Tobacco Road

1941

ComedyDrama

Shiftless Jeeter Lester and his family of sharecroppers live in rural Georgia where their ancestors were once wealthy planters. Their slapstick existence is threatened by a bank's plans to take over the land for more profitable farming.

"ON THE SCREEN AT LAST! The Picture you've waited eight years to see...Picturized by the men who gave you "GRAPES OF WRATH""

Rating

6.6
53 votes

Popularity

1.4405

Origin & Countries

US | en | United States of America

Production

20th Century Fox

Runtime

84 min.

Status

Released

Release: 2/20/1941

Credits

Tobacco Road

John FordDirector

Tobacco Road

Charley GrapewinJeeter Lester

Tobacco Road

Marjorie RambeauSister Bessie Rice

Tobacco Road

Gene TierneyEllie May Lester

Tobacco Road

William TracyDude Lester

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Reviews

CinemaSerf

12/22/2024

6 / 10

Charley Grapewin's "Jeeter" is the epitome of the collapsed grandeur of the once prosperous tobacco road in Georgia. Formerly the hub of cotton and tobacco growing, it's now largely dilapidated with those left scrounging and scraping to make any kind of living. Until now, they have been fortunate as the last major landowner had given them the rights to live on the land, but just as his son "Capt. Tim" (Dana Andrews) arrives so does the bank in the form of manager "Payne" (Grant Mitchell) who informs them all that unless he can raise a rent of $100 per annum, they are going to redevelop the properties. It turns out that the captain is just as broke as the farmers, so they have to find a way to raise the cash or be prepared to move on. There's one possible solution, though. The not-so-angelically voiced "Bessie" (Marjorie Rambeau) might just be able to scrape together the cash from a recent life insurance payout to float them for long enough for the erstwhile disparate family to start planting/picking again. Then again, maybe she will just marry "Dude" (William Tracy) and buy him a new car? It's quite a fun ensemble effort this that certainly plays to rather dumb stereotype at times, but still allows Grapewin to rule the roost engagingly whilst Gene Tierney's "Ellie May" gets herself into all sorts of scrapes trying not to be a pawn in a daft marriage game. It flows along quite naturally with some light-heartedness to underpin the clear message that this is an industry left to die by a government little interested in the affairs of these plantations or their residents. You'll never remember it, but it's an easy enough watch.

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