The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

**** out of ****

I have a confession to make..... I have never read “The Grapes of Wrath”. I know, I know, I should have, it's an American classic, blah blah blah. I tried to read both “East of Eden” and the play “Of Mice and Men” and failed on both occasions due to sheer boredom. I saw that the stark realities that Steinbeck was writing about were very well described, but I just didn't find them interesting enough to finish in print.

But I read Mad Magazine's “The Wrath of Grapes”, if that counts.....

In contrast, the film version of "The Grapes of Wrath" is a classic on every level. I understand it is quite different from the novel, particularly at the end, but it provides a very realistic and gritty look at dust bowl migrant farmers during the depression. Tom Joad (Henry Fonda) has just been released from prison after serving four years for killing a man in a fight. He arrives back at his parents' farm to find it deserted – it turns out that all the local sharecroppers have been forced off the land by the landowner, who is heavily industrializing. Tom finds his family in short order at his uncle's farm, where the entire Joad clan is preparing to make the trek to California.

The family has placed their faith in a handbill suggesting California is a land of milk and honey, lots of work for high wages. So with barely enough money to cover gas, they set off looking for that better life. Along the way they encounter many a hardship, including the death of the grandparents that are along, car trouble, dwindling funds and the fear that their faith was misplaced. And when they arrive in California they find their kind is considered even lower than carpetbaggers – just vagrants looking to ruin any town where they settle.

Add to this the fact that all the migrant workers are shamelessly exploited for labour – underpaid, overworked and forced to live in subhuman conditions. The landowners are able to get away with whatever they want due to the sheer number of migrants that need work. Fifteen cents per hour was a terrible wage when you need thirty just to feed your family, but fifteen is better than nothing. Almost everywhere the Joads travel, they find the same conditions.

Tom and his friend Casey (John Carradine) end up becoming involved in the labour movement, planning to fight for better wages and conditions for the workers. Strikebreaking abounds and the threat of violence is always at hand. Tom has to be even more careful than most, as he is a paroled felon and could be sent back to prison for almost anything.  But despite his best efforts he finds himself in bad trouble with the landowners and the law almost all the time.

Joad eventually is forced to leave his family behind to keep them from being caught up in what is sure to be his eventual fate, and he gives himself over completely to the fight. He doesn't care if he dies, as long as he dies on the side of right. That leads to the immortal film speech by Fonda that goes:

“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 in the way guys yell when they're mad.”

“The Grapes of Wrath” is considered a film classic, and rightfully so. However it is anything but a typical movie. There is little to feel good about, and while it isn't completely without hope it shows just what depression era people were up against. Death was a daily threat and when it came it was a matter of course, something to be dealt with and moved on from. Nothing is uplifting in the movie. There is no feel-good vibe. It is just stark and real, and sad and wonderful, and a film everyone should see at least once. 

While there are no poor performances in the film, Fonda is absolutely fantastic as Tom Joad. My favortie performance of his came many years later in “On Golden Pond”, but this one is every bit as good. Jane Darwell won a well deserved Oscar for her portrayal of Ma Joad, and John Carradine is John Carradine (nothing else need be said). This is not a movie to watch for fun, but one to watch for simple, great storytelling. I couldn't recommend it any more highly.