A Film at 45: Norma Rae

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to
the year nineteen seventy nine. In a

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film Buy It's a limited series,
a film at forty five. I am

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David Burns and I'm Scott Hoffman with
this limited series, as you said,

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from a film by a podcast where
we're dusting off the end of a decade

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that changed cinema forever with a fresh
look at modern classics and hidden gems.

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So we can't stop watching. And
in this episode we're talking about a breakout

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role for Sally Field with Norma Ray. You're underpaid, your overwork, the

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shaft and you're right up to your
tonsils. You need me never a very

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good girl, scattering. I'll go
along with you. You got me,

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So what the hell are you gonna
do with me? That's right, It's

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March, Scott, and what better
way to start women's history moth than with

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a film ranked in the American Film
Institute Top one hundred most Inspiring Movies of

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All times starring Sally Field, a
film that was nominated for four Academy Awards

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and winner of two. Of course, as you said, we are talking

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about Normal Ray. But before we
get to that, we have a special

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guest joining us in the op Henley
Textile Mill. We have Amber from DOCTU

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Base seventy seven, but also has
been joining us on a film buy for

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quite a few episodes. Amber.
Welcome to the union meeting. Thank you,

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it's good to be here. Union
Strong. We were gonna have a

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big button, yes, but we
couldn't. Jeff wouldn't let us have it.

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Yeah, I've got a budget.
I don't know. I don't know.

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Numbers. Numbers, well Scott.
For those who not seen this film,

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how would you describe it to someone? Norma Ray has lived and worked

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in the same textile mill in the
same small town all her life. So

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has her mom, her dad and
all her friends. Life isn't great for

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them, but it's enough. Norma
is a single mom with two young kids

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who will probably work in the same
mill when they grow up, and maybe

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that will be enough for them too. The job of the mill never changes,

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and the people who work there,
men and women, young and old,

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work like machines every day and they're
treated as such. But that because

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that's the way it's always been,
and it's been enough. But when Norma's

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bomb starts losing her hearing from working
in a loud mill, she finds that

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no one is listening to her family's
needs. She starts to see the abuse

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and neglect that everyone just expects to
put up with, and she decides she's

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had enough. Right at the time
when a Union rep comes to her and

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the others at the mill with hope
if they stand together, they can look

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beyond good enough and start demanding the
better that they deserve. This is the

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story of how Norma finds a voice
for herself and her family so that she

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can find a better life for everyone. This stars Sally Field, ron Liebman

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bow Bridges, among others that will
get into Directed by Martin Writt and written

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by Irving Ravech and Harriet Frank Junior. This is such a wonderful film dealing

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with a great message. You know, this is the time period where things

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were still rough for racial differences still
are but a lot worse back then for

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women and for the working class.
So so much was going on in this

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film, Amber was this How many
times have you seen this film? Was

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it's your first time? Or have
you seen this before? Oh? My

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goodness, my family is a union
family. Oh okay, my grandfather was

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the vice president of the UFCW.
One uncle was a recruiter. Another uncle

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was a lawyer for the union.
So these kind of movies were you know,

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from when you're a toddler and it
comes on TV and sit down and

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watch this. This is what your
grandpa does. Yeah, that message was

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driven in, you know, at
a time when you know, it's the

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seventies, the eighties, like,
yeah, you watch things that you were

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too young for. That's just the
way I was, you know. So

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I can't say I always understood what
was going on, but I have watched

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this movie multiple times over the years, and three times this weekend. So

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nice, all right, Scott,
what about you? This is I'll admit

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this is actually my first time ever
seeing it. It's one where it's always

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been, you know, on my
radar. Obviously it's one of the classics

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that you that you have to watch, but I'm you know, it's it's

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not coming up in circulation very often. Actually, when I when I found

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this movie, the best way for
me to get to it was through the

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local library on David Again, which
I mean always has you know, great

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special features and things like that.
But I was surprised at how on the

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forty fifth anniversary of a pretty big
movie for nineteen seventy nine. It wasn't

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really widely available, but first viewing, I got to say I was thoroughly

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impressed. Yeah, it's a really
good film and it should be seen by

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many people because of the message that
it hasn't it. I know this is

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film is based off the true story
of Crystal Lee Sutton, which was told

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in the nineteen seventy five book Crystal
Lee, A Woman of Inheritance, which

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was done by reporter Henry P.
Lieferman, I believe of the New York

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Times, which is where they came
up with the idea for this film.

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But before we really dive into it, let's talk a little bit about the

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cast itself. Clearly, the one
who shined in this the most was Sally

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Field as Norma Ray. I just
thought she was done an incredible job.

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I know there was a story that
Bert Reynolds tried to talk her out of

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taking this role. I'm really glad
that she did not listen to him,

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and I'm sure she's glad she didn't
listen to him because she got an Academy

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Award for this film. Yeah,
yeah, she got numerous awards, right,

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Yeah. Kind of reading about it, she had one of those run

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ups to the Oscars that you know
you have every few years where somebody is

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just knocking down every single award you
know that's available. Like that was her

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her year. You know, it
was just just a whirlwind. And she

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even talked about that later when she
won her second Oscar. She said,

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you know, the first time,
like I was so out of it,

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like it had just been this blur, this whirlwind, you know. Yeah,

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that she didn't really appreciate the Oscar
moment until she got her second one.

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Yeah, she's a talented young lady, that is for sure. I

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remember her, and you don't laugh
at me because this might date me a

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little bit, but I'm the flying
Nun. I always remember her from that

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series. Oh yeah, I got
that a lot in syndication. Oh yeah,

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that more than Gidget. Yeah yeah, but it's it's you know,

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to her credit. This is her
first lead role in a major motion picture,

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right, I mean, she had
other roles, but this is the

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first one where she's in the spotlight
and yeah, knocked it out of the

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park. I mean, oh yeah, very believable in this role, I

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think, and perfectly cast. I
know that we you know, usually talked

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about alternate pasting. I'll just spoil
it here and say I can't imagine anybody

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else being in Sally's role. Oh
yeah, she she had that, really,

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that believability that she was from a
country town. You know, that

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small town vibe. She really had
that, and she made you believe that's

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who she was. I thought she
knailed it beautifully. Yeah. Well I

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have a girlfriend who's from North Carolina, And there are things that Sally Field

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says in this movie where I did
like a double take because it sounds just

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like my friend. Like my friend
says it exactly the same way. Yeah,

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well I know her. And about
Bridges, I believe didn't they work

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in a factory before this film was
made so they could get used to that.

