disgusting, overrated, pointless

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

The movie's essentially, a one-man showcase: Charlie Grapewin as the amiable n'er-do-well Jeeter Lester. He's a hoot and a half in his ragged overalls and bewhiskered face. Too bad the old coot just can't seem to get anything done, despite his uncomplaining, loyal wife (Patterson). Rarely did old Hollywood uglify settings as thoroughly as here. Lesters' shack looks like a wood pile, while others along the Road share that skid-row appearance. Trouble is that when you think about it, there's nothing funny about these miserable background conditions. Fortunately for the movie, Jeeter's comical antics distract from that troubling aspect. For example, I love the way the loose porch board keeps getting even with Jeeter's uncaring neglect in fixing it.Yup, the Depression Era makes things especially tough for these Southern farmers, and the question the Lesters confront is whether they can get a loan before getting herded into the poor farm. Note too, how the sleek Captain Tim (Andrews) appears to represent a landlord class, while Jeeter is among his tenant farmers dependent on the upper class for support. At this point in the movie, however, all have fallen on hard times, though the Captain still looks spiffy and well-upholstered, unlike his tenants. Nonetheless, the results are played for laughs, though I suspect many folks find the rural Southern caricatures more offensive than funny. For example, did they have to make young Dude Lester so dislikable-- that slug an angry Loy (Bond) puts on him was long overdue. Also, remind me not to loan my car to the Destruction Derby kid anytime, ever. Anyway, the movie is a sing-along for frog throats like me what with all those great old time gospel songs, even if choirmaster Sister Bessie (Rambeau) is caricatured. But please, get me a ticket to that old Road where I can maybe meet up with the luscious Ellie May (Tierney). I guess my biggest gripe is that Tierney doesn't get more screentime-- maybe all of it. On the other hand, I've definitely reached a new appreciation of the lowly turnip, of all things.All in all, I suspect the TCF production does not wear well for many. Still and all, Grapewin delivers a rollicking performance, so give the 84-minutes a try if you haven't already.

I don't want to give this film any vote for I'm not sure what it is. If it is supposed to be funny, it fails. If it is supposed to be tragic, it fails too.However, as propaganda for "the fact" that the poor are to be blamed for being poor because they are lazy, it might work.In other words, this film is a pack of lies, in which the exploited poor, when rightfully depressed, are depicted as being lazy.But maybe this film explains America more than many other films - not the film itself though but the reaction to it. What people on earth can be stupid enough to vote republican when being poor. A majority of Americans today live very poor lives but still they don't vote communist. What do they have to loose and what would make their rich exploiters angrier than if they voted communist? I'm not a communist but if I were a voter in America I would probably vote communist just for the hell of it. As a matter of fact, I will probably vote for a party that is considered right-wing and racist just for the hell of it here in Sweden, just in order to get things moving and provoke the left to come up with a party worth voting for, for all the left parties here in Sweden have sold out to America and the "market".It's hard and desperate times for sure.

As a longtime Ford fan, I only recently saw 'Tobacco Road', and it more than exceeded expectations. It's instantly one of my favorite comedies. It's actually very edgy and adventurous, sort of a wry antidote to the virtuous 'Grapes of Wrath' that Ford was obliged to be so respectful with.I howled with pleasure, as I would with any fringe film with a comedic angle. In this film experience, you don't need to be tuned in to 'revisionist film theory' when you're watching it.Dennis Hopper would have fit perfectly in it. Or Billy Bob Thornton. Or Jack Nance. As it is, the cast is perfect, from Slim Summerville on down. William Tracy's manic goofball performance, which some viewers think is 'over the top', is just plain crazy brilliant and is even ahead of its time (think early Jerry Lewis, Jim Carrey...).Everything automotive in this picture is particularly hilarious, forecasting 'The Beverly Hillbillies' and 'It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World'. The frenzied car chaos is inspired, from start to finish.I know this picture has been either trashed or quickly written off in every John Ford biography, but I find it to be a genuine treasure because I'm taking it just for what it is - not as a book, not as a play, but as an excellent production by the masterful Ford, whose touch is apparent in every shot and speech.Naturally, it is a companion piece to that other Caldwell examination of Southern oddballs, 'God's Little Acre', which is its own sort of gem due to Anthony Mann's care and attention. Then there's Kazan's 'Baby Doll', which is about as bizarre as they come. Not to mention the Coen Brothers' much lauded 'O Brother Where Art Thou'. How come that film wasn't so derided for 'making fun of poor white Southerners' like 'Tobacco Road' has been? Part of the American Experience has been to point out our oddballs, and show that they are 'possible' here. 'Tobacco Road' is all about such an examination, and Ford pulls it off with just as much aplomb as he does with families in Wales or migrants from Oklahoma. It is what it is: a great and perceptive comedy. Sort of like Balzac. Or for that matter, like Don Knotts' series of Americana comedies.There is a dandy 'written in sand' title sequence (another counter to 'Grapes' and its rough-sketch titles), and Arthur Miller's lithographic camera-work is typically outstanding, almost like the works of Thomas Hart Benton. David Buttolph's cheerful and (Alfred) Newman-like score is perfectly appropriate without being a parody.I'm powerful sorry that Erskine Caldwell and Nunnally Johnson were disappointed in the picture, but I think Zanuck and Ford really knew what they were doing.'Tobacco' is one of the more delightful film discoveries I've had. I only wish Gene Tierney was in it more.

Tobacco Road (1941)** 1/2 (out of 4) I take pride in watching bizarre movies from every country and every decade but I never figured that's what I'd be viewing when I sat down to watch this John Ford film that seems to have been forgotten over the years. The movie, based on the famous novel and long-running play, centers on Jeeter Lester (Charley Grapewin) and his family, poor Georgia farmers who are about to get kicked off their land unless they can round up $100 to stay for a year. That's pretty much all there is to know story wise, although the screenplay does take the film into different directions as the family is faced with the possibility of losing everything they love. If people got wide-eyed about the way Ford showed Indians then they're probably going to have their heads rolling off at this look at a redneck family. I was really, really caught off guard by how incredibly bizarre and strange this movie was. I think part of this is due to the comedy never working and for some strange reason this gives the film a rather bizarre atmosphere because you're watching this strange stuff yet nothing really laughing. The humor is rather strange because there's an older man (ward Bond) not wanting to marry an "old woman" of 23-years because he likes his 13-year-old current wife. We have humor about one of the Lester sons (William Tracy) who is so crazy and out of control that you can't help but think he's retarded and the film tries to get laughs off of this. We have the young Lester daughter (Gene Tierney) lusting after the older man with a lot of sexual innuendo. This redneck family is just so weird that you can't help but be slightly put off by them and the fact that the film is trying for laughs just makes some of it even stranger. The one major saving grace is the performance by Grapewin who really is marvelous here. His old-time redneck is spot on with the dialogue delivery and body movements that there's no doubt the character will ever leave your mind once you've seen it. Supporting players like Elizabeth Patterson and Dana Andrews come off pretty well but the same can't be said for Tierney who really looks bad here. She just isn't right for the role and she comes off looking like she's really struggling to do something with it. Ford's direction isn't all that bad but there's a reason this film isn't really that well-known or talked about when people discuss his work.