The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
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An Oklahoma family of sharecroppers faces a desperate journey to California in search of work during the Great Depression.
The story
After losing their farm to mechanization during the Great Depression, the Joad family, including Tom and Ma, becomes migrant workers. They pack into a dilapidated car to travel across the United States to California in search of work and opportunities. Their arduous journey along Highway 66 takes a heavy toll on the family as they face hardship, death, and the harsh realities of being displaced. They eventually arrive at transient migrant campgrounds, where they encounter starving, jobless travelers and the difficult conditions of the migrant life.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
After being released from prison, Tom Joad hitchhikes to his parents' farm in Oklahoma, where he meets Jim Casy, a former preacher. They find the farm deserted by land deedholders who used tractors to knock down houses. Tom reunites with his family, who are migrating to California in a converted truck. During the journey, Grandpa and Grandma die, and Noah leaves the family. Upon reaching California, they find crowded, desperate camps. After Connie deserts Rose-of-Sharon, the Joads move to the Keene Ranch, where they discover high food prices and a striking migrant group. Tom attends a secret meeting where Casy is killed by a guard; Tom kills the guard in self-defense. Now recognizable by a cheek wound, Tom eventually decides to leave the family to fight for workers' rights, carrying on Casy's mission. The film concludes with Ma Joad vowing that their kind will continue to live on.
- First release year
- 1940
- Runtime (minutes)
- 129
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- John Ford
- Writers
- Nunnally Johnson · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Henry Fonda · Tom Joad; Jane Darwell · "Ma" Joad; John Carradine · Jim Casy; Charley Grapewin · William James "Grandpa" Joad; Dorris Bowdon · Rose of Sharon "Rosasharn" Joad; Russell Simpson · "Pa" Joad; O. Z. Whitehead · Al Joad; John Qualen · Muley Graves
- Genres
- drama
- Themes
- survival; migration; labor rights; family unity
- Tone and mood
- stark; optimistic; hopeful
- Premise and plot tags
- Great Depression; Road Movie; Social Realism; Family Drama
- Source material / true-story basis
- John Steinbeck's 1939 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name
- Reception
- The film is widely considered to be one of the greatest films of all time and received 'preponderantly enthusiastic' critical response. It was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being 'culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant'.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 96 · scale: 100 · review count: 16
- Awards and nominations
- AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies · #21 · inclusion; AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains · Tom Joad – #12 Hero · inclusion; AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers · #7 · inclusion
- Production trivia
- The film was one of the first 50 VHS and Beta tapes released by Magnetic Video in 1977.; The film was originally allowed to be shown in the Soviet Union in 1948 but was subsequently withdrawn.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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