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Yeah, the factory they shot in. What it was there? Yeah,

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they worked on the line and she
was like, well my textile didn't

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look very good, but I did
do the shot. That's good. Somebody

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came behind with the clipboard and was
like nope. And speaking of bow Bridges,

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who plays Sonny in his film,
he is the one who becomes a

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husband of Norman Ray. His introduction
I felt was really weird. Did you

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guys get that vibe? Yeah,
yeah, I was. Actually when I

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was first watching the movie. You
know, I watched the trailer first,

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and I'm seeing so much of Ron
Leadman as Reuben, but I'm seeing bow

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Bridges as like, you know,
second billing to Sally Field. And I'm

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like, yeah, but shouldn't it
be Ron Leadman gets, you know,

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kind of a big role. So
are you talking about the diner scene where

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they're sitting there kind of having a
bunch of drinks or cheeseburgers. There's that

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one, but there's the other one
when she's she becomes like the he got

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a promotion. She's walking around with
her clipboard and I'm over here, I'm

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over here, and he keeps moving
around, I expect to see like a

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line of cocaine under his nose.
Like, yeah, that was kind of

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crazy. It was just felt weird, and you know, and that's that

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leads me to like one of my
dislikes of the film. I felt like

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they didn't do his and her relationship
justice. I understand what this movie was

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about, you know, it's focused
on you know, the union and stuff

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like that. In Sally Field,
I just felt like there wasn't enough between

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the two of them. I felt
their romance was kind of rushed, but

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maybe that was just me. What
about you two, did you feel that

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way? It was kind of on
fast forward a little bit. I also

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thought that his character was very refreshing, and it would have been so stereotypical.

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She's surrounded by so many just Neanderthals. Yeah, and it was so

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nice that she found this good,
decent human to share her life with.

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And he was supportive in like a
weary, annoyed way that is very real.

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You know, he wasn't a saint, but he also wasn't trying to

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stop her. He was very supportive
of what she was doing. So,

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like you said, it was a
little problematic, a little rushed. You

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didn't get a lot of information.
It was so sweet and so endearing that

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you know, I was I was
fine with it. There was one specific

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scene where he's kind of going on
a tirade in the kitchen and frustrated with

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you know, things that he feels
like she hasn't been doing, which I

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mean, okay, guy, well
you know where the machines are go,

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actually do something. There's two of
you contributing. But it did, in

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that moment remind me a lot of
Aaron Eckert's character George Aaron in Aaron Brockovich.

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Yes, and that kind of relationship, you know, where he's like,

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I'm exhausted, I'm a little bit
you know, weary of all this

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and I'm having to you know,
there's certain things that he's having to kind

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of like temper about his own expectations
or whatever. But yeah, I'm glad

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that he doesn't just throw his hands
up and walk away. That she has

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that support because in this town it
seems like people are very reluctantly, if

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at all, going to provide support. Yeah, right, even her parents.

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And you've got that relationship between her
and Ruben played by Rob Leeman,

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who we can talk about him as
well. You know, she's with him

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quite a bit. You know,
Sonny could just believe that, you know,

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something was going on between the two
of those, you know, because

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they were spending so much time together. But i mean, as you know,

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as Amber said, it's a supportive
he was. It's just you know,

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it just added too much, so
much to his character. But Rob

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Leeman as Ruben is one of my
favorite things about the movie besides Norman Norman

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Ray. He has says so many
good scenes in this movie, I believe,

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if I remember correctly, Jeene siskel
uh said that Rob Leeman was like

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the one thing that he did not
like about this film. And I was

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scratching my head trying to think,
what in the world was Jeene Ciskel watching

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and what was Geene ciscyl thinking,
Because I thought rober Leaman was fantastic in

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this film. I felt like he
was the drive for the for you know,

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the union, and to help Norman
Ray really start to break out and

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become who she was. One of
the scenes in particular that I thought was

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fantastic is when he was being shown
around the factory for the first time and

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he has all these guys just like
huddling around him and just trying to intimidate

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him, you know, and he's
trying to find the billboard, the bulletin

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boards and stuff like that, and
that whole line when they when they saw

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that the paper that he was supposed
to be don where people could read it

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was like way way up there,
you know, and he made that comment,

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well, chamber Lain still couldn't even
read that, you know. I

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just love that scene so much,
and I thought rob Leaman was fantastic in

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this movie. I was texting my
mom about this earlier and she said that

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my uncle that was an organizer when
this movie came out, that was the

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job he was doing. And she
said she couldn't believe how real it was.

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You know, he was living with
her and my dad at the time,

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and like he would come home and
tell them these stories and like this

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is exactly what he was dealing with. And she was blown away by that

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performance and the writing of it all
because it was so authentic. But I

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love that he you know, he's
passionate about what he's doing, but and

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develops a relationship with Norma Ray like
he sees he targets her as she's the

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smart one, she's the one that
I need to get. But they never

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crossed that line. No, you
know, they have incredible chemistry, these

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two actors, and you know it's
always they are friends and they're working hard

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and they have a goal and that's
all it is. And I loved that

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because too many times for the Hollywood
ness of it all. You know,

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of course they have to have a
relationship, right, right, and that's

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just not real, no, right, Yeah, totally agree. Yeah,

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I mean, you know, it's
it's that potential that he sees in her

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right. He sees that she is
somebody who is willing to change, who

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wants change for various reasons, but
also sees that, you know, she's

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somebody who has a lot of I
don't know what it is, it's kind

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of quality that she can kind of
she can draw people in right, kind

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of a likability right inherently, like
not just that people want to be,

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you know, friends with her or
help her out or or whatever, but

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she has a lot of connections through
the mill, and she cares about the

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people in the mill, all the
workers, and yeah, him seeing that

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it was really powerful, and I
totally agree. I'm glad they didn't pursue

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the romantic connection because it didn't need
to be there at all. I think

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it's kind of a shame that when
I was looking into Ron Leeman that he

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is. I mean, obviously he
passed away fairly recently, and everybody that

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was kind of writing about it was
saying, yeah, Ron Leebman, he

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was Rachel's dad and friends, and
it was like, yes he was.

