Norma Rae

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DVD details

Actor: Beau Bridges, Booth Colman, John Calvin, Robert Broyles, Sally Field
DVD: 2 Layers, Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled)
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 2.35:1
Running Time: 110 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-04-17
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: 20th Century Fox

DVD Reviews of Norma Rae

DVD Review: Sometimes you have to fight for your rights...
Summary: 5 Stars

There are a lot of films about the overworked and underappreciated finally standing up for themselves and fighting for what they know they are owed; but `Norma Rae' is a notch above most of them. Not only is it moving but it is engrossing and enlightening. It works its magic in all areas of the film; shedding light on the issues, gathering our support and fleshing out three-dimensional characters we love, love to hate and even hate to love.

Norma is a small town girl who is doing what she's been brought up to do. She's a widow who is raising her two children while living with her overprotective father and working in the same mill as her parents. She is going nowhere fast, but she doesn't know any better. Then Reuben shows up in her town and tosses her whole life upside down. Reuben is a unionizer from New York who is determined to make things better for the working class people in the area. He only needs to rally enough support from the likes of Norma, and after she witnesses what the corrupt men in power are willing to do to prevent the union she becomes all the more determined to get it passed.

What is so wonderful about `Norma Rae' is that it is as much about the woman that is Norma as it is about the union she so fervently wants to get passed. The film is interested in her as a person, and thus we become interested in her; in her family life, her love life, her past and her eventual future. The film's primary interest is focused on her dedication to the union, but it also gives ample time to build her relationship with her small town boyfriend/husband Sonny as well as her budding relationship with Reuben.

The film is multilayered.

Sally Field won her first Oscar for her riveting portrayal of Norma. It's funny; when the film starts we get a taste of overacting at its finest with Norma screaming at her boss about how her mother is deaf because of the noise in the mill. I immediately began to wonder if this was going to be one of those flashy performances that is almost all show and no depth. I said a silent prayer that Field not scream through this whole movie and my prayer was instantly answered. Yes, Field is impeccable here, capturing the essence of this woman with steely determination. Some of her quieter scenes are her most captivating; especially when she confesses to her husband that Reuben is in her head. That scene is instantly stolen from her though, but her co-star Beau Bridges who grabs your heart with when he responds that no one else is in his head by Norma. Beau has gotten the shaft over the years. I guess that's what happens when your brother is Jeff Bridges. I must tell you though, Beau is a talent all his own. His performance here is beyond words. He is so moving, so sincere and so lovable.

Every husband should strive to be more like him, and every woman would be lucky to find a man like him.

`Norma Rae' is a splendid film about one woman's struggle to save her family and her entire town from the clutches of corruption; to give them what they work so hard for and spare them any further abuse. It is also a story of a woman's struggle to find herself amidst a town that never changes and barely allows room for self expression. This is a film about life and what you make of it and what you're willing to sacrifice in order to get what you deserve.

DVD Review: No Anniversary Edition?
Summary: 5 Stars

I saw this when it first came out on video, which was some time ago! I'm surprised a 25th anniversary edition wasn't made--with extra stuff, like interviews with the actors who are still around, maybe a mini-documentary about the true story on which it's based.

Well, all those extra things would be nice, but let's face it: This is a gem no matter what!

DVD Review: TACKLING INDUSTRIAL ISSUES
Summary: 5 Stars

Norma Rae
I saw the film (from my Dad's Collection), in our home theatre. Granted the acting is very good, the production is excellent and the story relevant, there's still something irritating (for me) in the way a young mother, Sally Field, ignores her husband (Beau Bridges) and kids to spend every possible moment , day and night, with a slimy union official (Ron Liebman). They are trying to bring the bring the workers at a Southern Textile Plant into much-needed solidarity and director, Martin Ritt is obviously trying equally as hard to avoid the usual cliches of the hard-hearted, pig-headed, capitalistic boss and the passive severely put-upon workers. Sally Field succeeds more than Ritt does. On the one hand, the textile workers learn how to strike, get better wages and a little employer respect. On the other hand, there's a family crying out for their mother. Music and credits are superb. Sally Field won an Academy Award for her performance.

DVD Review: "Union"
Summary: 5 Stars

Very, very good part. Sally Field, plays a wonderful role. I personal know what's it's like to work for a factory, even thou there was union. I recommend this movie to anyone who likes Sally Field.

DVD Review: Southern worman
Summary: 3 Stars

A true storey.A killwprker, a texile worker an she stared a union that goes alway to NYC.

Description of Norma Rae

In an Oscar-winning performance, Sally Field is unforgettable as Norma Rae, the Southern millworker who revolutionizes a small town and discovers a power in herself she never had. Under the guidance of a New York unionizer (Ron Leibman) and with increasing courage and determination, Norma Rae organizes her fellow factory workers to fight for better conditions and wages. Based on a true story, Norma Rae is the mesmerizing tale of a modern day heroine. Beau Bridges co-stars.

Veteran director Martin Ritt (Sounder) directed this earnest and very popular tale of a naive textile worker, widow, and mother in the U.S. South who becomes empowered by standing up for her rights in the workplace. Sally Field stars in the Oscar-winning title role as a woman who has been content to go along with the status quo until she realizes that she is entitled to more and can succeed if she stands up for herself. Her fight to improve deplorable working conditions at the textile plant causes a rift between her and the people closest to her, but her determination brings a new awareness to her and to all the women with whom she works. Ritt's typical, socially conscious story uses the politics of Norma Rae's struggle and also its emotions to build the film to a rousing climax. --Robert Lane

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