One Powerful Film

Rating: 10/10 (17 March 2001)

When I first saw this in the 1970's I was an impressionable teenager and it affected my social thinking greatly. The performances stayed with me for years, and the power of the film too. I read the book and it showed how great a film they had made from a long, wordy, social tale. Recently re-watching the movie, it looked fresh and just as powerful as when I first saw it. Henry Fonda, John Carradine and especially Jane Darwell, give career heights performances and they add truthful weight to the characters. The story challenges the way we treat migrants and how we force them to be what we think they might be, in England we have a lot of this in recent times. All the character parts are effective, for example the caretaker of the government camp, who at last shows some understanding of the migrants problems and quietly helps them settle in. Unfortunately he is virtually the only kind soul the Joads meet on their journey. It is a solid drama, never adding any comedy or music to heighten the action, sticking truthfully to its source. I am sure Steinbeck was proud of this version.