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Yes, that's the context when a
lot of people are going to remember him

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for. But he has this long
list of accolades and this I feel is

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an extraordinarily powerful performance for him because
of his the way he conducts himself in

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all those situations. Very patient.
He's not going to back down, he's

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not gonna you know, get in
people's faces. He'll stand up for himself.

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But he's you know, he's got
that kind of even keeled nature,

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and I just thought his performance was
fantastic. Yeah, even the scene when

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the union bosses showed up and they
basically were there to talk about Norma,

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and you know, they basically said, you know, we want to do

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this with her not being here,
and Ruben's like, no, she's going

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to stay here. And then when
they talked about you know, the rumors

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and stuff they're flying around, and
Ruben just came to her defense. You

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know, I respected that character that
much more. Sure, Norman's got flaws,

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we all have flaws for crying out
loud, but Ruben wasn't going to

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let that get in the way.
And I thought that was incredible. That

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was a great powerful scene. Yeah. Yeah, his character is amazing because

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he doesn't ever look down on these
people that he is working with that aren't

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as well educated as he is,
aren't you know, as experienced you know,

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as worldly or whatever, but he
treats them always with respect for who

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they are. And I love the
scene in the motel room where he and

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uh Norma are talking about Dylan Thomas
and he just talks to her like he

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would be talking to appear about,
you know, this author that he likes,

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and not like well, you wouldn't
understand it because you know, you're

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this ignorant woman from Alabama, you
know, like he he just talks to

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her like a person who could appreciate
something that he appreciates. And she ends

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up buying her own copy, which
just like absolutely destroyed me, which kind

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of by surprise too. He said
that I bought my own copy. Yeah,

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that was great. Well, the
name of her when you mentioned that

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you have a family that you know, uh, that are kind of in

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his role or that are in his
role. The scene that comes to mind

239
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immediately for me is his speech in
the church when he was rallying everybody together.

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That was a great speech. Yeah, yep, he had a lot

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of good moments in this. Yeah, all those stories like growing up hearing

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about like these are your brothers,
this is your family, they will take

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care of you. You all support
each other, and raise each other up

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and like that was that's my whole
life listening. Well, you know,

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we've also got Pat Hinkle. We
know he has been in a ton of

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stuff. He played Vernon, Norma's
father. Am I a bad person?

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Because all I could see was Commissioner
Gordon, you're in good company. I

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was like, oh lord, I'm
such a bad person. No, because

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that came to mind too. And
of course Hender's shot from Maximum Overdrive Scott,

250
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Yeah, yep, that quickly came
to mind. But I thought he

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did a fantastic job to so.
But Pat Hinkle is also and everything he

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does, you know. Of course
they've got Barbara Baxley who plays Leona,

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and Gail Strickland who played Bonnie May
obviously the mother, so really good cast.

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We know. It was directed by
Martin Rett, who would also go

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00:19:12.519 --> 00:19:15.880
on to direct, you know,
other films like Back Roads. He would

256
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do Murphy's Romance with Sally Field in
nineteen eighty five. Of course you've got

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somebody so talented you want to bring
her back in another role. And he

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said other things too, like Stanley
and Iris, the Right White Hope.

259
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So he does a lot of movies
that are you know, about character,

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really character driven stories. It seems
like, well, and if I could

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interject, he also before this one, he did The Molly Maguires, which

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is also a union yeah movie,
a coal mining movie. Yeah, he's

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you can tell he's really driven by
those kind of passionate stories that have good

264
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messages. And you know, I
respect that. So he's got a lot

265
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of those very good director who you
know, wants to try to change this

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society and stuff like that. So
I respect that. So I got one

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more cast member. Okay, I
want to bring up just because as soon

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as I saw his face, it
just made me light up. Noble Willingham,

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who was in Good Morning Vietnam as
General Taylor pretty recently. We talked

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about him on Start with the Next
Generation in a Royale episode. He's right,

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and that is the first thing that
came to mind when I saw him

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like barking across the desk. I
was like, wait, shouldn't you be

273
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betting right now? Kind of situation. I couldn't think of a specific role,

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but I was like, oh,
that guy, he's in everything.

275
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Yeah, yeah, you think about
that, Scott Good. First thing I

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thought I was Good Morning Vietnam,
and then I looked it up and I

277
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was like, Texas, there we
go, and we just, yeah,

278
00:20:41.160 --> 00:20:42.400
we just talked about him. I
should have known that. So good catch,

279
00:20:42.480 --> 00:20:45.000
good? Can you got it?
All? Right? Well, let's

280
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look through the lens of this film
any behind behind the scene scene stories or

281
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anything like that that you guys might
have come up with. Did anyone else

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not know that Sally Field is a
method actor? No, I didn't know

283
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that. I did not know that. I did not know that. And

284
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and I found on YouTube some interviews
that she did specifically talking about Norma Ray,

285
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but just talking about her career in
general. And she was on Howard

286
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Stern talking about Lincoln and how she
and Daniel day Lewis like the greatest method

287
00:21:18.200 --> 00:21:25.759
actor almost ever, like totally vibed
and were like totally in sync and we're

288
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working together and everything, and so
Howard Stern was surprised. He was like,

289
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oh, I didn't know you did
the method thing, and she was

290
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like, oh, yeah, I
always have. And so then she started

291
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talking about Norma Ray and talking about
how, you know, like we said,

292
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she worked in the mill and lived
in that town and was just became

293
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this person for the length of the
shoot, and she did an interview at

294
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the time, you know, when
the movie was coming out, and the

295
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woman interviewing her asked her, of
course, you know, what does Bert

296
00:21:57.039 --> 00:22:02.279
Reynolds think of of course of your
movie? You know, like who cares?

