God's Little Acre (1958)

In the 1950s, a poor Georgia cotton farmer and his sons search for the gold presumably buried on the farm by their grandfather but problems related to poverty, marital infidelity, unemployment and booze threaten to destroy their family.

Director:

Anthony Mann

Writers:

Philip Yordan (screenplay), Erskine Caldwell (based on the world's best selling novel by)

Stars:

Robert Ryan, Tina Louise, Aldo Ray

Won 1 Golden Globe. Another 2 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Robert Ryan	...	Ty Ty Walden
Aldo Ray	...	Will Thompson
Buddy Hackett	...	Pluto Swint, Sheriff Candidate
Jack Lord	...	Buck Walden
Fay Spain	...	Darlin' Jill
Vic Morrow	...	Shaw Walden
Helen Westcott	...	Rosamund
Lance Fuller	...	Jim Leslie
Rex Ingram	...	Uncle Felix
Michael Landon	...	Dave Dawson
Russell Collins	...	Watchman
Davis Roberts	...	Farm Hand with Hoe
Janet Brandt	...	Irate Woman
Tina Louise	...	Griselda Walden, Ty Ty's Daughter-in-Law

Storyline

A poor farmer is obsessed with finding gold on his land supposedly buried by his grandfather. To find it he conveniently moves a marker out of his way that designates the land on which it rests as as God's Little Acre, where anything that comes from the ground will go to God's work. Eventually he abducts an albino to help him find the gold. Meanwhile, his daughter-in-law is suspected of fooling around with a labor activist out of work since the mill closed, and a local political hopeful actively seeks his daughter's hand in marriage.

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Plot Keywords:

search for gold | hairy chest | southern literature | rural setting | melodrama | 

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Taglines:

NOW you can see the best-selling novel of all time!

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 September 1958 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Erskine Caldwell's God's Little Acre

Filming Locations:

San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Security Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Film debut of Tina Louise.

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Goofs

Pluto gets a shovel full of dirt thrown in his face. His face is covered in dust and dirt. Moments later his face is completely clean.

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Quotes

Ty Ty Walden: [in son Jim Leslie's home] That's a dining room - way down there?

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Crazy Credits

introducing Tina Louise

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Connections

Referenced in The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson: Bob Hope/Michael Landon/Freddie Prinze/Don Rickles/Carol Wayne (1974)

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Soundtracks

God's Little Acre
(uncredited)
Written by Elmer Bernstein and Erskine Caldwell
Performed by Bill Lee (uncredited)

User Reviews

Lawsy Mussy Me, Us Southerners Sho Is Lusty!!!!!

IN this era, when sex is easy, it's great to see all that inhibited lust steaming out over the screen. Aldo Ray and Tina Louise did one jam-up job of showing their passion for one another. Actually, Robert Ryan almost upped the ante from his '7 Days in May' stint where he lectured on the devil women sucking out the vital juices from the soldiers under his command. (That's true, you know. We women would rather suck out vital juices than just about anything.) Anyway, see this back to back with Tobacco Road, and you'll understand completely why all these Yankees think we're products of incest and can barely put 4 grammatical phrases together. No wonder, I am continually fighting off the prejudices of people who are amazed that I wear shoes and didn't marry my 1st cousin.

The writing in here is great: Robert Ryan plays a beautiful balance between an obsessed redneck who is trying to find his grandpappy's gold on his property, and his restrained longing for his son's daughter. His goodness screams out in his scene with his cotton broker son, who made it big. As my own evangelist cousin says, "We call him 'MMM"...our Miserable Millionaire Miser."

And Michael Landon, as the albino teen-ager, scared of the violence from these raging men who have kidnapped him to divine the gold.....what a sight!! Jack Lord, in his pre-Hawaiian Eye days is all wrathful, as he watches his beauteous wife with the NATURAL cleavage longing for the drunken Aldo Ray. Hard to believe the change, but the analogy between the tearing up the yard and sacrificing the peace of his family for the gold hunt...and today's all materialistic, 'if it ain't business, it ain't nothing', lifestyle.....is fantastic....rite smart writin'.

Check it out for a movie that SHOULD be colorized if ever there was one. And that house looks just my Aunt Mattie Seals' home in Talbot County, jawja!!!!! Boy, do I miss it!