American classic

Rating: 9/10 (14 August 1999)

The Grapes of Wrath gives us the hardships and prejudices that "Okies" had to face during their journey to California. Forced off their land, and striking out west, the Joad family encounters just about every kind of hardship, yet the family lives on. Mostly in part of Ma Joad, who keeps her family going through the worst of times. Henry Fonda is wonderful as Tom. You can see his anger and frustration behind his eyes. There's so much injustice going on around him, and he's powerless against it. When he's about ready to do something foolish, it's his mother that pulls him back and makes him think about what his actions will do. Unfortunately for Tom, fate has a way of dealing a bad hand and he must leave his family, not for his safety, but for theirs. John Ford, a man usually associated with the western genre, brings Steinbeck's epic to the screen with skill and care. He invests so much time with the Joads that you feel like they're your own family. And it pains you to see them go through such pain. There is an uplifting end to it. Ma Joad tells her husband that they will live on, they are the good people and nothing will ever wipe them out.