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Norma Rae

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Sally Field gives the performance of a lifetime in this fact-based story of a factory worker who puts her life on hold to make life better for those around her. "Norma Rae"(1979) was a powerful eye-opener to the life led by ordinary people working under extremely poor working conditions.

Best known at the time for her light roles as "Gidget" and "The Flying Nun", and although she did capture an emmy for her outstanding performance as "Sybil", she was not thought of as a serious dramatic actress.Director Martin Ritt knew a good thing when he saw it though, insisted on casting her and his instincts were right. Sally went home from the Oscars that year with a well deserved Best Actress Award!

Norma Rae doesn't have much going for her in her life. She has two children that she's raising on her own,has lots of problems with men, and works in a textile mill in the south. The conditions of the mill are deplorable.The wages are pitiful, people on their feet all day, with barely a break, most going deaf from the noise of the machines, some even getting cancer. But it is the only job in town for most of the locals. A New York Union Organizer comes to town(Ron Leibman) and tries to convince the workers they should go Union and fight for their rights. Most are leary and afraid of loosing their jobs, but one decides it's the right thing to do.

Norma Rae goes against the grain to try and convince the 800 workers that this is the best thing for them and their children(Who will also probably work there some day). She becomes somewhat of an outcast but doesn't give up. She becomes more determined and defiant as ever as the film progresses. Eventually she realizes the power she holds.There's the wonderful famous scene where she stands on the table with the UNION sign, but the most telling scene of her determination is when it takes four very large men to remove this 90lb. woman from the premisis.It is a film that will stay with you and still holds value socially and politically today.

Martin Ritt is always excellent at bringing these social issues to the viewing audiences in an entertaining way. Director of Photography John Alonzo also adds greatly to the film with his great camera angles. Ron Leibman is wonderful as the "fish out of water" organizer who becomes mentor to Norma. Rounding out the cast and all excellent in their roles is Pat Hingle as Norma's father and Beau Bridges as her new husband.

The DVD is beautiful. The film is over 20 years old but you won't notice that. It's in Anamorphic Widescreen(2.35:1) and presents a great picture. Nice color and sharp images. The sound is Stero Surround, and is very pleasing. There is a "Back Story" featurette on the making and casting of the film, which is very informative. It may be viewed in French and there are subtitiles in English and Spanish.This is an important film and 20th Century Fox has given it some nice attention.

A great addition to any DVD collection...enjoy...Laurie

also from martin ritt and now on DVD:The Outrage

"Norma Rae" contains the thrilling performance by Sally Field as a woman on the wrong side of the tracks of life who decides it's time to stand up for the rights of her co-workers at a small textile plant.

She is offered and accepts a promotion when the plant's management tries to divert her, but a supervisory role doesn't appeal to her when her mother loses her hearing and she has to chastise her father for poor performance. Logically, inevitably she becomes more committed to fighting for a better life for herself and her loved ones and joins forces with a union organizer who came down from NYC. She ends up sacrificing all, including her self esteem, to give the workers more control over their working conditions.

Chills ran down my spine during the scene where she held up the "union" sign and another where she rebuked her husband for being non-supportive of her union efforts. I am not a union supporter, but I know good drama, strong performances, and a logical and interesting plot when I see it, so I recommend this fine film to all.

Hopefully they will give as much time and attention to dubbing and subtitling this movie into languages of third world countries because that's where this textile plant probably relocated a year after the events this film portrayed. A sad, sad outcome to an ideal.

No matter what the outcome, Sally Field delivers one of the finest performances in film history so "Norma Rae" gets only my highest recommendations!

You go to the video store one night and you rent some film that you watch and think, "Yeah. That was OK. . .I shoulda gotten [that other film]." You return the tape. You get that other film and you watch it. The film is over, and you think, "That was OK, too, but I need to get [that other film]." You go to the video store to get that other film, and right next to it you see this film, Norma Rae, and it just happens on accident, but somehow you are attracted at first sight. So, you take that film home and you watch it and you think. . . "WOW! HOLY ----! THAT WAS THE BEST FILM YET!" This film is an attention-grabbing and overall outstanding film that leaves you with something every time you watch it. It stars Sally Field in one of her best performances, and you'll have no doubt in your mind that she is Norma Rae Webster. You return to the video store and find yourself asking, "How much to buy Norma Rae?"

