Grapes of Wrath (1940)

As good as the film is, it really should be a companion-piece to Steinbeck's original masterpiece, and if you haven't read it I recommend setting aside enough time to read one of the greatest pieces of American literature ever written.

That being said, the medium of the cinema allows for a visual impact that can't be matched with the written word.

The Grapes of Wrath follows the Joad family during the great depression. That period of economic hardship hit the farmers in Oklahoma a little harder than the rest of the world, at the time of the dust bowl the "Okies" were at the end of their ropes, financially speaking.

Thousands of Okies packed up the house after being foreclosed and moved out to California - many winding up around Bakersfield, at the California end of old US Route 66. (Merle Haggard's family did so and the "Okie from Muscogee" wrote about it in songs like "California Cottonfields".)

Anyway, this is the historical context of the movie. The theme of the movie, and of Steinbeck's book, is the ability of the human spirit to remain intact in these worst of times. The Joads suffer terrible humiliations, one after another, most of them because of their desperate financial status. But as the story proceeds we see that they are fundamentally decent, hard-working people, and every time life knocks them down they get back up, brush the dirt off themselves, and keep moving forward. As a national characteristic, this was an important trait because this was the generation that produced the hard-working, high-minded individuals who did important things like win World War II, followed by America's greatest financial flourishing and the Baby Boom. Tom Brokaw called them "America's Greatest Generation".

The cast is picture-perfect, with Henry Fonda as the spirited Tom Joad and John Carradine as the former preacher with a new social consciousness. Jane Darwell won a well-deserved Best Supporting Actress Award as Ma Joad, and the remainder of the cast is in every way equal to the story and the film.


An astounding film, especially for its time.   July 21, 2001
Kyle Wells (BC, Canada)
17 out of 20 found this review helpful

This 1940 classic is a film that was remarkable for its time and still packs a punch today. It is a movie that contains a very complex political message within a very simple story of simple people. It takes a very basic story of a family moving to California during the depression and turns it into a powerful, enthralling and heartfelt film about people, politics and the way the world works. It is an excellent adaptation of John Steinbeck's classic novel, which even Steinbeck himself declared to be a powerful thing on its own.

The film centers around the main character of Tom Joad who is played brilliantly by Henry Fonda. Tom has just gotten out of prison only to find that his family and all of the other families in the area have been kicked off their farms by the banks. Most of these families decide to head to California in search of work that has been promised to them by pamphlets and brochures. Tom's family decides to do the same and the rest of the movie is about the hardships these people come across on the way to and in California. It is a well-known story that is loved by many people but the true core of the story is the political message within. It is a very leftist film and the message of the verge of communist or "red" but it was at the time a very real and much needed idealism. The message is mainly presented through the character of the Preacher or Casy but by the end it is Tom himself who is spreading the word of unions and fair work.

The directing is fantastic and who would expect anything less from John Ford who is considered by most to be one of the, if not the greatest director from the days of old Hollywood. This is one of the films that proves this statement and is bested only by "The Searchers" in my opinion. The skill in which Ford frames his shots is incredible and quite unheard of for the time. He uses techniques and shooting styles that would have been more common in the Seventies up until now but here's John Ford using them in 1940. The lighting is one of the best parts of the film and Ford uses every available chance to use natural lighting usually at the hand of a candle or match and the results are astounding. The film has a feeling and a huge amount of style to it. It is truly a work of art.

I think Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine put it best when he said, "In the film, Joad butts heads with the behemoth of capitalism and realizes he can find redemption only through struggle. It really spells out the capitalist system's indifference to humanity. I'm shocked the movie even got made in the U.S.". I would agree with this statement and go even further to say that it was amazing that this film was not only made in the U.S. but in 1940. This is a time when the more "red" way of thinking was not as accepted as it has been for the last thirty years or so.

Steinbeck's book is amazing and the movie is a powerful adaptation that is fit for any fan of great movies, particularly fans of films that have a social message to deliver. If you have not seen it I whole heartily suggest that you do.

Thanxs...


