
Adrian Morris	...	Agent
Hollis Jewell	...	Muley's Son
Robert Homans	...	Spencer
Irving Bacon	...	Driver
Kitty McHugh	...	Mae
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Wally Albright	...	Boy who ate (uncredited)
Erville Alderson	...	Arkansas storekeeper (uncredited)
Arthur Aylesworth	...	Father (uncredited)
Trevor Bardette	...	Jule, bouncer at dance (uncredited)
George P. Breakston	...	Boy (uncredited)
Shirley Coates	...	(uncredited)
Harry Cording	...	Deputy (uncredited)
Jim Corey	...	Buck Jackson, witness at dance (uncredited)
Ralph Dunn	...	Deputy (uncredited)
Thornton Edwards	...	Motorcycle cop (uncredited)
Pat Flaherty	...	Deputy (uncredited)
James Flavin	...	Guard (uncredited)
Francis Ford	...	(uncredited)
William Haade	...	Deputy with shotgun (uncredited)
Ben Hall	...	Gas station attendant in Bakersfield (uncredited)
Herbert Heywood	...	Gas station attendant (uncredited)
Rex Lease	...	Cop (uncredited)
Mae Marsh	...	Floyd's wife (uncredited)
Louis Mason	...	Man in camp (uncredited)
Walter McGrail	...	Gang leader (uncredited)
Walter Miller	...	New Mexico border guard (uncredited)
Frank O'Connor	...	Deputy #1 (uncredited)
George O'Hara	...	Clerk (uncredited)
Ted Oliver	...	State policeman (uncredited)
Inez Palange	...	Woman in camp (uncredited)
Steve Pendleton	...	Gas station attendant #2 in Needles (uncredited)
Jack Pennick	...	Camp helper (uncredited)
Bob Reeves	...	Deputy (uncredited)
Dick Rich	...	Keene Ranch guard (uncredited)
Gloria Roy	...	Waitress (uncredited)
Peggy Ryan	...	Hungry girl (uncredited)
Robert Shaw	...	Gas station attendant #1 in Needles (uncredited)
Lee Shumway	...	Deputy (uncredited)
Georgia Simmons	...	Woman (uncredited)
Harry Strang	...	Fred, trucker #2 at diner (uncredited)
Paul Sutton	...	Deputy (uncredited)
Harry Tenbrook	...	Deputy / Troublemaker (uncredited)
Tom Tyler	...	Deputy handcuffing Casy (uncredited)
Max Wagner	...	(uncredited)
Glen Walters	...	Woman who gets shot (uncredited)
Dan White	...	Poor man walking with woman in transient camp (uncredited)
Norman Willis	...	Joe, shot at Floyd (uncredited)
Bill Wolfe	...	Square-dance caller (uncredited)

Directed by
John Ford

Writing credits
Nunnally Johnson		(screenplay)
John Steinbeck		(novel "The Grapes of Wrath")

Produced by
Nunnally Johnson	....	associate producer
Darryl F. Zanuck	....	producer

Cinematography by
Gregg Toland		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Robert L. Simpson		(as Robert Simpson)

Art Direction by
Richard Day
Mark-Lee Kirk

Set Decoration by
Thomas Little

Costume Design by
Gwen Wakeling

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Edward O'Fearna	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Roger Heman Sr.	....	sound (as Roger Heman)
George Leverett	....	sound
Edmund H. Hansen	....	sound (uncredited)
Robert Parrish	....	sound effects editor (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Charles G. Clarke	....	director of photography: second unit (uncredited)
Lou Kunkel	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Cliff Shirpser	....	assistant camera (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Sam Benson	....	wardrobe supervisor (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Robert Parrish	....	negative cutter (uncredited)

Music Department
Alfred Newman	....	musical director
Danny Borzage	....	musician: accordion (uncredited)

Other crew
Tom Collins	....	technical director

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Distributors

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1940) (USA) (theatrical)
• Fox Films (1941) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1947) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Centfox (1953) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1956) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2006) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• FS Film Oy (2005) (Finland) (DVD)
• Fox Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Key Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Mainostelevisio (MTV3) (1968) (1979) (Finland) (TV) (MTV1)
• TV3 (1990) (Finland) (TV)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (1985) (Finland) (TV)

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) | UK:PG (video rating) | Canada:PG (Manitoba) | 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:

Unusual for John Ford, he allowed Darryl F. Zanuck to supervise the editing. Indeed, Zanuck remains one of the very few producers to actually draw praise from the normally rather critical director.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Pa Joad and Tom are talking about how they got some money to go on the trip, poor Uncle John carries the bed spring out the door three times.

Quotes:

Ma Joad: Well, Pa, a woman can change better'n a man. A man lives sorta - well, in jerks. Baby's born or somebody dies, and that's a jerk. He gets a farm or loses it, and that's a jerk. With a woman, it's all in one flow, like a stream - little eddies and waterfalls - but the river, it goes right on. Woman looks at it thata way.

Movie Connections:

Featured in In America (2002)

Soundtrack:

A Tisket, A Tasket

John Ford's stark portrayal of a poor family in the depression remains one of the most moving films in history.

The Grapes of Wrath is the story of the Joad family, who are run off of their land in Oklahoma because of drought and poverty. I think that one of the most striking elements of this movie is the black and white cinematography. Obviously, there wasn't a lot of variation on this particular subject in 1940, but especially today, the lack of color enhances the feelings of poverty and desperation and emptiness due to the family's loss of their home. In this way, because it would not be nearly as noticeable in 1940 as it is today, this time-enhanced effect of the black and white film stock has allowed for the film's impact to actually grow with time.

Henry Fonda plays the part of Tom Joad, a young member of the family who is released from prison at the beginning of the film, only to find that his family has been driven from their home and is staying at his uncle's house until they can figure out what to do about their sudden homelessness. It is by pure coincidence that Tom was released early on good behavior, otherwise he may very well never have seen his family again. He finds them in a state of near desperation, as they begin more and more to realize the predicament that they are in. Their trek across half of the country, on their way to California to assume jobs that they've heard about, provides for a substantial portion of the plot and is extremely well-structured.

The family encounters every hardship imaginable on this journey, from family members dying to their struggle to feed themselves to their rickety old truck constantly breaking down. They run into disillusioned people who claim that they've been to California and there are really no jobs there, at least not nearly as many as there are people going to look for them. They are periodically and derogatorily referred to as `Okies,' a term which places them in a broad category of poor folks driven from there homes in middle America who are traveling to the coast to get jobs that aren't there. There is so much doubt and hardship presented that it is never really certain whether they really will find jobs. The audience is never able to assume a happy ending, because there is so much contrary foreshadowing throughout the film.

The struggles do not abate once the family reaches California and takes up shaky residence in residential areas that would be more accurately referred to as shanty towns, and the rest of the film is dominated by the family's efforts to survive in a new and unfamiliar place, while working for wages that are barely sufficient to prevent starvation. Ma Joad spends the majority of the film stressing the importance of keeping the family together, seeing it as the only thing that they really had left, but this is eventually set aside in favor of each member of the family not only surviving but also flourishing, which provides for one of the many powerful messages that the film delivers.

The Grapes of Wrath is not exactly an edge of your seat film, but it is a shockingly realistic portrayal of the suffering that so many people and families experienced during the Great Depression. The performances are flawless, and the experience is not only powerful and moving but also educational. It's no secret that most people do not watch movies to learn, but there comes a point, at least once in a great while, when a person should watch a film that requires a little mental thought processing, and in such cases, The Grapes of Wrath is an excellent choice.