One of the greatest films ever made

Rating: 10/10 (5 March 2006)

John Ford's "The Grapes of Wrath" stands tall in the history of cinema. Many critics would say it is the greatest Hollywood film ever made, even better than Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane." Whatever stance the viewer takes, it is a must-see movie. A few scenes in this masterpiece were actually shot on location around Sallisaw, Oklahoma. Though many from Oklahoma were offended by parts of the book and film, especially calling the Joads "Okies," others realized what Ford and the author of the book, John Steinbeck, were presenting. The Joads are depicted as honest, hardworking salt of the earth Americans knocked down by Old Man Depression and the Dust Bowl, not as ignorant hillbillies as some believe. The so-called respectable agricultural conglomerate heads and big businessmen are the ones shown as malevolent heartless persons, with the law, especially hand-picked deputy sheriffs, being represented as brutes and murderers. Sallisaw today honors the movie and the book by having a Grapes of Wrath Festival each year.
Henry Fonda in a role of a lifetime--and he knew it--turns in his best performance. In one of the great film portrayals of all time, Tom Joad, Fonda is able to capture the essence of this set upon human being who is trying to survive in a world he never made. Pulled apart by society's pliers, Tom speaks for the common people with heart and soul. The viewer knows that this young man with somewhat of a chip on his shoulder who is easy to rile, often responding by violence, is destined to return to the prison from which he was paroled, McAlester, or one just like it. He is admired because he will never surrender, never back down, fighting to end injustice and exploitation of the working man. Amazingly Fonda did not become type cast as a result of playing Tom Joad and went on to play many diversified roles and start a cinema dynasty with controversial Jane Fonda almost equaling her father in acting ability.
Though Tom is the main character in both the book and the film, he is not the hero. That title belongs to the indomitable Ma Joad, who is determined to keep her family together come Hell or high water. She too won't back down but she is also filled with Christian love and charity for all God's creatures, even the despicable and cruel. Jane Darwell deservedly won the Academy Award for best supporting actress for her brilliant performance as Ma. Her final dialog in the battered old truck heading for Fresno says it all. The rest of the cast, consisting of John Ford's regular troupe of actors such as Ward Bond, is fine tuned to the nth degree. John Carradine's key role as Preacher Casy is exceptional as is John Qualen's graveyard ghost Muley Graves.
Director John Ford, who also copped an Oscar, with his cinematographer Gregg Toland captures on film the face of hunger by visualizing what it is like to be dispossessed of one's heritage. The most telling image is that of the Joads standing up to unbridled greed when the cats are pushing over their homes. The camera pans away from their defiant figures, a dusty wind whistling through their hair, to focus on their shadows. The wind-blown shadows are all that is left of their previous lives. Their homes gone. Their families torn apart and scattered. All their worldly possessions abandoned. Now they must look westward to California for what they pray is a new beginning.
Modern viewers find it difficult to understand how "The Grapes of Wrath" was considered so controversial that John Ford and his crew had to shoot it in a surreptitious manner. John Steinbeck's socialistic message was watered down somewhat for the movie, but it does peek through every now and then. Tom wants to know, "Who are these Reds?" In those days being associated in any way with the labor movement could get you branded a Communist, even if you did not know what a Communist was. The ending was also changed to make it more upbeat and optimistic.
The music is sufficient to convey the feelings and emotions of the Oklahoma refugees, especially the main theme "Red River Valley." One of the high points in the film is when Tom Joad (Henry Fonda) sings the song to his mother when all are finally having fun once more at the big dance in a New Deal migrant workers camp. Yet had John Ford the foresight to utilize the talents of Oklahoma native Woody Guthrie for the songs the musical score would have been a masterpiece. Woody did write his own score inspired by watching the film. His "Dust Bowl Ballads" are among the artistic triumphs of the 20th century.