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The Grapes of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath

Drama · 1940

Tom Joad returns to his home after a jail sentence to find his family kicked out of their farm due to foreclosure. He catches up with them on his Uncle’s farm, and joins them the next day as they head for California and a new life... Hopefully.

Movie details

The Grapes of Wrath

“The Joads step right out of the pages of the novel that has shocked millions!”

1940 Drama 2h 9m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

8.1 / 10

106.8K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

100 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

96 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

7.8 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

Tom Joad returns to his home after a jail sentence to find his family kicked out of their farm due to foreclosure. He catches up with them on his Uncle’s farm, and joins them the next day as they head for California and a new life... Hopefully.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Grapes of Wrath?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

John Ford

Written by

Nunnally Johnson

Henry Fonda

Henry Fonda

Tom Joad

Jane Darwell

Jane Darwell

Ma Joad

John Carradine

John Carradine

Casy

Charley Grapewin

Charley Grapewin

Grandpa Joad

Dorris Bowdon

Dorris Bowdon

Rosasharn

Russell Simpson

Russell Simpson

Pa Joad

O.Z. Whitehead

O.Z. Whitehead

Al Joad

Court is in session

Put The Grapes of Wrath on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Ambition earns the room.”

The film reaches for consequence and scale, accepting the risk of seriousness instead of shrinking from it.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Importance has entered the chat.”

The production keeps announcing its significance, as though awards-season posture were proof of insight.