..Mr. McDaniel is a testimony to this tragedy..

Rating: 10/10 (10 May 2006)

The very first commentary on this movie says it all. Although I also was living during this disaster, for some reason I was not aware of its affects on my family, who came to this country with great wealth in 1924. By 1930, it was bankrupt; I kept wondering why we were moving from the big house to a succession of smaller houses on the same property, then entirely off of it. Mine was such a happy childhood, I can only surmise the loss of wealth did not register with me. I don't even remember being aware of it; by the time my family became being near penniless, I was the only child left at home - I was the youngest. My parents' battle to win it is a testimony to their resiliency and bravery. My dad became a master-carpenter, and helped build-renovate many homes his wealth had helped other people to obtain. My mother became the town-sempstress, sewing garments she would not have worn in earlier days.
I suspect I may had read "The Grapes of Wrath" shortly after its publication; I was a precocious child. I know of my family's travails only from other family-members, during the Great Depression which could so easily happen again, for different reasons. I doubt seriously if today's citizens of this country - and the millions of immigrants - could survive one. Reading other commentaries on this movie, I wonder how-and-who decided it is of a communistic theme - I must have been too naive to grasp it from the novel. Although they were worlds apart in their cultures, my mother certainly was very much like Ma Joad, both angels on Earth. I proudly associate the two; my mom put-away her aristocratic demeanor to help pay my dad's bills. Ma Joad BECAME aristocratic through her gentility and compassion. I am so happy I inherited many of my mother's characteristics, because lineage means nothing to me. It's the person-as-is I love.
"The Okies", although they received much less sympathy than those hordes who cross California's southern border with Mexico, brought the same magic power to California, because they did the dirty work. We politically correctly say, "that's work we won't do" -hmmmmmm. One doesn't know what one would do, until a situation confronts them. Being retired from night-club entertaining, I view everyone as being equal: I often confronted individuals of foreign birth with unkind things to say about America. I could only smile and ask, "If that is true, why is everyone in the world trying to get here?" Many of the commentators on this movie have written cogently about it. There is not much more I can add, except to say it causes me to weep for the goodness of the people during those times, when they had every reason to be evil. I see no comparison in the quality of the film to "Citizen Kane", because that film is mostly fiction. "The Grapes of Wrath" is a true-to-life historical telling of real situations. They are rampant all over the world, and in some parts of this nation. Let's pray they can be alleviated for everyone's good.
I think Henry Fonda portrayed Tom Joad brilliantly, but don't see too much difference in his other roles. Perhaps he became a "big star" because of his cunning, to choose roles that would fit him. I agree with those who write the awarding of his Oscar for "On Golden Pond" was the culmination of a popularity contest. There is a dark rumor (in Hollywood) "Pond's" theme wasn't all that fictional; in true life, Jane and Dad didn't get along that well.....
Watch "Grapes" as often as you can - there are many great lessons to be learned from it. It deserves every accolade given to it, and none of the tacky criticisms - it is pure art that just happens to depict a dreadful period of our history. I can't give anything but high praise for all who had a part in its production. "Happy are those who are persecuted because they are good, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs." Mathew 5:10.