I love this movie so much

Simply A Masterpiece

Absolutely the worst movie.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

This is a pretty good film with some memorable actors. "Tobacco Road" was a best selling book and later a successful play. Though comedic, the story is rather sad. We have a group of people barely having enough to eat. Because they are not very well educated or have little ambition, their choices are really limited. Jeeter, the main character, is a thief and an opportunist. As is often the case, his peccadilloes only come back to bite him. When he steals, he is too stupid to get away. I watched this movie with my father back ion the fifties and for many years it gave me my impression of what came to be called hillbillies. Of course, these stereotypes were enhanced by the very successful TV comedy, "The Beverly Hillbillies." The movie made me crawl because these people were so shortsighted and so careless and so close to the edge. I never got the humor.

I think one of the reasons this story of impoverished farmers in the Depression South fails is that there is practically no one in it that we good, hard-working, industrious, generous, compassionate, law-abiding, God-fearing Sons of the Earth can identify with.Except possibly for Elizabeth Patterson, Charley Grapewin's resigned and practical wife, the characters seem to have the minds of children. And not cute or charming children, but self-indulgent charlatans who steal, lie, bamboozle, finagle, and make promises they know they'll never keep. That's how the movie begins and that's how it ends.Jeeter Lester's ancient mother has disappeared from their dilapidated shell of a farm house. Maybe she's gone off into the woods. She might be lost. She might even die up there. So Jeeter sits on his porch and mutters that maybe he'll go up and take a look for her sometime -- maybe next week. And he dozes off. Is this supposed to be funny? Director Ford insinuates his usual themes -- Danny Borzage's accordion music, "Shall We Gather At The River", my Grandpa built this country and now the bank is going to take it away, a scene in what may be a graveyard (Jeeter has forgotten where all his children are buried), the humiliation of the Poor Farm hanging over their heads. But it just doesn't work with this lot.The cast is pretty good at their job, except we have to note that a little bit of the dithering but sly Charles Grapewin goes a long way. He was fine as the truculent Grandpa in a supporting role in "The Grapes of Wrath" but he can't carry a picture in the lead.There are some humorous moments among all the trite sentiment but it's a curiously painful humor. When somebody comes suddenly into possession of eight hundred dollars (a fortune in 1933 rural Georgia), the first thing they do is buy a brand new Mercury convertible. By the next day it's a wreck but nobody cares. "It ain't hurt the runnin' of it none." It's something of a struggle to get through it.

Tobacco Road as was written by Erskine Caldwell and dramatized on Broadway for 8 years was brought to the screen by 20th Century Fox in a considerably altered state. It was thought of probably by Darryl Zanuck as a great property for John Ford seeing what he did with The Grapes Of Wrath.The Grapes Of Wrath by John Steinbeck is a great piece of social commentary, an immortal work whether in print or on the big or small screen. Ford kept the spirit of Steinbeck's work completely intact and got a well deserved Best Director Oscar. In this one because Caldwell's Jeeters are not quite as noble as the Joads of The Grapes Of Wrath, they're not prototype rural proletarians. The changes took a lot of the drama and commentary and left the film not too far above the Weaver Family films and Ma and Pa Kettle.Charley Grapewin and Bessie Patterson are Mr.&Mrs. Jeeter Lester and Jeeter is a guy determined to get by doing as little as possible. The whole family has his spirit. He's married most of his children off. One of the daughters in serious trouble of being an old maid at 23 and that was Gene Tierney if you can believe that. Her character in the book and play has a cleft palate and you can understand why she's not married off. Here she's just gorgeous Gene Tierney and a crucial element is missing.There's another daughter Pearl whom we never see, but who's married to the loutish Ward Bond. She keeps running off and Bond just doesn't get it. Here he's just rustic lout, I suspect that the 13 year old Pearl figures she can do a whole lot better. That one I'm sure the Code was breathing hot and heavy over 20th Century Fox.There's another physically deformed character and that's Marjorie Rambeau who has in the book a nose like a pig's snout. Grapewin palms off his 16 year old son as a new husband for Rambeau to get his hands on the insurance money her old husband left her. William Tracy as the kid who's no prize figures she's experienced and eager even if she's a psalm singer which she is.The rough house comedy that typifies many a Ford film is funny, but hardly in the spirit of what Caldwell was writing. In the end I have to say that the film is not good John Ford, though he's done worse.

Tobacco Road (1941)** 1/2 (out of 4) I take pride in watching bizarre movies from every country and every decade but I never figured that's what I'd be viewing when I sat down to watch this John Ford film that seems to have been forgotten over the years. The movie, based on the famous novel and long-running play, centers on Jeeter Lester (Charley Grapewin) and his family, poor Georgia farmers who are about to get kicked off their land unless they can round up $100 to stay for a year. That's pretty much all there is to know story wise, although the screenplay does take the film into different directions as the family is faced with the possibility of losing everything they love. If people got wide-eyed about the way Ford showed Indians then they're probably going to have their heads rolling off at this look at a redneck family. I was really, really caught off guard by how incredibly bizarre and strange this movie was. I think part of this is due to the comedy never working and for some strange reason this gives the film a rather bizarre atmosphere because you're watching this strange stuff yet nothing really laughing. The humor is rather strange because there's an older man (ward Bond) not wanting to marry an "old woman" of 23-years because he likes his 13-year-old current wife. We have humor about one of the Lester sons (William Tracy) who is so crazy and out of control that you can't help but think he's retarded and the film tries to get laughs off of this. We have the young Lester daughter (Gene Tierney) lusting after the older man with a lot of sexual innuendo. This redneck family is just so weird that you can't help but be slightly put off by them and the fact that the film is trying for laughs just makes some of it even stranger. The one major saving grace is the performance by Grapewin who really is marvelous here. His old-time redneck is spot on with the dialogue delivery and body movements that there's no doubt the character will ever leave your mind once you've seen it. Supporting players like Elizabeth Patterson and Dana Andrews come off pretty well but the same can't be said for Tierney who really looks bad here. She just isn't right for the role and she comes off looking like she's really struggling to do something with it. Ford's direction isn't all that bad but there's a reason this film isn't really that well-known or talked about when people discuss his work.