The Grapes of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath is a 1940 film about a poor Midwest family that is forced off of their land. They travel to California, suffering the misfortunes of the homeless in the Great Depression.

Year:
1940
2,237 Views
The most discussed book in years - now comes to the screen to become the most discussed picture in ages
The thousands who have read the book will know why WE WILL NOT SELL ANY CHILDREN TICKETS to see this picture!
The Joads step right out of the pages of the novel that has shocked millions!

Agent:
The fact of the matter, Muley, after what them dusters done to the land, the tenant system don't work no more. You don't even break even, much less show a profit. Why, one man and a tractor can handle twelve or fourteen of these places. You just pay him a wage and take all the crop.

Muley:
Yeah, but uh, we couldn't do on any less than what our share is now. Why, the children ain't gettin' enough to eat as it is, and they're so ragged. We'd be ashamed if everybody else's children wasn't the same way.

Agent:
I can't help that. All I know is, I got my orders. They told me to tell you to get off, and that's what I'm tellin' ya.

Muley:
You mean get off of my own land?

Agent:
Now don't go to blamin' me! It ain't my fault.

Muley's son:
Who's fault is it?

Agent:
You know who owns the land. The Shawnee Land and Cattle Company.

Muley:
And who's the Shawnee Land and Cattle Company

Agent:
It ain't nobody. It's a company.

Muley's son:
They got a President, ain't they? They got somebody who knows what a shotgun's for, ain't they?

Agent:
Oh son, it ain't his fault, because the bank tells him what to do.

Muley's son:
All right, where's the bank?

Agent:
Tulsa. What's the use of pickin' on him? He ain't nothin' but the manager. And he's half-crazy hisself tryin' to keep up with his orders from the East.

Muley:
Then who do we shoot?

Agent:
Brother, I don't know. If I did, I'd tell ya. I just don't know who's to blame.

Muley:
I'm right here to tell you, mister, there ain't nobody gonna push me off my land! My grandpaw took up this land seventy years ago. My paw was born here. We was all born on it. An' some of us was killed on it. An' some of us died on it. That's what makes it arn. Bein' born on it and workin' on it and dyin', dyin' on it. An' not no piece of paper with writin' on it.

Ma:
Tommy, ain't ya gonna tell me goodbye?

Tom:
I didn't know, Ma. I didn't know if I ought to...Come outside. There was some cops here tonight. They was takin' down license numbers. I guess somebody knows somethin'.

Ma:
I guess it had to come, sooner or later. Sit down for a minute.

Tom:
I'd like to stay, Ma. I'd like to be with ya and see your face when Pa gets settled in some nice place. I'd sure like to see ya then. But I won't never get that chance, I guess, now.

Ma:
I would hide ya, Tommy.

Tom:
I know you would, Ma, but I ain't gonna let ya. Ya hide somebody that's killed a guy and you're in trouble too.

Ma:
All right, Tommy, but what do ya figur you're gonna do?

Tom:
You know what I've been thinkin' about? About Casy, about what he said, about what he done, about how he died. I remember all of it.

Ma:
He was a good man.

Tom:
I been thinking about us, too, about our people living like pigs and good rich land layin' fallow. Or maybe one guy with a million acres and a hundred thousand farmers starvin'. And I been wonderin' if all our folks got together and yelled...

Ma:
Oh, Tommy, they'd drag you out and cut you down just like they done to Casy.

Tom:
They'd drag me anyways. Sooner or later they'd get me for one thing if not for another. Until then...

Ma:
Tommy, you're not aimin' to kill nobody?

Tom:
No, Ma, not that. That ain't it. It's just, well as long as I'm an outlaw anyways... maybe I can do somethin'... maybe I can just find out somethin', just scrounge around and maybe find out what it is that's wrong and see if they ain't somethin' that can be done about it. I ain't thought it out all clear, Ma. I can't. I don't know enough.

Ma:
How am I gonna know about ya, Tommy? Why they could kill ya and I'd never know. They could hurt ya. How am I gonna know?

Tom:
Well, maybe it's like Casy says. A fellow ain't got a soul of his own, just little piece of a big soul, the one big soul that belongs to everybody, then...

Ma:
Then what, Tom?

Tom:
Then it don't matter. I'll be all around in the dark. I'll be ever'-where - 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 - I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry an' they know supper's ready. An' when the people are eatin' the stuff they raise, and livin' in the houses they build - I'll be there, too.

Ma:
I don't understand it, Tom.

Tom:
Me, neither, Ma, but just somethin' I been thinkin' about.


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