Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, with special guests Aoife Martin, Jason Coyle and Ronan Doyle, The 250 is a (mostly) weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released every Saturday at 6pm GMT.
This time, John Ford’s The Grapes of Wrath.
Released from prison after serving four years, Tom Joad returns to his family’s farm in Oklahoma to discover that it has been utterly changed by the Great Depression. He joins his family on a road trip westward, towards the new opportunities waiting for them in California. However, the Joads very quickly discover that their push westward may not deliver them to a promised land.
At time of recording, it was ranked 232nd on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.
Show Notes:
- Recorded 6th October 2022.
- Note: Due to the COVID-19 situation, this episode was recorded remotely. We suspect, going forward that a lot of our episodes will be until the crisis resolves.
- The Grapes of Wrath at The Internet Movie Database.
- The IMDb Top 250 at time of recording.
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- Read Jay’s article on Necessary Sex for Pretty Deadly Films, October 2022.
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- Moon Film offers a guide of Simpsons references to Citizen Kane, September 2022.
- Frank S. Nugent reviews The Grapes of Wrath for The New York Times, January 1940.
- The New York Times notes the passing of critic Frank S. Nugent, December 1965.
- The New York Times reports on The Grapes of Wrath being named the film of the year by the National Motion Pictues Review Group, December 1940.
- Colin Burnett at Senses of Cinema looks back on the legacy of Otis Ferguson as one of America’s first and defining film critics, February 2004.
- Otis Ferguson reviews The Grapes of Wrath at The New Republic, February 1940.
- Lynn Neary at NPR reports on the burning of The Grapes of Wrath in California, September 2008.
- The Los Angeles Times looks back on contemporary reaction to The Grapes of Wrath, January 2001.
- PBS considers Salinas as “the salad bowl of the world”, November 2016.
- Aljean Harmetz at The New York Times considers the sometimes complicated relationship that Steinbeck had to Salinas, February 1982.
- Rachel Dry at The Washington Post considers the politics of John Steinbeck, March 2009.
- Alison Flood at The Guardian reports on the battle over James Joyce’s remains, October 2019.
- Brian Hutton at The Irish Times reports on the disputes over Oscar Wilde’s grave, December 2019.
- Patrick D. Reagan at Reviews in American History considers the realignment of the Republican Party during the New Deal, March 1996.
- Elliot A. Rosen traces the modern Republican Party back to Hoover’s opposition to Roosevelt, in The Republican Party in the Age of Roosevelt, February 2014.
- Angie Maxwell at The Washington Post considers how “the Southern Strategy” reconfigured the Republican Party, July 2019.
- Richard Corliss at Time considers the production and development of The Grapes of Wrath, January 2015.
- Nicholas E. Barron at Medium considers how The Grapes of Wrath was adapted for film, May 2020.
- David Kehr at The New York Times positions The Grapes of Wrath at a transitional moment for awards fare, January 2010.
- Olivia Cathcart at Paste Magazine looks at the history of the Academy Awards overlooking comedies, February 2020.
- Alex Diggins at The Telegraph reflects on the history and tradition of “the great American road movie”, April 2021.
- Warren Beatty talks to Entertainment Weekly about the production and development of Reds, December 2019.
- Jim Poe at The Jacobin reports on the revolutionary politics of Red, December 2021.
- Roger Ebert reviews The Grapes of Wrath for The Chicago-Sun Times, March 2002.
- Whittaker Chambers reviews The Grapes of Wrath at Time, February 1940.
- George F. Will at The Washington Post considers Whittaker Chambers’ ideological journey, February 1984.
- Anne Applebaum at The Atlantic considers how Stalin hid Ukraine’s famine from the world, October 2017.
- Nick Vivarelli at Variety looks back at Bruce Springsteen’s long history with The Grapes of Wrath, October 2021.
- David Sims at The Atlantic considers The Grapes of Wrath as one of the defining films produced by 20th Century Fox, April 2019.
- Vivian C. Sobchack considers the visual storytelling of The Grapes of Wrath in Film and American Studies, Winter 1979.
- Tony Perrottet at The Smithsonian Magazine looks at the relationship between John Ford and Monument Valley, February 2010.
- Darko Nanevski at Abandoned Spaces looks at how John Ford made Monument Valley his own, October 2017.
- Chris Jones at The Chicago Tribune considers the timeliness of The Grapes of Wrath, June 2016.
- Alan Yuhas at The Guardian argues that The Grapes of Wrath remains as timely as ever, April 2014.
- Andrew Van Dam at The Washington Post considers the “Okies” as a bastion of Republicanism in California, December 2018.
- Charlotte Allen at The Los Angeles Times considers how the “Okies” depicted in The Grapes of Wrath form the conservative heart of California, April 2014.
- Scott Lucas at Politico looks at how anti-immigrant conservatism in California was the bedrock of the political ideology that would become “Trumpism”, April 2017.
- Jane Coaston at Vox considers California Republicanism as “the intellectual engine of Trumpism”, November 2018.
- Noel Ignatiev talks to The New Yorker about how Irish immigrants “became white”, November 2019.
- Charles Barr at The Irish Film Institute discusses John Ford as an Irish American filmmaker, June 2012.
- Susan Shillinglaw at The Washington Post considers the role of women in shaping and guiding The Grapes of Wrath, April 2014.
- Lisa Crawford Watson at Monterey Herald considers the partnership between John and Carol Steinbeck, April 2021.
- Henry Mayer at The New York Times considers the photographs that inspired The Grapes of Wrath, May 2000.
- Alan Brinkley at The New York Times considers the lasting legacy of John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, March 1990.
- Julian Guthrie at The San Francisco Gate reflects on the history and development of Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, April 2014.
- Josh Duboff at Vanity Fair reports on Davis O. Russell comparing Jennifer Lawrence’s contractual obligations to 12 Years a Slave, January 2014.
- Jennifer Zhan at Vulture reports on the allegations against director David O. Russell, October 2022.
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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: american, aoife martin, California, dustbowl, Great Depression, henry fonda, immigration, jason coyle, John Ford, john steinbeck, migration, new deal, okies, ronan doyle, the grapes of wrath |
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