You Can't Keep an Okey Down

Rating: 8/10 (4 January 2007)

This powerful film starring Henry Fonda and directed by John Ford chronicles the Joads, a family from Oklahoma, driven from their home by greedy bankers and corporations after their livelihood was ruined by the dust storms of the mid 30s. These storms displaced around 500,000 people, many of whom went to California looking for work. This caused a serious overage of pickers and workers in that state and many of the displaced ended up and starving and suffering in squalor in miserable camps. Steinbeck chronicled this misery (his own version of Les Miserables) in Grapes of Wrath, which was adapted the following year for the screen. Henry Fonda took the role of Tom Joad, which turned his career into gold. All of the adults in the cast performed marvelously, from the crazy grandpa dreaming of squishing around in grapes, to Casey the former preacher who just wasn't sure anymore to Ma, (who won an Oscar along with John Ford for the film). The overwhelming message pounds home the misery of these people, the poor treatment they receive at the hands of the government, police and big business and how unions and worker rights are the solution to these ills.
This movie is like bran muffins. Not just regular bran muffins, but bran muffins where part of the oil/butter has been replaced with apple sauce to make them more healthy than they already are. At first you are a little bothered and afraid that the taste will be diminished by the alteration, but it's not, they taste just as good, and the muffin provides lots of fiber for your health and little fat to make it guilt-free. The moistness is even enhanced to make the interior extremely moist and inviting. The little crumbs that you would normally discard are captured and gobbled up, making a very satisfying, healthy breakfast. 8/10
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