297
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But whatever she asked and what oh
she asked her, Oh the worst

298
00:22:07.920 --> 00:22:11.880
question. She was like, would
Burt Reynolds date Norma Ray? And Sallyfield

299
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was like, well, he kind
of did because I was her for the

300
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whole time I was shooting this movie, so he was living with her while

301
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I was, you know, on
this gig. So I just thought that

302
00:22:25.559 --> 00:22:27.440
was fascinating because I did not know
that about her. Yeah, I didn't

303
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either. I mean, if you
really think about it kind of makes sense,

304
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I guess, you know, with
Herbo Bridges doing the working in the

305
00:22:32.680 --> 00:22:36.039
factory before, I guess it kind
of makes sense. And it shows why

306
00:22:36.079 --> 00:22:38.920
her performances are so good too.
Yeah. Well, when you mentioned before

307
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that they had a hard time shooting
or kind of coming to terms with shooting

308
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in the mill because of all that
ambient noise. Oh yeah, every loud

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bloods. Like I feel like if
I was in the theater listening to that,

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it would be kind of uncomfortable.
I'd be like, does anybody need

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more popcorn? I just just gonna
you know, step out and get a

312
00:22:59.799 --> 00:23:06.839
little of that, because it was
it was just deafening. It was you

313
00:23:06.880 --> 00:23:11.359
know, literally for her, for
her mom in that one scene. But

314
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it I think it's a good decision
that they didn't try to you know,

315
00:23:17.200 --> 00:23:21.400
subdue that right. They tried to
get a lot of authenticity with that.

316
00:23:22.480 --> 00:23:26.960
I think it makes the Union sign
scene more powerful. Oh hear all those

317
00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:32.400
machines shut down one at a time, and uh, it just made me

318
00:23:32.440 --> 00:23:40.200
really feel for her mom and her
dad because you hear all these machines continuing

319
00:23:40.200 --> 00:23:45.200
to go. He's literally dying on
the floor and it just keeps nothing stopped,

320
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nothing stops, nothing shuts down,
It just keeps going. And it

321
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was just like, good God,
these conditions. That scene was so heartbreaking.

322
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I mean, he was even someone
came to check on him and you

323
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know, he said, you think, I go to cha the doctor.

324
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Your break's coming up soon. Just
keep working really put heart attack like five

325
00:24:02.799 --> 00:24:08.799
minutes. Yeah, yeah, man, I am so sensitive to heat and

326
00:24:10.160 --> 00:24:15.000
sound, so this place just look, it just looks like hell to me,

327
00:24:15.440 --> 00:24:21.160
just absolute sheer hell that they're you
know, working in And I can

328
00:24:21.240 --> 00:24:23.440
remember the one thing I remember from
watching this when I was, you know,

329
00:24:23.519 --> 00:24:30.640
a kid, is my mom explaining
what their job was and that they're

330
00:24:30.680 --> 00:24:34.079
not making the clothes that you wear. They're making the cloth that your clothes

331
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are made out of. So every
time you touch something a towel, you

332
00:24:38.920 --> 00:24:42.200
know, you have to think about
these people and this is what they do.

333
00:24:42.559 --> 00:24:47.440
All that you have no clothes without
these people. Yeah, you know,

334
00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:52.519
But to the technical aspect too,
Sally Field said that this was a

335
00:24:52.559 --> 00:24:56.079
shot all handheld. Really, I
didn't know that you could tell you could

336
00:24:56.079 --> 00:24:59.319
see the movement in the camera,
but I really didn't know it was all

337
00:24:59.319 --> 00:25:03.640
hand held. That's incredible, but
impossible to route that through the actual mill,

338
00:25:04.079 --> 00:25:08.480
right, Yeah, And I mean
the fact that it was all real

339
00:25:08.519 --> 00:25:12.359
locations, and you know, like
you were saying, the cacophony of sound

340
00:25:12.920 --> 00:25:18.799
just props to the sound department and
the lighting department. Yeah, that this

341
00:25:18.880 --> 00:25:25.799
all seemed ambient natural light. I'm
sure they used whatever tricks they use,

342
00:25:25.960 --> 00:25:29.799
but and how they ever captured any
dialogue, I'm sure I don't know,

343
00:25:29.880 --> 00:25:36.279
but like it was really impressive.
I surely hope they had vocal coaches and

344
00:25:36.400 --> 00:25:41.440
plenty of tea with honey for everybody
having to project over these for several takes

345
00:25:41.519 --> 00:25:45.400
over these machines. Yeah right,
yeah, I mean you're writing right.

346
00:25:45.400 --> 00:25:48.079
I didn't think about that, Like
everything is on location. There's no studio

347
00:25:49.000 --> 00:25:52.759
shooting at all involved in this film. It's all on location. That's crazy.

348
00:25:53.200 --> 00:25:56.880
Yeah, you don't see that today. No, That's what I love

349
00:25:56.920 --> 00:26:03.039
about movies of this time period though, Like we talked about the movie Night

350
00:26:03.119 --> 00:26:07.440
Shift, and you know, you're
shooting on the streets of New York,

351
00:26:08.400 --> 00:26:15.119
like just gorilla style going there and
there's people walking around in tourists and who

352
00:26:15.119 --> 00:26:18.319
knows what, and you can't do
that today. No, yeah, you

353
00:26:18.400 --> 00:26:21.799
know, but it just it doesn't
have the same feel. It doesn't.

