No. 28 - The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

The Joads step right out of the pages of the novel that has shocked millions!

Rated: Not Rated, but would be rated G (General audiences)

Director:  John Ford; Screenplay: Nunnally Johnson; based on the novel by John Steinbeck

Starring: Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine, Charley Grapewin, Dorris Bowdon, Russell Simpson, John Qualen, Grant Mitchell, Ward Bond

Movie Introduction: During the Great Depression, the Joad family, held together by Ma (Darwell) and Pa (Simpson) Joad, are not making it. Tom Joad (Fonda) has just been released from prison and rejoins his family in drought-stricken Oklahoma. After their farm is seized by the bank, they load everything they own onto a beat-up old truck and head West, hoping for a better life in California. On the road, beset by hardships, and family deaths, the Joads meet dozens of others making the same trek West, holding onto the same dream. Once in California, however, the Joads quickly encounter poor camp conditions and run-ins with "agitators". Along with the many incoming folks, they are taken advantage of, yet all they can do is keep moving on down the road. 

Defining Moment: a murder

The desperate Joad family reaches California expecting a "land of milk and honey". Instead, they encounter only more starving folks like themselves forced to stay at horrible migrant camps. Tom Joad learns that migrant workers are planning a strike due to the terrible conditions, so he attends a secret meeting in the dark woods to find out more. Suddenly club-wielding agitators invade the meeting. In the melee, Tom kills a guard to save the life of his friend Casy. Tom makes it back to his family in the camp, and they frantically hide him from the searching authorities.  

Something subtle you might have missed:  preacher Casey

Some actors just have a look about them. Once such actor was the legendary John Carradine. He makes many appearances throughout everyone's movies lists. The prolific American actor starred in over 300 films, many of them horror or Western in genre. His gaunt features, and deep, smooth voice enabled him deliver memorable performances. He is also the father of acting sons, David (Kung Fu and the Kill Bill films), Robert (The Cowboys, Revenge of the Nerds), Keith (Nashville, numerous TV shows), and the lesser known Bruce (Kung Fu).

Memorable Quotes:

"That Casey. He might have been a preacher but he seen things clear. He was like a lantern. He helped me to see things clear." – Tom Joad

"That's what makes us tough. Rich fellers come up an' they die an' their kids ain't no good, an' they die out. But we keep a-comin'. We're the people that live. They can't wipe us out. They can't lick us. And we'll go on forever, Pa, 'cause we're the people.” – Ma Joad

Dad's Comments:

John Steinbeck's iconic novel brought the world the hardships of the Great Depression like no other work. This film, by famed director John Ford, is based on that American Classic, and is considered one of the greatest films ever made.

The story follows the Joad family in the 1930's. Due to the Depression, they lose their farm and are desperate. They load up a beat-up only truck and head West. There is word that crops need picking there, and that means work and money. The journey will not be easy and the family will be forever changed by its hardships and trials. They will encounter some kindness, but most of the road is littered with people who detest these "vagabonds" and offer them no safe haven.

This film has two incredible soliloquies, both occur in intimate conversations between Tom and his weary mother.

In the first, Tom is trying to decide to stay and help, or run because he killed a policeman defending Reverend Casey. If Tom gets caught it will only hurt his family. Ma Joad can only see things in their current state. One by one she is losing her family. Pa is too old and wore out to be of much help. She really needs Tom to stay and help her.

She begins her heart-wrenching plea... "Tom, there's a whole lot I don't understand. But goin' away ain't gonna ease us. There was a time we was on the land. There was a bounty to us then. Old folks died off and little fellers come. We was always one thing. We was the family. Kind of whole and clear. But now we ain't clear no more. There ain't nothin' that keeps us clear. Al - he's a-hankerin' to be off on his own and Uncle John's just draggin' around. Your Pa's lost his place, he ain't the head no more. We're crackin' up, Tom. We ain't no family now. And Rosesharon - she's gonna have her baby, but it won't have no family. I've been a-tryin' to keep her goin' but... and Winfield, what's he gonna be this a-way? Grown up wild, and Ruthie too! Just like animals. Got nothin' to trust. Don't go, Tom. Stay and help! Help me!"

Tom's reply to her is equally wrenching. He knows that he’s got to go. (this passage is included in Bruce Springsteen's song aptly titled The Ghost of Tom Joad.)

Tom, looking into the distance, into the face of the country that he hopes to someday see, says, "I'll be all around in the dark. I'll be ever' where - 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 an' they know supper's ready. An' when the people are eatin' the stuff they raise, and livin' in the houses they build - I'll be there, too."

My deep connection to this film relates to my family’s experience during the Depression. Most Texas farmers in those days were dirt poor. Draught and pestilence meant that crops did not bear, so livestock starved and income simply was not coming in. They had to get frugal. They raised chickens, killed hogs. They tended dry gardens and "canned" everything they could. They did without. My kind Mother, and brutally honest grandmother Lollie Straley, often spoke of those tough days.

I have many old family photos from that era, and many of cracked and blurry images look like they are right out of this movie. The background is sparse, the vegetation withered. No lush green farmland, no green yards to be mowed... just dirt, starving dogs, and bleak poverty.

In the photo on the right, the Straley children pose for a picture. My mother is the stern-faced young girl in the middle.

The interesting thing about their memories, though, is that they never whined about it. It was just how things were. Yes, they were poor, but they "got by somehow". Unlike the Joads, my Mom’s family were able to stay together and keep their land. Eventually, the draughts ended, the locusts moved on, the dust stopped blowing, the rains came back and the land’s bounty returned. It also helped that oil was discovered under Texas land, so that additional income certainly helped. That's how they survived it.

 Onto No. 29... The Sorcerer of Emerald Land