Sign In / Sign Up

The Southerner

The Southerner
Release date: 1945-04-30
Rating: 6.5
Votes: 61
Genres: Drama
Sam Tucker, a cotton picker, in search of a better future for his family, decides to grow his own cotton crop. In the first year, the Tuckers battle disease, a flood, and a jealous neighbor. Can they make it as farmers?

Reviews

CinemaSerf

CinemaSerf

A family are quite literally tuckered out trying to farm for cotton when husband "Sam" (Zachary Scott) and his wife "Nona" (Betty Field) decide it's time to move with their two young children and start a life for themselves somewhere else. They alight on a rocky farmstead that centres on a ramshackle old house and decide that they are going to see if they can grow cotton there. Thing is, the terrain isn't ideal and their neighbour (J. Carrol Naish) is not the friendliest, so their travails are never going to be easy. Things are not helped when their young son "Jot" (Jay Gilpin) starts to suffer from the effects of malnutrition, and the doctor prescribes the ultimate in luxuries - a cow and some vegetables! Their work is all manual, they have none of the modern day tractors and seeding equipment and so, coupled with disease and a storm of almost biblical proportions, they don't have their problems to seek. Can they overcome these challenges, though? This is one of those stories about the human spirit. The couple are determined to face down the hardships and they get help and hindrance from those nearby as they struggle to fit into their new surroundings. It's probably Beulah Bondi's old "Granny' who steals the acting plaudits as she hitches up her skirts and rules the roost grumpily whilst the family wrestle with the rocks and the roof. Scott and Field gel quite well, too, as their work puts quite a strain on their family with no end in sight. It's perhaps his friend "Tim" (Charles Kemper) who best sums up their chosen lifestyle as something akin to: work yourself to the bone, year after year, then die! The production is quickly paced and effective at showing us just how tough subsistence farming was for the cotton picking population of hardy folks, and this has an authenticity to it that's worth a watch.