354
00:26:21.920 --> 00:26:23.720
It doesn't you can you know.
I know they're doing that today to save

355
00:26:23.799 --> 00:26:26.519
money for the budget, which still
makes no sense to me because they still

356
00:26:26.559 --> 00:26:32.359
blow the budget out of proportion.
But I still like a good on location

357
00:26:32.440 --> 00:26:34.440
set. You can't beat it,
you can't do Yeah. There are a

358
00:26:34.480 --> 00:26:38.759
couple of things I saw in The
American Film Institute had some background on this,

359
00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:42.960
and one of the things that I
found was interesting was apparently several unions

360
00:26:44.519 --> 00:26:51.799
the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union
and the Retail Retail Store Employees Union booked

361
00:26:51.799 --> 00:26:56.119
movie theaters and showed the movie as
a promotional tour for their labor campaigns.

362
00:26:56.599 --> 00:27:03.640
Nice In an article in two thousand
and seven, it seems like the film

363
00:27:03.680 --> 00:27:08.319
played a key role in a national
boycott against JP Stevens Textile Products with a

364
00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:14.720
plant in Roanoke Rapids, and they
eventually signed a union contract in nineteen eighty

365
00:27:14.720 --> 00:27:18.680
of the year after this opened.
It also went ten years after the events

366
00:27:18.720 --> 00:27:22.640
of the movie to get the contract, Like they passed that they wanted a

367
00:27:22.720 --> 00:27:29.160
union, but then they just drive
their feet eh years crazy, that's ridiculous.

368
00:27:29.599 --> 00:27:37.759
Yeah, And I guess Crystal Lee
herself was campaigning heavily for unions with

369
00:27:37.839 --> 00:27:42.720
this with this movie. Yeah,
I guess there was some controversy around what

370
00:27:42.880 --> 00:27:48.200
was given to Crystal Lee or how
much she was written out whatever, you

371
00:27:48.200 --> 00:27:52.759
know, through that whole process.
But it was interesting to see that instead

372
00:27:52.759 --> 00:27:55.759
of going after you know, profits
or proceeds, it was more like,

373
00:27:55.839 --> 00:27:59.160
no, I want to use this
to further the message, because that's what's

374
00:27:59.200 --> 00:28:03.680
important to ye message out there and
continue to you know, get get rights

375
00:28:03.839 --> 00:28:08.920
for the workers. I know,
speaking of Crystal Lee, as we know,

376
00:28:08.960 --> 00:28:11.359
this movie is based, you know, off of her. There's a

377
00:28:11.400 --> 00:28:15.160
couple of scenes in this movie that
are exactly how it happened to her.

378
00:28:15.680 --> 00:28:18.400
The union sign that we see in
this movie, which is one of the

379
00:28:18.440 --> 00:28:23.400
most iconic scenes from this film,
and the scene where she goes home and

380
00:28:23.440 --> 00:28:27.880
wakes up her children to tell them
about her relationships with their fathers. Both

381
00:28:27.880 --> 00:28:33.079
of those are truly based exactly the
way they happen to Crystal Lee. Yeah,

382
00:28:33.240 --> 00:28:38.720
that monologue when she talks to her
kids like absolutely destroys me. Yea,

383
00:28:40.119 --> 00:28:45.240
like it is Shakespearean. Yep,
Like, that scene just absolutely just

384
00:28:45.279 --> 00:28:49.480
takes your breath away. It takes
something. It takes a very strong person

385
00:28:49.519 --> 00:28:52.000
to be able to do something like
that, you know, to admit your

386
00:28:52.000 --> 00:28:55.559
faults, to say, hey,
you know, I want you all to

387
00:28:55.680 --> 00:29:00.039
know everything, and so many people
don't do that. I mean, I

388
00:29:00.079 --> 00:29:02.839
don't know if I could do something
like that. You're right, that's very

389
00:29:02.839 --> 00:29:06.720
Shakespearean, a very powerful scene for
her to do that, and what all

390
00:29:06.759 --> 00:29:10.480
happened to her right there, that
just built up to that. Just man,

391
00:29:10.519 --> 00:29:15.240
her character was just so powerful,
all right, I know this the

392
00:29:15.240 --> 00:29:19.559
movie was released in March of seventy
nine. The budget was four point five

393
00:29:19.599 --> 00:29:23.079
million. It would earn twenty two
million at the box office, which is

394
00:29:23.200 --> 00:29:27.079
a good success story for the film. Not a huge success, but hey,

395
00:29:27.200 --> 00:29:30.920
you know, I'd steal a lot
of money back then, so,

396
00:29:30.160 --> 00:29:34.319
you know, very successful, and
it did obviously well in the awards later

397
00:29:34.359 --> 00:29:38.480
on. Well, let's score the
film, so I know. The music

398
00:29:38.599 --> 00:29:44.880
was by David Schier. He would
also win an Academy Award for the music

399
00:29:44.920 --> 00:29:48.440
for It Goes Like It Goes,
which was a really good song and it

400
00:29:48.480 --> 00:29:55.359
was very fitting for this movie.
Ye. That opening is just beautiful with

401
00:29:55.400 --> 00:30:00.240
the photographs, yes, and shots
around the factory. Yeah. Yeah,

402
00:30:00.839 --> 00:30:03.759
very very well done. And then
when that song kicks in again at the

403
00:30:03.839 --> 00:30:08.960
end, it has so much more
emotion to it then you heard it towards

404
00:30:08.960 --> 00:30:12.359
the beginning. It's just so powerful
there at the end. Yeah, well,

405
00:30:12.359 --> 00:30:18.079
I think it feels like it feels
like it's punctuating, like you know,

406
00:30:18.119 --> 00:30:21.920
at the beginning of the movie.
A very generational kind of thing,

407
00:30:22.079 --> 00:30:25.359
right, This has been the way
that it's going to be for the longest

