Iron Jawed Angels (TV 2004)

Defiant young activists take the women's suffrage movement by storm, putting their lives at risk to help American women win the right to vote.

Director:

Katja von Garnier

Writers:

Jennifer Friedes (story), Sally Robinson (teleplay),

Stars:

Hilary Swank, Margo Martindale, Anjelica Huston

Won 1 Golden Globe. Another 3 wins & 12 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Hilary Swank	...	Alice Paul
Margo Martindale	...	Harriot Blatch
Anjelica Huston	...	Carrie Chapman Catt
Frances O'Connor	...	Lucy Burns
Lois Smith	...	Reverend Anna Howard Shaw
Vera Farmiga	...	Ruza Wenclawska
Brooke Smith	...	Mabel Vernon
Adilah Barnes	...	Ida Wells-Barnett
Laura Fraser	...	Doris Stevens
Semen Hirzhner	...	Russian mover
Jeremy Nichols	...	Russian mover's son
Donna York Dunn	...	Woman on street
Kristina Vensko	...	Young Jenny Leighton
Molly Parker	...	Emily Leighton
Lois Sanders	...	Nancy Barkin

Storyline

Alice Paul and the women of the 1917 Women's Suffrage movement fight for future generations right to vote and run for office. Sacrificing their health, marriages and the limited amount of freedom they had, women were imprisoned and force fed after picketing and hunger-striking against war-time president, Woodrow Wilson; but survived to see the results of their efforts.

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Plot Keywords:

women's suffrage | woodrow wilson | picketing | masturbation | sketch | 

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Taglines:

Lead, follow or get out of the way.

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Genres:

Drama | History

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Details

Official Sites:

HBO - Synopsis, photos, trailer Photos, production notes, director's biography, links, forum

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 February 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

Alice Paul - Der Weg ins Licht

Filming Locations:

Virginia Rep Center - 114 W. Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Home Box Office (HBO), Blue Dominion Productions Inc., Bluebird House

Technical Specs

Runtime:

123 min 125 min (cinema release)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

For the hunger strike scenes Hilary Swank chose to eat very little and shed several pounds.

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Goofs

There are numerous historical inaccuracies including women's hair and men's clothing styles, the presence of a small woman's wrist watch and of a Crown Graphic press camera, both of which did not exist in 1918.

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Quotes

Lucy Burns: I can see it now. I'm gonna end up back in Brooklyn with a hairless cat. Called Lester.

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Connections

Featured in 11th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (2005)

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Soundtracks

"Ain't She Sweet"
(1927)
Music by Milton Ager
Lyrics by Jack Yellen
Performed by Jimmie Lunceford and His Orchestra
Courtesy of Columbia Records
By Arrangement with Sony Music Licensing

User Reviews

Insufferable

I've noticed that of the many things people have to say about this U-bend-encircling monster, all of them heavily critique the film's soundtrack. Ordinarily, I would consider something like that invalid to the film's quality, but not this time. This time, it was the extra step that transformed it from just another mediocre TV movie to a mind-numbing piece of junk food for the MTV generation's soul.

From what I can understand, "Iron Jawed Angels" is about as historically accurate as "Godspell." It adds fictional characters (wherever they may fall and however intrusively) to an inspiring true story about a true believer, Alice Paul, who is reduced to a "Sex and the City" reject obsessed with men, hats, and, when necessary, the woman suffrage movement. It changes necessary distinctions into pure good and evil-- Alice Paul, a young, hip, sexy feminist, matches wits with Carrie Catt (Anjelica Huston), whose tangible contributions to the suffrage movement are tossed aside here because they needed a bad guy.

Why didn't they just bring in Darth Vader?

While the roles in this movie are not supposed to reinforce stereotypes, that's about all they do. There's a difference between "real woman" and "fictional, Lifetime Original Movie man-chasers wishing to be taken seriously." These characters cross that line, reducing their heroic real-life counterparts to babbling bimbos. And the only character who doesn't fit in his sex's stereotype is played by a useless Patrick Dempsey.

Finally, we come to the two most heinous aspects of this TV movie (and I emphasize the phrase "TV movie"). First is the soundtrack. It's clear that they were trying to mimic (among other things) the style of the movie "Reds" in everything else. But to keep *its* soundtrack interesting, "Reds" used a selection of rags, traditional music from the time period, and genuine-feeling original compositions by Stephen Sondheim and Dave Grusin. But in "IJA," I was ever vigilant for the inevitable moment when Aretha Franklin's "Respect" would come blaring against a parade montage (don't get me wrong, "Respect" is a great song, but....) The soundtrack is included in the most harrowing part of the film: a scene in which Hillary Swank's Alice Paul is almost certainly masturbating in a bathtub, intercut with a scene of her and Dempsey dancing. The movie then lost all credibility. However, out of the goodness of my heart and my genuine sympathy for the issue at hand, I give it two instead of the one star it deserves. Well... maybe it doesn't even deserve that much. You should be the judge of that, but the filmmakers obviously don't think you're intelligent enough to make that call.