Richie-67-485852 Good movie to make the point of hard work, luck, breaks, and how to never give-up. It all stresses to be grateful for what you do have. This is a raw non-negotiable movie meaning this happens and is happening all over the world. One wonders how billionaires can be numb to this. The people in this movie would have made good use with a warm coat, blanket and some food for the hard times. How much could that cost anyone? It is wise to tend to our own affairs but if we find ourselves doing well enough, lend an eye and an ear to your neighbors welfare. Remember no one got to where they are without the help of others. This could be......

Robert J. Maxwell The story of Zachary Scott and his family -- wife Betty Field, two young kids, and ornery Grandma -- who start with nothing and try to make a living growing cotton on a patch of Texas prairie.One might expect this to be a kind of rerun of 1940's "The Grapes of Wrath" but it isn't. "Grapes" was an object lesson in Marxism's transition from "false consciousness" to "class consciousness," except for Ma's sell-out speech about "the people that live" at the end. I'm not objecting to the Marxism, just pointing it out."The Southerner" doesn't pit the poor and exploited against the rich. Scott's family is really dirt poor, and their neighbors are a nasty family, but the antagonist here is not Management but force majeur. Scott has a corny speech in the midst of his struggling cotton patch in which he talks to the Man Upstairs and asks what's up. It's a reasonable question in context.Happily, Scott's family is not straight out of Walt Disneyland. Grandma is a whining, selfish pain in the neck who imparts dumb hick medical advice. Betty Field is more in the mold of the supportive wife, while the two kids are there mainly to provide a focus for worry.This poverty looks real. The people that work in the fields really look dirty. Everybody looks dirty. One kid get pellagra, the result of a lack of niacine from vegetables and fruits. The reason he gets it is that, during their first winter, the family simply has nothing to eat but flour, dried corn, and whatever "varmits" Scott and his dog can manage to bring home. It's horrifying to see how happy they are when Scott brings home a possum. You have to be pretty badly off to eat a marsupial.The plot follows a familiar trajectory, hope followed by disappointment, impending triumph blighted by disaster. But the acting is pretty good. None of the leads had a distinguished career but they're convincing enough here. The script gives us some neat character studies too, including J. Carrol Naish as the embittered and jealous neighbor with the nasty son and the generous daughter. The last scene involves the rescue of the family cow (they finally got one) from a flooded river and is well executed. And the director, Jean Renoir, stages one fist fight and two comic episodes of violence in unexpected ways. Not brutal, just unexpected.The ending, as you might expect, has everyone bravely putting their shoulders back against the wheel, their faces bright with hope -- even Grandma's.

bkoganbing During his American exile period Jean Renoir turned out some really interesting films. The best of these is The Southerner which earned an Oscar nomination for Best Director. This film is clearly the ancestor of that Sally Field classic from the Eighties, Places In The Heart.The Southerner is the story of a poor white family in the rural south named Tucker. Zachary Scott who wants very much to farm on his own land takes an option from Paul Harvey and plants cotton on it. He was advised by friend Charles Kemper that it's a whole lot easier to be working in a factory or working as a farmhand on someone else's land as you're guaranteed a paycheck and you won't starve.But that goes against that great frontier tradition of 40 acres and a mule and the people who homesteaded and developed their own land. It's an ingrained American dream, not like the Europe where Jean Renoir was taking a hiatus from due to World War II. In fact The Southerner is a great tribute to Renoir's ability to soak up American culture and values. He really depicts the rural American South quite well. What's not shown here are black people, but in point of fact they would not be sharecropping near any poor white people at that time. Still the lack of them is a major flaw in the film.Both Zachary Scott and Betty Field do a great job at playing these very simple, but indestructibly sturdy Tuckers. Their two children live with them as well Scott's ancient grandmother Beulah Bondi, made up to way beyond her years even then. J. Carrol Naish has a nice part as a bitter neighbor who resents the fact that Scott might just make a go of it on land that cost him a couple of family members. Former silent star Estelle Taylor plays Naish's daughter and old time vaudevillian Jack Norworth has a small role as the local physician.Norworth's part is involved with Scott and Field's son coming down with pellagra, common among the poor people of the south who did not get a decent diet. Fresh milk every day went a long way and that's the reason that schools started giving out milk to the children way back in the day and still do.Besides a nomination for Renoir, The Southerner also received Academy Award nominations for Best Music Scoring and Best Sound. Sad to say for Renoir his film did not get to take any Oscars back to France when he returned.The Southerner ought to be seen back to back with Places In The Heart which has black people very prominent in the cast and does not shy from racial issues. Still even with that major flaw The Southerner is a deserved film classic.

ma-cortes An employee named Sam Tucker (Zachary Scott)frequently working for others is hired some land and he decides along with his family, -his wife (Betty Field), granny (Beulah Bondi)and two sons - attempt farming for themselves. The family finds hardships on their way and they'll have to fight against the elements,ills, poorness, distresses and a selfish neighbor (J. Carroll Naish) living with his daughter (Nash) and niece (Norman Lloyd) .This is a rural drama about a survival fight amid all disgraces and terrible elements. It's a naturalistic drama splendidly played and magnificently staged. From the tale 'Hold Autumn in your hand' by George Sessions Perry and writing by William Faulkner though he appears uncredited. It's proceeded in similar style to ¨Grapes of wrath¨ by John Ford based on John Steinbeck novel . First rate performances by all star cast. Special mention to Belulah Bondi as sympathetic and and grumpy granny. And Norman Lloyd as roguish nephew, he's a veteran player still acting , who joined the original company of Orson Welles-John Houseman Mercury Theatre and after that he was hired to Hollywood to play as secondary actor in Alfred Hitchcock movie and other ones and made him an associate producer. Neo-realist and evocative cinematography by Lucien Andriot. Sensible and imaginative musical score by Werner Janssen.The flick is excellently directed by Jean Renoir. He said about 'The Southerner' gave him more pleasure than any of his other Hollywood work. Renoir was voted the 12th greatest director of all time . Furthermore, Orson Welles frequently cited him as the greatest movie director of all time. He was son of the famous impressionist painter Auguste Renoir. After his French classics (Rules of game 1939, Human beast 38, La Marseillase 36, A day in the country 36, Boudu saved from drowning 32), he was brought to USA by American producers, directing awesome films in Hollywood (Woman on the beach 1947 , The diary of a chambermaid 46, The Southerner , The land is mine 43, Swamp water 1941). Later on, he returned to France , going on film-making classic movies (Elusive corporal 1962, Picnic on the grass 59, Testament of Dr Cordelier 59, Golden coach 52, The river 1951). Rating : Better than average, well worth watching.