408
00:30:25.359 --> 00:30:30.440
time, which is just kind of
a you know, complacency or a bit

409
00:30:30.519 --> 00:30:33.559
negative, but then in the back
of it it has a little bit more

410
00:30:33.559 --> 00:30:37.799
of a positive spin. Now there's
more of a hope for more of a

411
00:30:37.839 --> 00:30:41.799
positive future for people that work there, for her kids that might eventually work

412
00:30:41.839 --> 00:30:45.960
there, right, for a family
that currently works there. That was That

413
00:30:47.039 --> 00:30:53.640
was a great scene. It also
made me think, wow, being able

414
00:30:53.640 --> 00:31:06.799
to pack all that in a pinto
there's no banking on that that's gonna tip

415
00:31:06.920 --> 00:31:11.799
right over. But what I really
like about David Shire's score too, it

416
00:31:11.880 --> 00:31:15.880
never overpowered the story. You know, sometimes you can get those movies where

417
00:31:15.880 --> 00:31:18.920
the score just completely takes over,
which could be good at times, and

418
00:31:18.960 --> 00:31:23.519
you're talking to somebody who always talks
about movie scores. But I liked that

419
00:31:23.599 --> 00:31:27.000
his score was just there and just
filled in some of the gaps, but

420
00:31:27.279 --> 00:31:33.519
was always there to just meet the
story and just keep it going. Nothing

421
00:31:33.559 --> 00:31:40.319
overpowering. I thought that was fantastic. It was very judiciously used because they

422
00:31:40.519 --> 00:31:45.759
used silence so well. Yeah.
Also in you know, just certain moments

423
00:31:45.799 --> 00:31:51.400
where you I think to put a
score over it would have ruined it,

424
00:31:51.480 --> 00:31:56.480
Like the tension built more with just
the silence. Yeah, because I had

425
00:31:56.480 --> 00:32:00.720
to balance out the textile scenes.
Yeah, right, and the mill like,

426
00:32:00.880 --> 00:32:04.920
you don't, let's get silenced,
Let's get sitting quietly and watching a

427
00:32:04.920 --> 00:32:07.960
baseball game or something like yeah,
no, I mean you need to hear.

428
00:32:07.960 --> 00:32:10.759
What they were hearing is that that
makes you feel that you're a part

429
00:32:10.799 --> 00:32:13.839
of the story, You're a part
of the characters. So I thought that

430
00:32:13.920 --> 00:32:15.519
was a very very important It's a
good point amber, all right, so

431
00:32:16.160 --> 00:32:20.880
let's rewind and let's talk about some
of our likes and some of our dislikes

432
00:32:20.920 --> 00:32:23.279
of this film, and what are
some lights you have. One of the

433
00:32:23.279 --> 00:32:35.240
things that I noticed was these subtle
physical acting choices that Sally Field had where

434
00:32:35.599 --> 00:32:38.480
in the beginning, as you're just
kind of observing her life and what it's

435
00:32:38.559 --> 00:32:45.240
like before she starts working with Reuben. You know, she gets off work

436
00:32:45.400 --> 00:32:51.519
and she is too tired to finish
doing the dishes. She's like, i'll

437
00:32:51.559 --> 00:32:54.519
do it later. You know,
she's sitting folding laundry and there's a knock

438
00:32:54.559 --> 00:32:59.359
at the door, and she like
does the sigh when she gets up,

439
00:33:00.039 --> 00:33:02.839
and it's not exasperated that she has
to answer the door. It's just when

440
00:33:02.880 --> 00:33:07.839
you're tired and you have to get
up, you know. It's just that

441
00:33:07.960 --> 00:33:13.279
kind of weariness to her. And
then as she starts working with Reuben,

442
00:33:14.559 --> 00:33:19.559
all of a sudden, all that
exhaustion, it's not gone, but she

443
00:33:19.720 --> 00:33:24.519
has this energy and this purpose to
what she's doing. That's like powering her

444
00:33:24.559 --> 00:33:29.400
through. I mean she's working until, you know, late into the night

445
00:33:30.240 --> 00:33:34.680
every single day after working all day
at the mill, you know. And

446
00:33:34.759 --> 00:33:39.400
I just liked that that subtle change
in her physical behavior. I thought that

447
00:33:39.480 --> 00:33:46.240
was really really neat and told a
story very in a subtle way. Absoline

448
00:33:46.319 --> 00:33:52.920
Scott, what about you. I
thought her time as a supervisor got her

449
00:33:52.119 --> 00:33:58.480
roll, right, was very interesting
and very powerful, right, like trying

450
00:33:58.519 --> 00:34:04.359
to give her giving a promotion that
would make it seem like she had power

451
00:34:04.839 --> 00:34:07.920
in that role, or she had
the ability to change things around the mill,

452
00:34:07.800 --> 00:34:10.880
and all was really doing was just
putting her a position where she'd not

453
00:34:10.920 --> 00:34:17.599
only be exasperated with the responsibility that
she has, but it would alienate her

454
00:34:17.800 --> 00:34:22.400
from the people that she works with
until she gets to the point where she

455
00:34:22.440 --> 00:34:25.800
doesn't want to take it anymore and
quits. And then she'll be right back

456
00:34:25.840 --> 00:34:32.679
on the machines. Like so much
money at her Yes, a dollar and

457
00:34:32.800 --> 00:34:37.360
a quarter an hour, Like are
you kidding me, Yeah, yeah,

458
00:34:37.480 --> 00:34:45.079
she couldn't say no, And then
like, how many people have been put

459
00:34:45.119 --> 00:34:50.320
in the same position as her,
right, how many people have maybe want

460
00:34:50.320 --> 00:34:52.480
to stand up in the past and
they've been like, all right, well

461
00:34:52.519 --> 00:34:55.599
here's a role where you could try
to and then they get quieted and put

462
00:34:55.679 --> 00:35:00.159
back. Like when you look at
some of the other people working on the

463
00:35:00.199 --> 00:35:04.639
line, there are some that are
almost they have that kind of expression that

