Rating: 
Summary: A thoughtful, well-acted film
Review: This film, set in Depression-era Oklahoma and California could have been depressing. Outstanding performances by Henry Fonda as Tom Joad; Jane Darwell as Ma Joad (who won a well-deserved Oscar); and especially John Carradine as Jim Casey, a former preacher who finds his calling again in California keep it from being a downer.The Joad family leaves Oklahoma for California when they lose their farm. Their friend Casey comes along. Supposedly, plenty of work is to be had in California, but the Joads find out otherwise. Work is scarce, and when they do find it, the locals cheat them on their pay. The family starts to fall apart when California turns out not to be the paradise that they had thought it to be. Ma's struggle to keep the family together is insiring. Casey finds redemption by organizing the migrants, or "Okies" as they are called. This is a film that I can watch over and over.
Rating: 
Summary: Good for an Oldie
Review: This movie, starring Henry Fonda as Tom Joad, is based on the novel written by John Steinbeck. It follows the lives of the Joad family, one of hundreds of Oklahoma families that were thrown off their land during the Dust Bowl of the 1930's. The family joins thousands of other families from around the country on the long journey to California. Everyone is headed to California because of the promise of work. The Joads begin their long journey in a single truck that holds all of their possessions, 12 family members and their friend Casey, a former preacher. Their journey is met with one hardship after another, even after they have entered the "promised land" of California. The theme of the movie is suffrage. No matter what jobs the Joads get, or where they end up living, something always happens that makes their lives harder to bare. All of the employers in California promise one thing and deliver something of much lesser value. For example: they say that they will pay 5 cents for a bucket of peaches, and the next day, the employers lower the price to 2.5 cents. The Joads never knew what was really going to happen, and as Ma Joad put it, the family "Got nothing to trust". The movie follows the book fairly closely, but it leaves out many valuable parts. The movie also ends much sooner than the book. For those people who have read the book, this movie will probably be a disappointment, especially if they are expecting the movie to follow the book exactly. The movie was made in the 40's, so it was black and white. Because of this, this movie will not appeal to those who like fast paced movies with lots of special effects. However for those who like old movies, The Grapes of Wrath is a great choice.
Rating:
Summary: Better than Steinbeck
Review: John Ford actually improved on the extremely overrated Steinbeck novel, "The Grapes of Wrath." But that isn't saying much. Greg Toland, once again, deserves much of the credit for the visual impact of the film. Ford contributed his usual unbearable sentimentality (sentimentality defined as "unearned emotion"). Henry Fonda gave his usual authenticity to an already melodramatic script. In 1940 there was a gap between Film and reality so great, it would take a De Sica to bridge it. Alas, we had no De Sica. All we had was Ford (i.e., "Found On the Road Dead").
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as the book, but that probably was impossible
Review: I may be a bit biased, because I read the book just prior to watching the film, but the book is better. The film is VERY faithful to the book, with much of the dialogue having been directly extracted. But, there is no way the movie could have contained the detail, historical background, local color and just sheer brilliant descriptions that can be captured in a 600-page book. Outstanding performances: Fonda in a performance generally regarded as one of his best; Jane Darwell, as Ma Joad, evolves as the story progresses and provides the continuity among the disintegration of the other characters; John Carridine, as Jim Casy, gives, for me, the best performance among the great cast, and perhaps captures his character's importance to the story even more fully than in the book. A previous review mentions the Depression-era photography of Dorothea Lange. I recently bought a number of her collections (from Amazon, of course) and it is indeed striking how frequently during the movie I saw the resemblance. This connection really enhanced the overall mood, that is, the despair and the unbelievably bad living conditions. Read the book...then see the movie, perhaps the best literary/cinematic pairing ever.
Rating:
Summary: As good as the book
Review: John Ford is and deserves to be considered one of the finest directors of all time, and in Grapes of Wrath, he does not by any means dissapoint. The story's central character is Tom Joad (Henry Fonda) a prisoner who is let out of jail and finds him and his family gone, their land taken from them because of the Great Depression and the dust bowl. He finds them just as they're leavin' for California, the "land of dreams and honey", in order to find work. The movie not only tries to teach a lesson about history, but also tries to explain how the rich were predjuidiced against the poor. As we see the living conditions worsen, we begin to feel the strength that the people of that time had to have, and also feel the sorrow they felt when they were forced off of their land. One of the few movies that has lived up to the standards of a truly excellent book
Rating:
Summary: A truly great movie
Review: This is one of the most powerful films that I've ever seen. I'd compare it to "The Killing Fields" from a half-century later. Both movies focused on desperate journeys with some unforgettable highs and lows. John Carradine is haunting as the disillusioned preacher and Jane Darwell is great as the mother trying to keep things together. To me, the most touching scene is early on when the Joads are forced to move from a house that has always been their home. Darwell takes a last longing look at souvenirs from her younger years, then throws them in the fire and gets ready to move on.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful portrayal of a family, a people and a nation.
Review: One the THE classic American films. It documents the Joad family through the Great Depression. The performances are wonderful, especially Jane Darwell and John Carradine. It probably is the most accurate representation of the Great Depression, and ultimately the New Deal programs instituted to help migrant farmers.
Rating: 
Summary: Looks good
Review: This film version of the classic Steinbeck novel may seem a bit leaden to modern audiences, with its stylized acting. But the cinematography is well worth the price of admission.
Rating:
Summary: Very Real
Review: The Grapes of Wrath is a movie that tell of the great depression and the hard ships people faced during this time in history. It made you laugh in some areas and made you cry in others. The heart break of having to give up your family land that has been in the family for generations and not finding a job. People having to move somewhere else far from home to find work that may have not been there when they got there. Some faith was strong and some faith were weak. I give this movie a 5 star because of the realism in it. Richard T Hewitt
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Movie
Review: This was a great classic movie. Fonda was great in it. The acting was wonderful and so was the plot. Make sure this one's on your shelf.
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