If you love great acting, memorable dialogue, unforgettable scenes that stay with you since the 1979 movie debut, and if you adore socially conscious films where the underdog outwits the oppressor, then Norma Rae is the film to return to.

Based on a true story about a Southern textile mill and attempts by a northern union organizer to form the first union, Norma Rae is fiction, not fact. Sally Field (b. 1946) as Norma Rae won a well-deserved Oscar in her embittered battle against hardnosed union management who turned a blind eye to the legitimate complaints of their long-suffering workers: excruciatingly high noise levels which deafened some employees, cotton fibers at the mill which caused lung disease, and scant wages barely higher than a sweat shop's for backbreaking work that literally killed some of the mill's loyal employees.

Management didn't care. After all, they were the only company in town. But Sally Field, egged on and smitten by a union representative from New York, brilliantly and subtly played by Ron Leibman (b. 1937), was a pawn in his hand. Had she not met Leibman it is doubtful that she would have risen to power in the never-named southern factory, which is really the famous J.P.Stevens out of North Carolina. The movie was filmed in Alabama.

The delightful culture and sense of place of the South is evoked, including choirsinging in churches, fire & brimstone preachers, and baking of delicious pies. Since I'd seen the film when it first came out, I was awaiting my favorite moment, one of the great moments in all of moviedom: the suspensful climax where Field climbs up on the table holding out a sign reading Union and turns round and round until each employee shuts off the deafening machine he or she is working at.

A viewer can't ask for anything as tearjerkingly emotional as that!

Field's character, with poor self-respect and children by different men, evolves into a character with dignity, thanks to her platonic relationship with Leibman. When her husband asks, "Are you sleeping with him?" she utters the classic lines, "No, but he's in my mind." That happily clinches the relationship for Field and her husband, endearingly played by Beau Bridges (b. 1941 and son of Sea-Hunt Lloyd) and he vows to love Sally all the more.

Feisty, fervent, and flamboyant describe our riveting heroine, a true joy to behold, with her skinny sexy body that, to me, anyway, seems to long for her Jewish mentor and teacher, Leibman, the man who has opened her eyes to the larger world of culture, books and catching your dreams. For him, she begins reading one of his favorite poets, Dylan Thomas. He's had the power to change this plain woman with poor morals into a strong outspoken survivor.

Is Leibman just using her to get the union started? No,they part with genuine respect for one another, sealed by a handshake. An earlier scene shows them taking a delightful skinnydip together. Leibman is always a calm force to Field's tempestuous behavior.

However, it may be that socially conscious director Martin Ritt (1914-1990) blacklisted during the McCarthy era, just may have been using the real Norma Rae - Crystal Lee Sutton - since she didn't receive a cent from the film. However, Crystal states in later interviews she enjoyed the film and the attention.

In a memorable line, Leibman asks, "Why is it all you southerners have three names?"

Watch the movie to experience the thrill of defiance and winning. Watch it to root for Sally Field to take on the establishment and, glory be, to win!

Director Martin Ritt reportedly commented that his film of a mother working in a southern textile mill was flawed but that he hoped it was a realtistic portrayal of life and its flaws. It's tough to find the flaws in this superb film that earned Sally Field the first of her two Oscars ("Places in the Heart" won her the second five years later). As mill worker Norma Rae, Field's character lands the reluctant role of union organizer but in the process uncovers the essence of her own character and courage. The latter is no better conveyed than in what turned out to be one of cinematic history's most memorable images when the near-beaten Norma Rae stands on a table in front of 800 co-workers and, in so doing, becomes her own person. The film expertly conveys life in a southern town, but its devastating impact is Norma Rae's gradual emergence as a truly courageous person who is willing to risk it all to literally stand up for what she knows is right. Field's riveting performance reeled in every major acting award the year the film was released, and justly so. It may well remain her best work ever.

