X
- 1940
- Approved
- Twentieth Century Fox
- 2 h 9 m
- 1940
- Approved
- Twentieth Century Fox
- 2 h 9 m
Summary A poor Midwest family is forced off their land. They travel to California, suffering the misfortunes of the homeless in the Great Depression.
Directed By: John Ford
Written By: Nunnally Johnson, John Steinbeck
- 1940
- Approved
- Twentieth Century Fox
- 2 h 9 m
- 1940
- Approved
- Twentieth Century Fox
- 2 h 9 m
The Grapes of Wrath
8.4
Where to Watch
Summary A poor Midwest family is forced off their land. They travel to California, suffering the misfortunes of the homeless in the Great Depression.
Directed By: John Ford
Written By: Nunnally Johnson, John Steinbeck
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 16 Critic Reviews
96
94% Positive
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
6% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 16 Critic Reviews
96
94% Positive
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
6% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
As son Tom Joad, Henry Fonda gave the screen performance of his career. [09 Apr 2004, p.10E]
Ford's film, shot by Gregg Toland with magnificent, lyrical simplicity, captures the stark plainness of the migrants, stripped to a few possessions, left with innumerable relations and little hope.
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 76 User Ratings
8.4
91% Positive
69 Ratings
69 Ratings
7% Mixed
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
3% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 76 User Ratings
8.4
91% Positive
69 Ratings
69 Ratings
7% Mixed
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
3% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.
The word that comes in most handily for The Grapes of Wrath is magnificent. Movies will probably go on improving and broadening themselves; but in any event, The Grapes of Wrath is the most mature picture story that has ever been made, in feeling, in purpose, and in the use of the medium. You can drag out classics (it is often safer not to go back and see them) and you can roll off names in different tongues and times. But this is a best that has no very near comparison to date.
It is an absorbing, tense melodrama, starkly realistic, and loaded with social and political fireworks.
Gregg Toland captures the open spaces and big skies of rural America, while the normally conservative Ford puts forward a sympathetic but radical plea for workers' rights and freedom for the people.
Ford's admirers have rightly tended to play this down in favor of his later and more personal westerns, but there's much to admire here in Gregg Toland's sun-beaten photography and Henry Fonda's meticulous performance as Steinbeck's dashboard saint, Tom Joad.
This famous film, high on most lists of the greatest films of all time, seems all wrong - phony when it should ring true. Yet, because of the material, it is often moving in spite of the acting, the directing, and the pseudo-Biblical pore-people talk.
Production Company
Twentieth Century Fox
Release Date Mar 15, 1940
Duration 2 h 9 m
Rating Approved
Genres
Tagline The thousands who have read the book will know why WE WILL NOT SELL ANY CHILDREN TICKETS to see this picture!
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 2 Wins & 7 Nominations
National Board of Review, USA
• 3 Wins & 3 Nominations
New York Film Critics Circle Awards
• 2 Wins & 2 Nominations
