Review: Norma Rae


If you really like Oscar-winner Sally Field, then you’ll really like this 1979 Martin Ritt (“Hud”, “Edge of the City”, “Paris Blues”) film. Really, really like it. Oh, OK, enough with the Oscar jokes already. This is the tale of a real-life poor textile worker and working mother, played by Sally Field (who always excelled at working class-types and mothers, in films like the underrated “Places in the Heart”). She gets involved with a Jewish union organiser (Ron Leibman, in one of his best and quietest performances) and starts to move towards his way of thinking, hoping to make a change for the better in one helluva reluctant, simple-minded working class area.



The film is well-done on just about every level. Beau Bridges is quite good as the good ‘ol boy she marries, and reliable old Pat Hingle is excellent as her protective, old-fashioned father. It’s hardly original in terms of plot (even for its time), but it’s a good, believable, and entertaining film nonetheless. Sally fans are likely to get more out of it than most, though this ain’t “The Flying Nun” or “Gidget”. The film won two Oscars, one for Field and the other for Original Song (a tune sung by Jennifer Warnes), but was also nominated for Best Picture and Best Screenplay, losing out in both categories to the popular “Kramer vs. Kramer”. The screenplay is by the team of Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr. (“Conrack” with Jon Voight and “Hud” with Paul Newman, both directed by Ritt).



Rating: B-

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Hellraiser (2022)

Recovering junkie Odessa A’zion accompanies scuzzy boyfriend Drew Starkey on a break-in where all they find is a weird puzzle box. A’zion later opens the box and after some weird shit happens, A’zion and Starkey figure it might be a good idea to learn more about this messed up trinket. Goran Visnjic plays a millionaire who possessed the box before our protagonist nicked it.   Is there any point in remaking/rebooting “Hellraiser” when the 1987 adaptation of Clive Barker’s original text was written and directed by Barker himself? And is considered a horror classic? On evidence here, absolutely not. Directed by David Bruckner ( “The Signal” ) and scripted by Ben Collins ( “The Night House” ) and Luke Piotrowski (ditto) this is an entirely tedious affair. I took a long time to get on board with the 1987 “Hellraiser” , I have to admit. It was wildly imaginative and original, like a nightmare transplanted on to film. However, the characters were stone cold and left me similarly chil...
Read more

Review: Cinderella (1950)

The story of poor young Cinderella (voiced by Ilene Woods), treated as a servant by her nasty stepmother (voiced by Eleanor Audley), and dismissed by her thoroughly rotten, ugly stepsisters. Her only friends are a group of mice, who are forever being menaced by a cat named Lucifer (or as I call him, Grumpy Cheshire Cat). The King (hoping to find a wife for his charming son) is throwing a ball and every available young woman is invited to attend, and Cinderella is most excited to go. However, her stepmother and stepsisters do all they can to prevent this from happening. But with help from the mice and one fairy godmother (voiced by Verna Felton) later, and Cinderella looks set to attend the ball. You know the rest, folks.   Lovely 1950 Disney animated movie from directors Clyde Geronimi ( “Peter Pan” , “Lady and the Tramp” ), Wilfred Jackson ( “Fantasia” , “Alice in Wonderland” , “Peter Pan” ) & Hamilton Luske ( “Pinocchio” , “Fantasia” , “Peter Pan” ), that is a bit t...
Read more

Review: Jinnah

The story of Mohammed Ali Jinnah (Sir Christopher Lee) the politically moderate founder of Pakistan. A Muslim lawyer, Jinnah fought to form a separate nation from India for the Muslim minority, whilst Mahatma Gandhi (Sam Dastor) wished for India to stay united and proposed Jinnah as the new PM as a compromise. James Fox plays British viceroy Lord Mountbatten, Indira Varma plays Jinnah’s wife, and veteran bit player Vernon Dobtcheff plays a British dignitary.   Although Christopher Lee’s title performance received some critical notice and the actor himself was very proud of the work, this modestly budgeted 1998 biopic from director Jamil Dehlavi ( “Immaculate Conception” with Melissa Leo) and co-writer Farrukh Dhondy ( “Red Mercury” with Stockard Channing and Ron Silver) was largely ignored at the time and still very little-known today. Part of that is probably due to the poor marketing of the film, and difficulty in finding a distributor. It’s hard to get people to talk abo...
Read more