The Color Purple (film)
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- This article is about the film. For the color itself, see purple. For information about the original novel, see The Color Purple.
| The Color Purple | |
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| Directed by | Steven Spielberg |
| Produced by | Steven Spielberg Kathleen Kennedy Frank Marshall |
| Written by | Screenplay by Menno Meyjes based on the novel by Alice Walker |
| Starring | Danny Glover Whoopi Goldberg Oprah Winfrey |
| Music by | Quincy Jones Andraé Crouch Rod Temperton Jeremy Lubbock Caiphus Semenya |
| Cinematography | Allen Daviau |
| Editing by | Michael Kahn |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | December 18, 1985 |
| Running time | 154 mins |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $15 million |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Color Purple is the ninth film directed by Steven Spielberg, and was released 1985. It is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Alice Walker. The film tells the story of a young African American girl named Celie and shows the problems faced by African American women during the early 1900s; including poverty, racism and sex discrimination. The character Celie is transformed as she finds her self-worth through the help of two strong female companions.
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[edit] Plot/Summary
Taking place in the south during the early 1900s, the film follows the life of a poor African American girl, Celie (Goldberg), whose abuse begins when she is young. By the time she is fourteen she has already had two children by her father, who she later finds out is her step-father. Celie is forced to marry a man in town whom she calls "Mister" (Glover). "Mister" makes Celie feel she is unworthy of love and happiness. He continuously beats her, rapes her, and makes her take care of his children and the chores around the house from the beginning of their relationship. She becomes very close to Mister’s mistress Shug (Avery) and forms a close relationship with her. Celie also finds companionship in Sofia (Winfrey) who is a woman who once was also abused by the men in her life. Through the strength of her two friends, Celie develops into a confident woman who realizes she is worthy of love.
[edit] Main cast
- Albert (Mister): Danny Glover
- Celie: Whoopi Goldberg
- Shug Avery: Margaret Avery
- Sofia: Oprah Winfrey
- Harpo: Willard E. Pugh
- Nettie: Akosua Busia
[edit] Academy Awards
The film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards (including Best Picture, Best Actress for Goldberg and Best Supporting Actress for both Avery and Winfrey) but saw none of them awarded. The big Oscar winner that year was instead the colonial drama Out of Africa, a twist which some considered proof of racial bias in Hollywood. There was also controversy in Hollywood when Spielberg himself failed to be nominated as Best Director, although he was awarded the prestigious Directors Guild of America Award.
Other critics pointed to the controversy that occurred during the production of the film as the reason for it getting snubbed by the Academy. Some African American civil rights leaders were upset that the film was being directed by Spielberg, who had no personal or professional experience to draw on while producing a film based on a book that digs very deeply into being a disadvantaged, and abused, black woman that finds empowerment and love through her relationship with another woman. Many feminist and gay critics were upset that Spielberg felt the need to interject humor into the film (reducing Celie's abuse to an 'aw shucks' battle of the sexes) and turning the lesbian love into platonic female bonding.
[edit] Awards/Nominations
[edit] Golden Globes Wins
- Best Actress (Drama) - Whoopi Goldberg
[edit] Golden Globes Nominations
- Best Picture (Drama)
- Best Director - Steven Spielberg
- Best Supporting Actress - Oprah Winfrey
- Best Original Score - Quincy Jones
[edit] Trivia/Goofs
- This is one of only two Spielberg-directed films since and including The Sugarland Express which have not been scored by John Williams. The other is Twilight Zone: The Movie, which featured a score by Jerry Goldsmith.
- This film marked the movie debuts of Whoopi Goldberg (Celie) and Oprah Winfrey (Sofia). Both received Oscar nominations for their roles.
- Alice Walker wrote the original screenplay under the title Watch For Me in the Sunset. Walker, however, was unhappy with the finished script, and asked Steven Spielberg not to use it, so Menno Meyjes was assigned the task. Alice meanwhile became part of the movie's production team as the project consultant (as mentioned in the closing credits).