Movie Recommendation

  • A Hidden Life
    A Hidden Life
    2019-08-27
    Austrian farmer Franz Jägerstätter faces the threat of execution for refusing to fight for the Nazis during World War II.
    More...
  • Bad Day at Black Rock
    Bad Day at Black Rock
    1955-01-13
    One-armed war veteran John J. Macreedy steps off a train at the sleepy little town of Black Rock. Once there, he begins to unravel a web of lies, secrecy, and murder.
    More...
  • Fric-Frac
    Fric-Frac
    1939-06-15
    An employee at a jewelry store falls in love with a woman who secretly plans to rob the store.
    More...
  • That Uncertain Feeling
    That Uncertain Feeling
    1941-04-20
    A happily married woman sees a psychoanalyst and develops doubts about her husband.
    More...
  • The Diary of a Chambermaid
    The Diary of a Chambermaid
    1946-02-15
    Celestine, the chamber-maid, has a new job in the country, at the Lanlaires. She has decided to use her beauty to seduce a wealthy man, but Mr. Lanlaire is not a right choice: the house is firmly controlled by Madame Lanlaire, helped by the strange valet Joseph. Then she tries the neighbour, former officer Mauger. This seems to work. But soon the son of the Lanlaires comes back. He is young, attractive and does not share his mother's antirepublican opinions. So Celestine's beauty attracts Captain Mauger, young Georges Lanlaire, and Joseph. Three men, from three different social classes, with three different conceptions of life. Will Celestine be able to convince Georges of her sincerity?
    More...
  • Common Law Cabin
    Common Law Cabin
    1967-07-01
    After stealing a fortune in unclaimed jewelry, ex-detective Barney Rickert arrives at a run-down dude ranch in Arizona to hide out. When the owner, Dewey Hoople, refuses to sell the land to Rickert, he proceeds to win over the female inhabitants by seducing them one by one which leads to one refusing his advances and a dangerous game played out in which Rickert ruthlessly sets out to get what he wants.
    More...
  • A View to a Kill
    A View to a Kill
    1985-05-24
    A newly-developed microchip designed by Zorin Industries for the British Government that can survive the electromagnetic radiation caused by a nuclear explosion has landed in the hands of the KGB. James Bond must find out how and why. His suspicions soon lead him to big industry leader Max Zorin who forms a plan to destroy his only competition in Silicon Valley by triggering a massive earthquake in the San Francisco Bay.
    More...
  • The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
    The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
    2010-12-02
    This time around Edmund and Lucy Pevensie, along with their pesky cousin Eustace Scrubb find themselves swallowed into a painting and on to a fantastic Narnian ship headed for the very edges of the world.
    More...
  • Aladdin
    Aladdin
    1992-11-25
    In the boorish city of Agrabah, kind-hearted street urchin Aladdin and Princess Jasmine fall in love, although she can only marry a prince. He and power-hungry Grand Vizier Jafar vie for a magic lamp that can fulfill their wishes.
    More...
  • Knives Out
    Knives Out
    2019-11-27
    When renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey is found dead at his estate just after his 85th birthday, the inquisitive and debonair Detective Benoit Blanc is mysteriously enlisted to investigate. From Harlan's dysfunctional family to his devoted staff, Blanc sifts through a web of red herrings and self-serving lies to uncover the truth behind Harlan's untimely death.
    More...
  • Space Buddies
    Space Buddies
    2009-02-02
    B-Dawg, Mudbud, Budderball, and all the rest of the Buddies are back, but this time, they're setting their sights even higher -- as in, the moon! With the help of their new pals Spudnick (voiced by Jason Earles) and Gravity, these pooches are go for launch. But to pull off their moon landing and make it home safely, our canine heroes will have to summon all their bravery and imagination...
    More...
  • Big Trouble in Little China
    Big Trouble in Little China
    1986-05-30
    Truck driver Jack Burton gets embroiled in a supernatural battle when his best friend Wang Chi's green-eyed fiancée is kidnapped by henchmen of the sorcerer Lo Pan, who must marry a girl with green eyes in order to return to the human realm.
    More...
  • Stalker
    Stalker
    1979-05-25
    Near a gray and unnamed city is the Zone, a place guarded by barbed wire and soldiers, and where the normal laws of physics are victim to frequent anomalies. A stalker guides two men into the Zone, specifically to an area in which deep-seated desires are granted.
    More...
  • Jaws 3-D
    Jaws 3-D
    1983-07-22
    A giant thirty-five-foot shark becomes trapped in a SeaWorld theme park and it's up to the sons of police chief Brody to rescue everyone.
    More...
  • Blade Runner
    Blade Runner
    1982-06-25
    In the smog-choked dystopian Los Angeles of 2019, blade runner Rick Deckard is called out of retirement to terminate a quartet of replicants who have escaped to Earth seeking their creator for a way to extend their short life spans.
    More...
  • Hot Fuzz
    Hot Fuzz
    2007-02-14
    Former London constable Nicholas Angel finds it difficult to adapt to his new assignment in the sleepy British village of Sandford. Not only does he miss the excitement of the big city, but he also has a well-meaning oaf for a partner. However, when a series of grisly accidents rocks Sandford, Angel smells something rotten in the idyllic village.
    More...
  • Casablanca
    Casablanca
    1943-01-15
    In Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941, a cynical American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications.
    More...
  • Mystic River
    Mystic River
    2003-10-07
    The lives of three men who were childhood friends are shattered when one of them suffers a family tragedy.
    More...
  • Liar Liar
    Liar Liar
    1997-03-21
    Forced by his son's birthday wish, fast-talking attorney and habitual liar Fletcher Reede must tell the truth for the next 24 hours.
    More...
  • Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
    Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
    2007-12-20
    The infamous story of Benjamin Barker, a.k.a Sweeney Todd, who sets up a barber shop down in London which is the basis for a sinister partnership with his fellow tenant, Mrs. Lovett. Based on the hit Broadway musical.
    More...

Similar Movies