464
00:35:04.719 --> 00:35:07.599
kind of says like, yep,
we tried before, you're trying. Now

465
00:35:07.760 --> 00:35:12.159
you're finding out what we found out. There's nothing to fight right now,

466
00:35:12.320 --> 00:35:16.480
there's no reason to keep going with
it. I also wondered if that's how

467
00:35:16.599 --> 00:35:22.159
all of those because all of the
people in management live in that town too,

468
00:35:22.599 --> 00:35:25.360
so how could they end up being
these jerks that are like running over

469
00:35:27.360 --> 00:35:30.280
they're next door neighbor. You could
see if you just had a little more

470
00:35:30.320 --> 00:35:35.599
tolerance for people not liking you and
you didn't care and the money was good,

471
00:35:36.760 --> 00:35:39.239
Like that's how you become a suit. You just take that path and

472
00:35:39.320 --> 00:35:44.360
you just keep going with that power, you know exactly. It's funny how

473
00:35:44.400 --> 00:35:47.559
the you always had those guys who
just surrounding norma like they were just you

474
00:35:47.599 --> 00:35:52.920
know, pressure, pressuring her,
just towering over her when she's trying to

475
00:35:52.920 --> 00:35:57.079
make decisions or she's trying to think, you know, it just it just

476
00:35:57.119 --> 00:36:00.679
bothered me so much in her personal
space. Yeah, like you know,

477
00:36:00.760 --> 00:36:07.079
it's bad enough that she's only like
five foot nothing right right? Well,

478
00:36:07.079 --> 00:36:07.960
and on the on the flip side
of that, I think one of the

479
00:36:08.039 --> 00:36:15.039
lighter moments I enjoyed was the the
baseball game when Reuben shows up, specifically

480
00:36:15.079 --> 00:36:19.159
the fact that he can't get a
Nathan's hot dog. I can't find Nathan's

481
00:36:19.159 --> 00:36:23.559
and he's like, what is this
on meeting? Because it is yeah for

482
00:36:23.679 --> 00:36:27.719
me. Uh. There's so many
good scenes and we've talked about many of

483
00:36:27.760 --> 00:36:30.599
them, so I'll bring up another
one, but the normal relationship with our

484
00:36:30.599 --> 00:36:35.400
father of Vernon. You can you
just see how much you know, those

485
00:36:35.440 --> 00:36:37.199
who care about one another, and
how much Vernon cares about her because he's

486
00:36:37.239 --> 00:36:40.280
always wanted to know what she's doing, where she's going. And then when

487
00:36:42.079 --> 00:36:45.599
Sonny showed up and knocked on the
door and she goes to see who it

488
00:36:45.679 --> 00:36:46.840
was, and she comes back and
starts getting ready and Verne's like, where

489
00:36:46.840 --> 00:36:50.920
are you going? Where did you
meet him? And he's like, She's

490
00:36:51.000 --> 00:36:52.159
like, I just met him on
the porch and I went out with him.

491
00:36:54.719 --> 00:36:58.719
I just loved the relationship between So
it just you know, made it

492
00:36:58.760 --> 00:37:01.880
even more. It hurt more when
we lost vern and the way we lost

493
00:37:01.960 --> 00:37:07.519
him, and you know, just
another driving force for Norma to become who

494
00:37:07.559 --> 00:37:09.840
she was and you know, to
help others. You know, we know

495
00:37:09.920 --> 00:37:13.559
she ended up losing her job,
but you know what, she's still in

496
00:37:13.599 --> 00:37:17.639
the end one because even though it
took ten years, she still was able

497
00:37:17.639 --> 00:37:22.760
to help that UNI get in place
for everybody else. So just so many

498
00:37:22.840 --> 00:37:24.639
good things scenes in this movie.
You know, we can be here forever

499
00:37:24.639 --> 00:37:27.480
talking about it, but we already
talked about a bunch of the ones I

500
00:37:27.519 --> 00:37:31.920
already had, So yeah, any
dislikes either one of you. The racism

501
00:37:32.239 --> 00:37:38.480
toward Ruben was unsettling. I understand
what it does for the movie, and

502
00:37:38.559 --> 00:37:45.599
I appreciate how Rubin also handled that, even when Norma is, you know,

503
00:37:45.679 --> 00:37:50.639
sitting in this hotel room and she's
saying so many uncomfortable things, right,

504
00:37:50.679 --> 00:37:54.400
and he's just very patiently approaching it
and just you know, getting through

505
00:37:54.440 --> 00:38:01.280
that. So that was a bit
cringey, but I understand why it's necessary

506
00:38:01.360 --> 00:38:06.440
for the for the movie. It's
it's a time period. You can't really

507
00:38:06.480 --> 00:38:09.880
get around that. It just,
unfortunately, is just the way society was

508
00:38:09.920 --> 00:38:13.679
at the time. You're right.
I mean there were some times I'm like,

509
00:38:13.719 --> 00:38:15.760
oh, I can't believe that they
just said that, or I can't

510
00:38:15.760 --> 00:38:17.960
believe they just did that. But
then I have to remind myself, you

511
00:38:19.000 --> 00:38:21.280
know, when this movie is supposed
to take place and when it was made

512
00:38:21.320 --> 00:38:23.320
in those kind of things too,
right, and knowing that that's just one

513
00:38:23.360 --> 00:38:30.400
way of them kind of trying to
silence or or bucket the conversation right and

514
00:38:30.519 --> 00:38:31.800
say like, well, these are
all the things that we're going to assume

515
00:38:31.800 --> 00:38:37.360
about unions, all these slanderous things
that they're saying, and basically just like

516
00:38:37.400 --> 00:38:40.239
putting up their hands and not listening, and it's like you're not going to

517
00:38:40.280 --> 00:38:45.119
try to hear what he's saying,
You're not going to hear how he's trying

518
00:38:45.159 --> 00:38:51.239
to make life better. Yeah.
I also appreciated how when he's handing out

519
00:38:51.280 --> 00:38:57.679
the literature outside the plant and Norma
is trying to help him, like you

520
00:38:57.719 --> 00:39:01.239
can't have this, you know,
very late the article because they won't read

521
00:39:01.239 --> 00:39:07.800
it at all like you have to
super simplify this way down you can see

522
00:39:07.840 --> 00:39:09.079
it feels like, you know,
those are the kind of moments where he

523
00:39:09.199 --> 00:39:12.679
is like, all right, this
is somebody who can try to help.

