The Grapes of Wrath (1940) | |
| Director(s) | John Ford |
| Producer(s) | Nunnally Johnson (associate), Darryl F. Zanuck |
| Top Genres | Drama, Film Adaptation |
| Top Topics | Book-Based, Poverty, Great Depression |
Featured Cast:
The Grapes of Wrath Overview:
The Grapes of Wrath (1940) was a Drama - Black-and-white Film directed by John Ford and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck and Nunnally Johnson.
The film was based on the novel of the same name written by John Steinbeck published in 1939.
SYNOPSIS
Ford directs what many consider to be Fonda's greatest role. Based on Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1939 novel, the story follows an Oklahoma family's escape from the Dustbowl to join the migration to California's fruit harvest. Fonda shines as Tom Joad, a poor farmer who refuses to be beaten down by misfortune and oppression, and Darwell is moving as the loving backbone of the Joad family. An unusually compassionate and socially conscious film, it's like a series of Dorothea Lange photos from the Depression, full of suffering and dignity.
(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).
.The Grapes of Wrath was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1989.
Academy Awards 1940 --- Ceremony Number 13 (source: AMPAS)
| Award | Recipient | Result |
| Best Actor | Henry Fonda | Nominated |
| Best Supporting Actress | Jane Darwell | Won |
| Best Director | John Ford | Won |
| Best Film Editing | Robert Simpson | Nominated |
| Best Picture | 20th Century-Fox | Nominated |
| Best Writing | Nunnally Johnson | Nominated |
BlogHub Articles:
The Grapes of Wrath (1940) – Updated
By 4 Star Film Fan on Dec 7, 2015 From 4 Star FilmsThe Grapes of Wrath is in special company with a number of literary adaptations where film and source material are both so highly regarded and cultural significant. A few other names spring to mind such as Gone with the Wind, A Streetcar Named Desire, and To Kill a Mockingbird. However, even more so... Read full article
Review: The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
By 4 Star Film Fan on Dec 7, 2015 From 4 Star FilmsThe Grapes of Wrath is in special company with a number of literary adaptations where film and source material are both so highly regarded and cultural significant. A few other names spring to mind such as Gone with the Wind, A Streetcar Named Desire, and To Kill a Mockingbird. However, even more so... Read full article
Review: The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
By 4 Star Film Fan on Dec 7, 2015 From 4 Star FilmsThe Grapes of Wrath is in special company with a number of literary adaptations where film and source material are both so highly regarded and culturally significant. A few other names spring to mind such as Gone with the Wind, A Streetcar Named Desire, and To Kill a Mockingbird. However, even more ... Read full article
The Joad's Journey in The Grapes of Wrath
By Amanda Garrett on Oct 19, 2015 From Old Hollywood FilmsToday, I'm writing about the Joad's journey from Oklahoma to California in The Grapes of Wrath (1940). This production still shows Dorris Bowdon (left), Jane Darwell, and Henry Fonda packed into the front seat of the family's Hudson Super Six Sedan. This article is part of the Classic Movie Blog ... Read full article
The Grapes of Wrath (1940, John Ford)
By Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 26, 2015 From The Stop ButtonThe Grapes of Wrath starts in a darkened neverland. Director Ford and cinematographer Gregg Toland create a realer than real Oklahoma for protagonist Henry Fonda to journey across. The locations and sets aren’t as important as how Fonda (and the audience) experience it. It’s actually rat... Read full article
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Quotes from
Tom Joad: I been thinking about us, too, about our people living like pigs and good rich land layin' fallow. Or maybe one guy with a million acres and a hundred thousand farmers starvin'. And I been wonderin' if all our folks got together and yelled...
Ma Joad: Oh, Tommy, they'd drag you out and cut you down just like they done to Casy.
Tom Joad: They'd drag me anyways. Sooner or later they'd get me for one thing if not for another. Until then...
Ma Joad: Tommy, you're not aimin' to kill nobody.
Tom Joad: No, Ma, not that. That ain't it. It's just, well as long as I'm an outlaw anyways... maybe I can do somethin'... maybe I can just find out somethin', just scrounge around and maybe find out what it is that's wrong and see if they ain't somethin' that can be done about it. I ain't thought it out all clear, Ma. I can't. I don't know enough.
Ma Joad: How am I gonna know about ya, Tommy? Why they could kill ya and I'd never know. They could hurt ya. How am I gonna know?
Tom Joad: Well, maybe it's like Casy says. A fellow ain't got a soul of his own, just little piece of a big soul, the one big soul that belongs to everybody, then...
Ma Joad: Then what, Tom?
Tom Joad: Then it don't matter. I'll be all around in the dark - I'll be everywhere. Wherever you can look - wherever there's a fight, so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever there's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there. I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad. I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry and they know supper's ready, and when the people are eatin' the stuff they raise and livin' in the houses they build - I'll be there, too.
Ma Joad: I don't understand it, Tom.
Tom Joad: Me, neither, Ma, but - just somethin' I been thinkin' about.
Casy: You don' know what you're a-doin'.
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Facts about
Although the script conformed to the provisions of the Production Code, a number of potential "problems" had to be addressed. The list of suggested alterations or eliminations included a warning "not to characterize Muley as insane", the rewording of "certain of the lines which have reference to Rosasharn's pregnancy" (in the book, Tom teases Rosasharn and Connie with the line, "Well, I see you been busy"; in the film this is changed to, "Well, I see I'm gonna be an uncle soon"), the removal of a "toilet gag about Grandma" (early in the family's journey Rosasharn leads her out of a gas-station washroom, explaining, "She went to sleep in there"), the elimination of "specific mention of Tulare County California" and a request not to identify a town as "Pixley" (a town in Tulare County, CA, notorious for its ill treatment of migrant workers). It was also suggested that the film not show "Tom killing the deputy in self-defense".
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.
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