The Color Purple (1985)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Steven Spielberg

Writers:

Alice Walker (novel)
Menno Meyjes (screenplay)

Release Date:

18 December 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize Winning Story.

Plot:

The life and trials of a young African American Woman.

Plot Keywords:

African American | 1900s | Adopted Daughter | Self Discovery | Africa

Awards:

Nominated for 11 Oscars. Another 11 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

Danny Glover	...	Albert
Whoopi Goldberg	...	Celie Johnson
Margaret Avery	...	Shug Avery
Oprah Winfrey	...	Sofia
Willard E. Pugh	...	Harpo Johnson (as Willard Pugh)
Akosua Busia	...	Nettie Harris
Desreta Jackson	...	Young Celie Harris
Adolph Caesar	...	Old Mister Johnson
Rae Dawn Chong	...	Squeak
Dana Ivey	...	Miss Millie
Leonard Jackson	...	Pa Harris
Bennet Guillory	...	Grady
John Patton Jr.	...	Preacher
Carl Anderson	...	Reverend Samuel
Susan Beaubian	...	Corrine

Also Known As:

Moon Song (USA) (fake working title)

Runtime:

154 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Canada:PG (Ontario) | South Korea:12 | Brazil:Livre | Philippines:PG-13 | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Canada:14A | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Netherlands:AL | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:PG-13 | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Anson County, North Carolina, USA

Company:

Amblin Entertainment

Trivia:

Whoopi Goldberg won the part of Celie in her audition for Steven Spielberg, by doing a comedy act she had developed about a stoned E.T. getting arrested in Oakland for possession. The audition was attended by many of Spielberg's famous friends, including Producer Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson.

Goofs:

Continuity: During the scene where Miss Millie brings Sophia home for Christmas, from a wide shot of the house, you can see smoke coming out of the chimney. When Sophia gets inside, there is no fire in the fireplace.

Quotes:

Old Mr.: Celie, you has my sympathy. Ain't many women allow they husband's ho to lay up in they house.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Neil Patrick Harris/Taylor Swift (#34.12)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Sister's Theme

Too careful and slick overall, but undeniably moving...

Steven Spielberg's too-bright, overlong, slickly-designed adaptation of Alice Walker's book about a repressed black woman in the old South living at the mercy of her brutish husband, mourning her separation from her beloved sister, and having a flirtatious friendship with a sexy female singer who passes through town. Spielberg guides the viewer through the crowded script quickly and with ease, and the introductions to the characters are jazzy and direct, but whereas the director is terrifically at home with his cast, he doesn't seem to know how to stage this story. It's mounted like "Gone With the Wind", with a sweeping grandeur that treats the material with cartoonish reverence. Results are both moving and sticky, with finely-wrought sequences quickly followed by banal whimsy and heartache. Whoopi Goldberg is terrific in the lead, and some of the dialogue has a haunting, evocative feel, but we're never aware of this as anything but a movie, staged and mechanically set-up to wring tears. **1/2 from ****