Al Joad: Ain't you gonna look back, Ma? Give the ol' place a last look?
Ma Joad: We're going' to California, ain't we? All right then let's go to California.
Al Joad: That don't sound like you, Ma. You never was like that before.
Ma Joad: I never had my house pushed over before. Never had my family stuck out on the road. Never had to lose everything I had in life.
"The Grapes of Wrath" was released on January 24, 1940.
John Steinbeck was particularly enamored with the performance of Henry Fonda as Tom Joad in the 1940 film version of his novel "The Grapes of Wrath," feeling that he perfectly encapsulated everything he wanted to convey with this character, and added that Fonda as Joad made him "believe my own words." The two became good friends. Indeed Fonda did a reading at Steinbeck's funeral.
According to Fonda, director John Ford preferred only one take and little or no rehearsal to catch the most spontaneous moment. For the key climactic final scene between Tom and Ma, Ford didn't even watch the rehearsal. When the time came to shoot, Ford led Fonda and Jane Darwell through the silent action of the scene, preventing them from starting their lines until the two actors were completely in the moment. It was done in a single take and Fonda said on screen it was "brilliant."
"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."
Prior to filming, producer Darryl F. Zanuck sent undercover investigators out to the migrant camps to see if John Steinbeck had exaggerated about the squalor and unfair treatment meted out there. He was horrified to discover that Steinbeck had actually downplayed what went on in the camps.
Henry Fonda kept the hat he wore in the movie for the rest of his life. Before he passed away in 1982, he gave it to his old friend Jane Withers. Apparently he and Withers, when she was an 8 year old girl and he a young man, did a play together before Fonda made movies. Fonda was so nervous to go onstage that little Jane took his hand, said a little prayer to ease his nerves, and the two of them became good friends for life.
again not sure where I found this about a wonderful favourite book read as a teenager so if its yours please drop me a line and I will credit . Please note this is NOT written by me . . . . . . .
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