Sally Field gives a career turning performance in 1979's Norma Rae. Up to that point, Ms. Field was better known as a TV actress who starred in fluffy comedies like Gidget, The Flying Nun & The Girl With Something Extra. In 1976, she showed a more serious side, taking home an Emmy for her work as a young girl with multiple personalities in Sybil. After Sybil, she proceeded to star in more fluff pieces like Smokey & The Bandit, Hooper & The End with her then boyfriend Burt Reynolds. Norma Rae was a film with much more substance. In fact after reading the script, Mr. Reynolds advised her that she would win an Oscar for the film. He turned out to be quite prophetic. Ms. Field is superb in the title role. Norma is an unassuming factory worker from a small town in the South, who is widowed and has two kids with two separate fathers. That is until she meets Reuben Warshawky (Ron Liebman). Reuben is an Union organizer from New York City and he is trying to get the mill workers to set up a union. Most people ignore as they are fearful for their jobs, but Norma is intrigued and she starts meeting with Reuben to try and start a union. She is met with resistance and is bullied by her bosses, but Norma is not persuaded to quit. She feels that she has stood by her whole life without making a difference and this is her chance to actually matter. There is of course the famous scene where Norma is about to be removed from the mill and she defiantly stands on a table with the Union sign. Her co-workers one by one realize the chances she's taken for them and they shut off their machines in support. The film has some excellent supporting work from Mr. Liebman, Beau Bridges and Pat Hingle, but this is Ms. Field's film all the way. She proved Mr. Reynolds right and took home the 1979 Best Actress Oscar and set forth on a path that would add another Oscar to her collection and feature some of the best films of 1980's & 1990's.

Norma Rae put Sally Field on the map. Although she stunned television audiences a few years earlier with the Emmy winning performance in Sybil, most still thought of her as either Sister Bertrille from The Flying Nun or TV's Gidget.

Based on a true story, Norma Rae is a single mother of two, not all in wedlock. She lives at home with mother (Barbara Baxley) and father (Pat Hingle). She works at the OP Henley textile mill. She is having an affair with a married man.

Into her life comes two very different men. First is Ruben Kincaid (Ron Leibman), a Jewish union organizer from New York. Ruben wants to organize the textile mill but needs to get an in at the factory. The second is Sonny Webster (Beau Bridges), another mill worker. Sonny takes a shining to Norma and starts to date her. After a while, they get married and they combine their three kids together.

Ruben is looking for that one person to get him in with the workers. He sees that Norma is a bit of rebel and also cares for her coworkers. This is the woman he needs. After a few meetings and seeing Ruben take on the bosses, she signs on. She works tirelessly for the union. It starts to become her entire life and almost ends her marriage.

The mill turns up the heat with threats of shift cuts and scares off the workers from the union meetings. That is until Norma Rae's father dies after a supervisor refuses to let him off when he was feeling bad. But the mill puts up a racist notice which prompts the film's famous scene. Norma Rae writes down what is on the notice and management tries to stop her. She gets up on a table and writes UNION of a piece of cardboard. She holds it up and one by one the workers shut off their machines. Then she is dragged of by the police. This leads to what a friend called Sally's Oscar scene where she sits down with her kids and explains their parentage. (No dry eyes here).

The factory holds the union vote and the union is approved.

Sally Field deservedly won the Oscar and set her career on fire. But you also have to give a big round to the supporting cast. Pat Hingle as her father gives a the performance of his career. Barbara Baxley showed her versatility in this role. In Nashville she played a flamboyant diva. In Norma Rae, she plays a woman beaten down by her life and just wants a life where she is not noticed. Gail Strickland plays Norma's best friend. This is a role that she will perfect over the next few years. And finally, Beau Bridges once again shows that he is a great actor.

Director Martin Ritt will team up with Sally two more times. The next year in Back Roads which was a mild miss and then ten years later with Murphy's Romance which was another home run.

DVD EXTRA: Backstory: Norma Rae - When AMC decided to launch an informational series about making of films that made a difference, their first episode was on Norma Rae. This is the 24 minute show featuring interviews with Ron Leibman, producer Tamara Asseyev, agent Michael Ovitz, Sally Field and cinematographer John Alonzo.

This is a great movie. For several reasons. Let me tell you one of them. The undercurrent is not homeric or heroic, it's about leadership.

I teach a course in Leadership at a local college. One of the Chapters is about Women as Leaders. Well, we're kind of off in a fantasy world here if we try to use props. And the chasm beteen what we see on the screen and the real world, fantasy and application, is wide, enormous and scary.

So this is not about Vin Diesel saving the world with his enormous biceps, nor Arnold with giant pecs protecting women and children. Nor is it a braless Signourney Weaver in a tee shirt and two machine guns on her hips blowing up aliens.

This is about one of us in the body of a short, cute, 90 pound woman, uneducated, riddled with human flaw, inspired by her antithesis, a highly educated jewish labor organizer, to stand up and like Tommy Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Olympics, raise her fist in defiance of the machine.

