Quote:
Originally Posted by Kasept
Jim,
That would have been me who mentioned Fonda in "Wrath".. Ma Joad was played by the incomparable Jane Darwell, whose career in cinema pre-dated sound.. She made more than 100 films and was a treasure.
Her career was largely over and she had been generally forgotten in Hollywood when Robert Stevenson thoughtfully cast her in "Mary Poppins" in 1964. Even there, she managed to make a short appearance memorable during the most touching sequence in that wonderful confection: She played the "Birdwoman" in Trafalgar Square during Andrews' rendition of "Feed the Birds"... It was the last role of her six decades as an actress.
She is haunting in Grapes of Wrath..
"Rich fellas come up an' they die, an' their kids ain't no good an' they die out. But we keep a'comin'. We're the people that live. They can't wipe us out; they can't lick us. We'll go on forever, Pa, 'cause we're the people."
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Haunting absolutely. Yep that's the speech in the movie that really really moves me! She embodied the tough spirit of the southwest. My grandparents were okies and were children during the time of the dust bowl and the Jane Darwell character reminds me of my grandmother. The entire scene with her and Tom Joad talking at the end before he leaves is riveting and great writing.
For example, Tom Joad "Then it don't matter. I'll be all around in the dark - I'll be everywhere. 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 and they know supper's ready, and when the people are eatin' the stuff they raise and livin' in the houses they build - I'll be there, too. "