An American Classic   March 12, 2000
James L. (Toronto, Canada)
16 out of 18 found this review helpful

This is a great movie based on a great novel, and I am surprised by how honestly the film captures the raw humanity of the book. Steinbeck weaved social commentary into the story, and the movie makes many points about the human condition and spirit without being heavy-handed. The story of the Joads and their fight for survival rings very true, thanks to the realistic performances and the atmosphere created by director John Ford. Henry Fonda gives one of the best performances I have ever seen him give, and his "I'll be there" speech is one of the great movie moments. Jane Darwell is also very impressive, and her direct, down-to-earth style of acting makes the quiet strength and the suffering of Ma Joad seem very real. The Grapes of Wrath is an American classic, both as a novel and as a film.


A great American movie. Watch it again and again.   March 18, 2002
15 out of 16 found this review helpful

Based on the novel by John Steinbeck, "The Grapes of Wrath" is the story of an Oklahoma family moving to California during the Great Depression. They move to California to find better work and jobs, only to find that there s little opportunity. The family goes through rough times, but they hold together because they know that they can preserver.

"The Grapes of Wrath" is a very well made movie. The acting is superb from all sides. I didn't notice any melodramatics from anyway, though there might be an occasion or two. The only other problem I had with them movie was some occasional slowdown. But I don't mind, because I'm not one of those people who expect excitement every second.

Henry Fonda is great as Tom Joad. A convict out on parole, he goes with his family to California. Some experiences along the way help to change him and make him a better person. He soon realizes that people are more important and vows to devote his help to those who need it more and to those who aren't as fortunate. He got an Oscar nomination,
But was unsuccessful. The film also got a Best Picture nomination, but lost to "Rebecca", the first American film of Alfred Hitchcock (Then again, I've rarely agreed with the Academy). Jane Darwell, however, won Best Supporting Actress as Ma Joad, the "emotional anchor" of the family, and Director John Ford picked up is second award. He would also win one the following year to "How Green Was My Valley" and in 1952 for "The Quiet Man".

Another of the film's best virtues is in the cinematography. There is usage of low angle shots in interior scenes (Rare in movies at this time because that's where the equipment was placed) and deep focus in several scenes (Where everything in the scene is focused in). If it looks familiar, that's because it was done by Gregg "Citizen Kane" Toland.


A classic of the human condition   November 23, 2004
J. Remington (Adams, Oregon USA)
12 out of 13 found this review helpful

I think it is most ironic that independent filmmakers claim to despise the mainstream Hollywood film in favor of making "personal cinema". When one considers the work of director John Ford it becomes so obvious that he was very much a part of the "system" and yet made several stunningly personal films.

His films hold up well today because they display his personal love of character, land, place (there is a difference), time, honor, tradition and ritual. THE GRAPES OF WRATH is one of his finest pictures. His obsessions and political leanings come to life in Steinbeck's haunting, searing and highly religious narrative.

I agree with many other reviewers who believe that the film is largely leftist propaganda. Certainly the other great political film directors Leni Reifenstahl and Sergei Eisenstein can be see in many of Ford's compositions- as is the case with the masked tractor trooper montage. But propaganda, like the very medium of film itself, operates on pure emotion. This film is loaded with one emotional image after another.

The photography of Gregg Toland matches the best of Life Magazine in its immediacy and realism, while at the same time dramatically recapturing the best of German Expressionsim. There are so many frames that could stand proudly next to the works of Adams, Bourke-White, Wood and Robert Capa as examples of photographic art.

The cast is uniformly excellent. The sincere and utterly real performances of John Carradine, Russell Simpson, Jane Darwell, John Qualen and the great Charley Grapewin all give performances that are on the level with anything ever produced from an Actor's Studio graduate.

Enough cannot be possibly said about Henry Fonda's performance as Tom Joad. How fitting that Fonda would play Henry Stamper in the film version of Kesey's SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION as Old Henry S. really is in many ways Tom Joad all grown up. Simply put it is one of the finest characterizations ever captured on film. He was not just an American icon, he was a fine dramatic artist.

The script retains much of the best of Steinbeck's novel and many of its great quotes. Yes, it does preach, but never at the expense of the narrative. This is a lesson so many "serious" filmmakers have yet to learn. The film has not dated in THE GRAPES OF WRATH is about a specific time and place in American History yes, but it is also about what it means to be a human being. In that sense it transcends nationalism and is a fine work of World Literature. It is an equal with CITIZEN KANE as one of the finest films ever made.

Now finally available on a beautiful transfer DVD, THE GRAPES OF WRATH, with his glowing silver and black images belongs on any serious film fan's shelf.