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Set in the industrial South and based on a true story, Martin Ritt's NORMA RAE is a moving portrait of a woman's fight to improve both her own life and the deplorable conditions that exist in the mill where she works. Norma Rae (Sally Field) has worked at the textile mill for years, but when a union organiser from New York .. Read more
| Starring | Sally Field, Beau Bridges, Pat Hingle, Ron Leibman |
|---|---|
| Director | Martin Ritt |
| Genres | Drama |
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Set in the industrial South and based on a true story, Martin Ritt's NORMA RAE is a moving portrait of a woman's fight to improve both her own life and the deplorable conditions that exist in the mill where she works. Norma Rae (Sally Field) has worked at the textile mill for years, but when a union organiser from New York comes to town, Norma takes on the hostility of the mill's management and the apathy of her co-workers to try to unionise the mill. Field plays Norma Rae as a passionate woman who realises her own potential and her need to rebel against the status quo. She is also infuriated by the conditions at the mill. When Norma, uneducated and poor, finally expresses her disgust with life at the mill, it is an electrifying moment, and Field radiates this energy for the rest of the film, providing an emotional core and drive that gives the picture its power.
| Starring | Sally Field, Beau Bridges, Pat Hingle, Ron Leibman |
|---|---|
| Director | Martin Ritt |
| Studio | 20TH CENTURY FOX HOME ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 50 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Drama |
| Language | English |
| Released | DVD: 01 Mar 2004 Production year: 1979 |
| Format | DVD |
Director Martin Ritt's last important film is typical of his best work. Based on the true story of a reluctant real-life heroine, this sincere drama with a social conscience makes its union cause authentic, heartfelt and grittily entertaining. Determinedly shedding her image as a perennially cute, bubbly comedian, Sally Field deservedly won her first Oscar for her committed performance as the widowed Southern textile worker who nervously allies herself with New York labour organiser Ron Leibman to fight appalling conditions and, with growing gumption, takes on the mill owners. There are fine performances all around, including Beau Bridges as her boorish man, but it's Field's triumph.
Ritt's usual simplistic liberalism certainly dampens the labour relations angle to this tale of a Southern millworker... read more on Time Out
One of the most powerful and moving films I have seen in a long time. A whole community coming together to improve their working conditions. How many films today can have a five minute scene where nothing is said and have a woman holding up a word she has great belief in, well none.
An ab fab film.
As an avid film buff I don't know why I overlooked Norma Rae for so long. All I can say now is what a brilliant film!I wish Hollywood would create more iconic roles for actresses today.Sally Field deserved to win the 1979 Best Actress Oscar for her role as Norma Rae Webster a disillusioned Southern white collar worker and mother of three who wishes to improve conditions for workers at the textile mill where she works by setting up a union much to the annoyance of her oppressive bosses at the mill.
This film is interesting in the way that it shows Norma Rae's struggles to set up a union amidst the background of the restrictive American Southern Baptist town she grew up in,her failed relationships with men (two of her children have different fathers), her strained relationship with her husband(Beau Bridges)who feels neglected because of her devotion to the Union cause, the racial problem in her hometown where blacks and whites must put aside their differences in order to benefit from the union and her platonic relationship with New York union worker Reuben (Ron Leibman)who is the catalyst for the film's chain of events who opens up Norma Rae's eyes to life having much more to offer her than her present hum drum existence.
This film is very much in the vein of Erin Brockovich(2000)where the worker has to stand his ground and fight for his/her voice to be heard by the oppressive corporate big boys.Sally Field's Oscar winning performance as Norma Rae Webster was ranked No 15 on the American Film Institute's Heroes list in their compilation of 100 years of The Greatest Screen Heroes and Villains.It's good to see a great film with a powerful female lead character.
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