- Alice Walker chose Whoopi Goldberg for the role of Celie.
- In the scene where Sofia confronts Celie in the cornfield, Sofia says "You want a dead son-in-law, Miss Celie?". Sofia is talking about Harpo, who is Celie's step-son, not son-in-law (this mistake was also made in the book, but it could be deliberate).
- Tina Turner refused a role in the film, saying "I lived Celie's life with Ike. I don't want to live it again".
- In the scene in the cornfield where Sofia confronts Celie after finding out she told Harpo to beat her, Oprah Winfrey wasn't talking to Whoopi Goldberg, but was looking at a clapperboard. She did the scene in one take.
- The baby that Celie gives birth to in the opening scene was in fact a rubber doll while the sound of the baby crying was a recording of Steven Spielberg's son, Max, who was born early on in the production.
- Táta Vega provided the singing voice for Shug Avery.
- In "Crash Team Racing", there is a "movie" called "The Color Orange".
- In the scene where Oprah Winfrey's character Sofia is knocked unconscious in the middle of town, the wind blows up her skirt as she is lying on the ground. If you look closely, she breaks character to move her skirt down.
- Menno Meyjes wrote screenplays for other Steven Spielberg films such as Empire of the Sun, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
- "Harpo" is "Oprah" spelled backwards. It is also the name of her production company.
- Danny Glover admitted on one of the special features on the two-disc special edition DVD that he hated doing the scene where he has to separate Celie and Nettie.
- During the scene where Shug is trying to get Celie to smile, Shug gets her to look at herself in a series of mirrors. In one of the mirrors, if you look close enough, you can see Steven Spielberg's reflection.
- Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover co-starred again in Beloved (film) in 1998. Akosua Busia (Nettie) co-wrote said films script
- In Madea's Family Reunion, when the character Madea tries to comfort the character, Nikki, she says the line from this film when Sofia confonts Celie.
- Oprah Winfrey has long maintained in interviews that while filming the jook joint scene (which was the first one she filmed), she looked into the camera while saying her line "Miss Celie, it sure is good to see you" on the first take, prompting Steven Spielberg to yell "Cut!".
- When Celie and Nettie are reunited at the end of the film, Nettie takes both Celie's hands as she moves in to kiss her. In the next shot, though, she has both her hands on either side of Ceilie's face.
- At the end of the film, after Celie finishes hugging Olivia, Olivia steps to Celie's right. In the next shot, though, when Tashi is talking to Celie, Olivia is standing to Celie's left.
- Desreta Jackson (Young Celie) played a very small part in Sister Act which also starred Whoopi Goldberg.
[edit] Alternate versions
The scenes of Celie's ride on the train.
[edit] Notable Quotes
- "All my life I had to fight. I had to fight my daddy. I had to fight my uncles. I had to fight my brothers. A girl child ain't safe in a family of men, but I ain't never thought I'd have to fight in my own house! I loves Harpo, God knows I do. But I'll kill him dead 'fo I let him beat me." — Sofia
[edit] Differences From The Book
- The scene where Mr. separates Celie and Nettie, then throws Nettie off his farm, did not happen in the novel. Instead, Nettie runs away before Mr had the chance. The reason for her sudden departure is the same as it was in the movie (with Nettie hitting Mr.), but it isn't revealed until later on in the novel when Celie is reading her letters
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- The Color Purple at the Internet Movie Database
- Roger Ebert's original review of The Color Purple (He gave it 4/4 stars)
Duel • The Sugarland Express • Jaws • Close Encounters of the Third Kind • 1941 • Raiders of the Lost Ark • E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial • Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom • The Color Purple • Empire of the Sun • Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade • Always • Hook • Jurassic Park • Schindler's List • The Lost World: Jurassic Park • Amistad • Saving Private Ryan • Artificial Intelligence: AI • Minority Report • Catch Me if You Can • The Terminal • War of the Worlds • Munich • Indiana Jones 4 • Lincoln • Interstellar