And, Sally Field does give the performanvce of a lifetime with all the nuances of an uneducated person sensing the right thing but lacking the tools with which to do it.

There's a scene where she has to sign her name and she stares at the paper and purses her tongue and bites her lip in concentration. Small affectation. Brilliant. She got the Oscar and I think we laughed at her. She's Gidget for God's sake. The Flying Nun. It's even funnier than if Goldie Hawn won it. But here's the final answer: She deserved it.

You know what the plot's about. This Alabama about 20 years after Brown v. Board of Education, 10 years after The Heart of Atlanta decison, and 6 or 7 years after the Civil Rights killings. So it's not a safe venue for change. And Ron Liebman as the organizer Reuben has one thing going for him, he's not black. But everything else about him is what many southerners at that time hated. He's jewish, he's "a left-o," he's educated, he's from New Yawk. And somehow, the factory worker Norma Rae is drawn to him. I think she loves him and he her, but not that way. He changes her life, and she can never return. She has become a leader, with vision, communication, and patience. Hell. At the end she's reading Dylan Thomas. See the movie. 5 stars. Larry Scantlebury

It is a very simple story. Nor so many twists, neither an unforgettable love affair. So, why do people love this little film so much? Because it is very, very heartfelt and deals with a subjetc very interesting. Plus, Sally Field's performance is deeply touching.

"Norma Rae" is the story of a working woman who gets tired of being exploited by the factory she works for, which is one of the few companies in her town, where her whole family has been working for years, and in the future so will her children. After meeting a man from the Textil Union, she starts to get involved with the organization, and the fights for the workers' rights as well. Slowly she gets concious that union and Union make a whole difference.

What I think is most interesting in this movie is the fact that is very timeless and placeless. Even now, 20 years later of its releasing, the subject is still up to date, everywhere there are employees fighting against unfair employers. And even though, it is about political and social aspects of society, the film does not tries to give you a lecture.

As I aforementioned, Sally Field deliveries very good. The transformation of Nora from a party girls who only wants to date and drink into a working class hero is completely believable. Moreover, we stay by her side all the time rooting for her gets the rights they want. The supporting cast does also a very good work. Ron Liebman -- as the man who introduces Norma to the Union, and becomes a kind of mentor to her -- and Beau Bridges -- as her husband-- are very impressive. Martin Ritt's direction is very discreet and effective.

All in all, I highly recomend this movie. It is very entertaining and deep. People who are looking for some intelligent and touching film should go straight to this one.

On the face of it today a story about an impoverished, hard-nosed widowed woman trying to support several children working in a southern textile mill and who seeks to unionize the plant against one of the major textile companies might rate a documentary or docu-drama treatment but, perhaps not much else. The demographics and the audience would probably not be there for such a commercial endeavor, Sally Field or no Sally Field. That says more about the state of the organized labor movement in this country, the dramatic decline in union membership, the lack of recent successful major union organizing drives, the "globalization" of industry that has de-industrialized America and the attenuation of links between the old trade union movement forged in the class battles of the 1930s and 1940s and their grandchildren, today's youth.

Back in 1973, however, this film was a hit not only because of the well-done performances by Sally Fields, as that down-troddened but spirited woman turned effective union organizer and Ron Liebman, as the northern union organizer called in to advice (?) Norma Rae. 1950s "red scare" black-listed writer Martin Ritt, who directed this film, also deserves kudos for not overburdening the film with unnecessary sentimentality. The times then thus were not out of joint for such an effort. The residue of 1960s radicalism and pro-working class sentiments still hung in the air. Moreover, the times were just becoming ripe for serious films about the trials and tribulations of women, especially working women and their problems, under the sign of the burgeoning women's movement.

Of courser this particular review is posted here today because, unfortunately, the real-life model for the character of Norma Rae Crystal Lee Sutton has just passed away in North Carolina at the age of 68. I will finish up here by quoting a remark that I made in another space about her passing that also reflects on the highlight dramatically tense moment in the film:

"No labor militant, or even just a simple friend of the international labor movement could do anything but cheer at that moment in "Norma Rae", based on the actual experience of Crystal Lee Sutton, when Sally Field silently holds up a handmade sign that said "Union"- and everyone downs tools. Such events are the stuff not just of labor legend, but under the right circumstances revolution. Farewell, Sister." I need say no more.