Actors - The Grapes of Wrath

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	Actors - The Grapes of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath is a 1940 film directed by John Ford. It was based on the novel written by John Steinbeck and the screenplay was penned by Steinbeck and Nunnally Johnson.

Recently released from prison, Tom Joad (Henry Fonda) returns to his family farm in Oklahoma only to find it deserted. When he finds his family they decide to head for California because the farm has been foreclosed by the bank.

The movie follows the Joad's family journey and the hardships they face and endure once they reach their destination.

Awards

Academy Awards: Won two awards. Best Supporting Actress
, Jane Darwell; and Academy Award for Directing, John Ford.
Academy Awards: Nominated for five awards. Best Actor in a Leading Role Henry Fonda; Best Film Editing, Robert L. Simpson; Best Picture, Darryl F. Zanuck and Nunnally Johnson; Best Sound Recording, Edmund H. Hansen; and Best Writing, Screenplay, Nunnally Johnson.
In 1989 the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry
.

Quotes

Tom Joad: Takes no nerve to do something, ain't nothin' else you can do.
Grandpa Joad: It's my dirt! Eh-heh! No good, but it's - it's mine, all mine.
Ma Joad: There, gramma! There's California. Grandma Joad: Phbbtt!
Gasoline Attendant: You and me got sense. Them Okies got no sense and no feeling. They ain't human. Human being wouldn't live the way they do. Human being couldn't stand to be so miserable.
Casy: Maybe there ain't no sin and there ain't no virtue, they's just what people does. Some things folks do is nice and some ain't so nice, and that's all any man's got a right to say.
Ma Joad: Rich fellas come up an' they die, an' their kids ain't no good an' they die out. But we keep a'comin'. We're the people that live. They can't wipe us out; they can't lick us. We'll go on forever, Pa, 'cause we're the people.
Tom Joad: I'll be all around in the dark. I'll be everywhere. Wherever you can look, wherever there's a fight, so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever there's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there. I'll be there in the way guys yell when they're mad. I'll be there in the way kids laugh when they're hungry and they know supper's ready, and when people are eatin' the stuff they raise and livin' in the houses they built, I'll be there, too.

Novel to film

The first part of the film version follows the book very accurately. However, the second half and the ending in particular are significantly different from the book.

The book's ending tells us about the downfall and ultimate break-up of the Joad family, while the film switches the entire order of sequences so that the family ends up in a "good" camp provided by the government and turn out relatively well despite the departure of Tom.

Trivia

The film's original title was "Highway 66". The director needed to use Oklahoma in the highway scenes and The Grapes of Wrath was very controversial with many of the state's citizens.
Filming locations: some of the locations included Gallup, Laguna Pueblo, and Santa Rosa, all in New Mexico; Lamont, Needles, San Fernando Valley, all in California; Topock, Petrified Forest National Park, all in Arizona.
The novel's original ending was far too controversial to be included in the film. In the story Rose-of-Sharon Rivers (Dorris Bowdon) gives birth to a stillborn baby and then offers her milk-filled breasts to a starving man, dying in a barn.

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