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7.5/10 • 52

1972-09-241h 45m

Drama

The oldest son of a loving and strong family of black sharecroppers comes of age in the Depression-era South after his father is imprisoned for stealing food.

Directors
Martin Ritt
Editors
Sidney Levin

Top Billed Cast

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  1. Cicely Tyson

    Cicely Tyson

    Rebecca Morgan

  2. Paul Winfield

    Paul Winfield

    Nathan Lee Morgan

  3. Kevin Hooks

    Kevin Hooks

    David Lee Morgan

  4. Taj Mahal

    Taj Mahal

    Ike

  5. Janet MacLachlan

    Janet MacLachlan

    Camille Johnson

  6. Carmen Mathews

    Carmen Mathews

    Mrs. Boatwright

  7. James Best

    James Best

    Sheriff Charlie Young

  8. Eric Hooks

    Eric Hooks

    Earl Morgan

  9. Yvonne Jarrell

    Yvonne Jarrell

    Josie Mae Morgan

Reviews1

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CinemaSerf Avatar

CinemaSerf

Jul 5, 2025

7/10

After an energetic but fruitless coon hunt, “Nathan” (Paul Winfield) returns home to a family with his young son “David” (Kevin Hooks) and some empty bellies. They are a close and loving bunch and “Nathan” knows that nothing is likely to improve until the cropping season starts - but that is still some months away. Then he goes and gets himself imprisoned for stealing food and that leaves his wife “Rebecca” (Cicely Tyson) and the children to eke what they can and deal with the planting whilst he does twelve months hard labour. It doesn’t help their morale that they don’t even know where he has been detained, and so “David” with the help of their kindly neighbour “Miss Boatwright” (Carmen Matthews) sets about trying to track him down and make a contact that can reassure both that they are in each other’s thoughts and prayers. This film sees two strong performances. One from Tyson as a woman who will move heaven and earth to keep her family together and from starvation and the other from the enthusiastic and charismatic young Hooks who delivers quite poignantly as the young man who just wants to be with his dad. It shines the usual light on racism and iniquity, but it also extols some positivity as the young kids are determined to go to school, and they have parents who are equally determined that this opportunity should not be wasted. It’s touching but not sentimental and there is a degree of optimism for these children and, thanks to the somewhat risky intervention of “Miss Boatwright”, there might even be some roots of decency sprouting from the white folks too. The production is really quite effective at illustrating just how tough their lives was, and at the double-standards that prevailed amongst a community where hard work earned little but money for someone else.

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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
--
Revenue
--
Keywords
based on novel or booklouisianagreat depressionfamily relationshipsurbanhardshipsharecropperprison campstealing food1930s