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• the southerner

  • kevin sellers
  • 7/17/17

  Disagree with the previous reviewer who called this movie "bittersweet." To me the bitter in this film was considerably sugared over, especially if you compare it, as many have done, with the much better, more angrily powerful "Grapes Of Wrath." Potential conflicts tend to be jettisoned (as in the relationship between Zachary Scott's sharecropper and his hard ass boss, Mr. Ruston, which never goes anywhere) and actual conflicts tend to be too easily resolved (as in J. Carroll Naish's selfish, bitter, violent neighbor too suddenly deciding to be a good neighbor once he sees Scott catching a huge catfish). And the Scott/Betty Field marriage is pure Hallmark. Not even a hint of a fight, argument, or bone of contention. Talk about cloying! Director Jean Renoir does have a good eye and captures both the beauty and grubbiness of farm life and I liked how he got a restrained performance out of Ms. Field (no easy task), although he lets Beulah Bondi gnaw the proscenium as a previous reviewer has noted. It's also nice to see Scott taking a holiday from weak loafers and killers to play a decent human being. He does a solid job. And the kid actors were also good, which further redounds to Renoir's credit. So let's give it a B minus. P.S. Interesting factoid: Scott's real life wife divorced him to marry the author of "Grapes Of Wrath".

• The Southerner is a great film

  • Lynn
  • 7/9/17

  Bittersweet tale of poor Texas couple struggling to farm their own land. Outstanding performances by Zachary Scott and Betty Field. Supporting cast is excellent. A tribute to hard work, grit and the support of family to survive against all odds. Highly recommend!

• Excellent Movie

  • John Raymond
  • 7/2/17

  The whole cast was wonderful one of the best movies of 1945. I think it was one of the best performance Zak Scott ever made.

• love it

  • Raymond B Horton
  • 10/29/14

  Remarkable story, cast, music.

• Not very good...

  • RedRain
  • 3/1/13

  Zachary Scott is so mis-cast in this film that you can't help thinking of all the other actors of the time that could have made this film stellar. Scott was much more suited to Westerns and film noir dramas where he was always, always cast as a bad guy. The story here is a good one and puts one in mind of "Grapes of Wrath." As it was cast, it is mediocre at best.

• AHHH thats more like it.

  • David
  • 10/21/11

  Scott: Certainly not the snake in Mildred Pierce...ideally when two people work together for one common purpose; and each taking turns to lift the other one up, while forever trying to make ends meet. The bad times is what make you savor the juice from the good times. Area, period, and general cinematography, accurately depict tough times of the depression. A pionant picture that fits nicely hand-in-hand with the stories I was told about this era, by my people, who daily exhibited such love. Only in the movies? (If you say so). Defenitly a must see!

• Beulah Bondi

  • Jarrod McDonald
  • 2/18/11

  Beulah Bondi goes overboard scarfing down the scenery in this picture. There is not one bit of restraint or effort to turn in a subdued performance. Despite her over-the-top hamminess, the film works mostly because of the leads. Zachary Scott gives a convincing performance as the troubled rural worker and Betty Field is intriguing, although a bit typecast, in her role.

• Enjoyable!

  • Laura J
  • 2/27/09

  Very good movie. Shows the way people probably lived back in the old days down South. The movie was so realistic that I actually felt guilty that I was watching the film while eating a great take-out meal, while Zachary Scott is burning a tree trying to smoke out some possums so he has what to bring home to his starving family. A must see.

• Where there's a will......

  • FrankieCee
  • 3/7/07

  What a nice, wholesome, enjoyable family movie...although it is a bit dated, the morality in the theme and the "will to survive" philosophy of the plot, makes this movie timeless and appropriate for the ages...and just think, events like this were common everyday events (and still are, I imagine) throughout the history of this country....it is a fitting tribute to the perseverance and ingenuity of man....great film!

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