A Raisin in the Sun (1961)

A substantial insurance payment could mean either financial salvation or personal ruin for a poor black family.

Director:

Daniel Petrie

Writers:

Lorraine Hansberry (play), Lorraine Hansberry (screenplay)

Stars:

Sidney Poitier, Claudia McNeil, Ruby Dee

Nominated for 2 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 3 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Sidney Poitier	...	Walter Lee Younger
Claudia McNeil	...	Lena Younger
Ruby Dee	...	Ruth Younger
Diana Sands	...	Beneatha Younger
Ivan Dixon	...	Asagai
John Fiedler	...	Mark Lindner
Louis Gossett Jr.	...	George Murchison (as Louis Gossett)
Steven Perry	...	Travis Younger (as Stephen Perry)
Joel Fluellen	...	Bobo
Louis Terrel	...	Herman
Roy Glenn	...	Willie Harris

Storyline

Walter Lee Younger is a young man struggling with his station in life. Sharing a tiny apartment with his wife, son, sister and mother, he seems like an imprisoned man. Until, that is, the family gets an unexpected financial windfall...

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Plot Keywords:

african american | working class family | poverty | chicago illinois | based on play | 

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Taglines:

The Prize-Winning Drama That Warms The Screen With Its People and Its Passions!...

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Trivia

The play was originally brought to Sidney Poitier's attention by an old friend, Philip Rose, who would also produce the movie. The play was inspired by playwright Lorraine Hansberry's family's purchase of a house in an all-white Chicago neighborhood. (The community's reaction resulted in Hansberry vs. Lee, one of the most important housing cases to ever reach the Supreme Court.) Poitier was overwhelmed by the power of the material and was happy to play in it. It's been said that "A Raisin In The Sun" would never have been done if Poitier had not agreed to appear in it.

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Goofs

A newspaper Beneatha reads in the first scene includes a headline about an event that happened in July 1960, but Travis has just left for school. Public schools would have been in summer recess in July. Also, it isn't dark in Chicago at 5 o'clock in July. That would only happen October to January, and nobody is seen wearing cold weather jackets, etc.. Also, the calendar in the kitchen does have 31 days, but starts on a Wednesday. July 1960 started on a Friday.

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Quotes

Walter Lee Younger: [to George Murchison, Beneatha's date] How come all you college boys wear them faggoty-looking white shoes?

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Connections

Referenced in Six Degrees of Separation (1993)

User Reviews

The cast was usually amazing, in this simple, but compelling story.

The actors in this movie are great actors. That could be said for every one of them. They all knew exactly what to do with the script from their previous work on the stage play version. Unfortunately, when their face is blown up 10 times on the big screen, so are their actions, and some scenes, because of this, come off a little too over the top dramatic than they should be realistically. The story is a simple one, but actually pretty interesting, and most of the time this is entertaining to watch.

The Younger family has just lost a member. Lena "Momma" Younger's (Claudia McNeil) husband died, and because of this the government is giving the family 10,000 dollars. Momma wants to buy a house and move the family out of their tiny apartment into a nice white neighborhood. Walter (Sidney Potier) has the dream of taking the money to start a liquor store. Beneatha (Diana Sands) wants to go to college on this money. The family has problems, and though no real plot is apparent, the characters make the film.

The direction on this is great. The music only adds to it, and helps out greatly in scenes trying to be dramatic. The actors play the scenes off well usually, though as stated earlier, a few times they almost come off campy instead of serious and dramatic. Most of the time this wasn't the case though, and these actor's performances shouldn't be nitpicked like I'm doing, and most won't even notice the over the top goofiness. The writing is very good, and is straight out of the play. The entertainment value is high, though some scenes seem to drag, another better scene generally follows.

Overall, this is not a masterpiece. The play is good, the acting is great, the cheese level is fairly low, and Raisin has a true human touch to it that makes the audience feel for these poor characters, and it's a very hard trait to emulate.

My rating: *** out of ****. 120 mins. PG for violence.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 May 1961 (UK)

Also Known As:

A Raisin in the Sun

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

128 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1