524
00:39:12.719 --> 00:39:16.679
So it was just another you know, example of ron Leeman just I think

525
00:39:16.719 --> 00:39:22.519
doing an amazing job in that room. Amber any dislikes for you, the

526
00:39:22.719 --> 00:39:29.800
visceral watching them work in the mill
really gave you the context, at least

527
00:39:29.920 --> 00:39:31.679
for me, because like I said, I'm very sensitive to those things,

528
00:39:31.719 --> 00:39:37.400
and I just I could only think
like that nobody has air conditioning. My

529
00:39:37.480 --> 00:39:44.920
god, I would pass out.
But there were a couple of like lines

530
00:39:44.920 --> 00:39:50.639
that got buried where when they promote
her, they talk about how you know,

531
00:39:50.800 --> 00:39:54.760
she's already been saying like we need
longer breaks or we need more frequent

532
00:39:55.119 --> 00:40:01.760
breaks. You know, the women
didn't have sanitary napkins in their bathroom,

533
00:40:02.079 --> 00:40:08.960
you know, just things little things
like that to show that they couldn't get

534
00:40:09.000 --> 00:40:14.559
anything, you know, they literally
couldn't get anything. And then there was

535
00:40:14.599 --> 00:40:20.159
another kind of throwaway scene where she's
on her break and she was, you

536
00:40:20.159 --> 00:40:25.119
know, recruiting for the union and
the guys kind of the supervisor's kind of

537
00:40:25.159 --> 00:40:29.920
hassling her as she's walking back to
work because she was on the wrong side

538
00:40:29.920 --> 00:40:32.079
of the building. Like, you
weren't even allowed to move out of your

539
00:40:32.159 --> 00:40:37.199
section. And that's just another way
of isolating groups, to keep them from

540
00:40:37.239 --> 00:40:42.599
talking to each other. And you
know, things like that. So if

541
00:40:42.599 --> 00:40:46.000
you knew what you were looking for, like you got it. But kind

542
00:40:46.039 --> 00:40:52.880
of those things that are in addition
to the physical discomfort, like there's also

543
00:40:52.000 --> 00:40:57.679
this you know, they were treated
like prisoners or like children, you know,

544
00:40:57.960 --> 00:41:05.000
and you know you might have missed
that with those kind of throwaway moments.

545
00:41:05.400 --> 00:41:07.280
No, you're absolutely right. It
just goes to show you how far

546
00:41:07.320 --> 00:41:10.559
we've come, because there's no way
is that company is going to get away

547
00:41:10.559 --> 00:41:15.280
with that today, There's no way. I mean probably some countries they probably

548
00:41:15.320 --> 00:41:20.199
do, but you know, where
there's laws and stuff like that, it

549
00:41:20.199 --> 00:41:23.000
doesn't happen much anymore. So,
I mean, you know, the sacrifice

550
00:41:23.000 --> 00:41:29.280
that some has made has really benefited
those today for sure. Yes, absolutely,

551
00:41:30.480 --> 00:41:35.559
shoulders of giants we do. Yeah, as you're mentioning those things,

552
00:41:35.559 --> 00:41:40.400
it's making me think about the movie
itself. You know, there's a not

553
00:41:40.480 --> 00:41:44.360
to spoil a movie that's forty five
years old. You're not gonna but go

554
00:41:44.360 --> 00:41:52.039
ahead. You know, it has
a happy ending in the sense that they

555
00:41:52.119 --> 00:41:55.760
get what they've been looking for.
Ye the union is established there and they're

556
00:41:57.039 --> 00:42:00.960
they're part of it. They have
rights in place. But it's not going

557
00:42:00.960 --> 00:42:06.000
to change overnight. No, right, and knowing that they're still going to

558
00:42:06.079 --> 00:42:09.679
have a lot of struggles. There's
going to be some division there probably in

559
00:42:09.719 --> 00:42:14.039
the planet for those who voted against
and those who voted for and all this

560
00:42:14.079 --> 00:42:16.119
other kind of stuff. But at
the same time, you also have that

561
00:42:16.679 --> 00:42:22.320
hope that it's it's progress, it's
changed. It's kind of a it's a

562
00:42:22.400 --> 00:42:29.480
resolve to pursue that change ongoing.
It's not going to be easy. It's

563
00:42:29.519 --> 00:42:31.679
not going to happen automatically. No, at least it's it's there. At

564
00:42:31.719 --> 00:42:36.519
least it's suttainable. And you know, since we're talking about that, I

565
00:42:36.519 --> 00:42:38.400
mean, let's let's just go with
it. Let's talk about the impact of

566
00:42:38.440 --> 00:42:42.000
this film. You know, this
is what we talked about in seventy eight,

567
00:42:42.079 --> 00:42:44.960
is we're talking about in seventy nine, you know, not just the

568
00:42:45.039 --> 00:42:50.519
impact that this had on the film
industry, the impact this had on everything

569
00:42:50.519 --> 00:42:53.039
else. The way unions are ran
the way. You know, Amber you

570
00:42:53.119 --> 00:42:57.840
talked about, you know how the
unions and stuff were looking at this film

571
00:42:57.880 --> 00:43:01.159
and we're showing it because you know, it had such a good message built

572
00:43:01.199 --> 00:43:06.239
into it, you know, just
in itself. And this reminds me of

573
00:43:06.280 --> 00:43:09.039
the one scene and I should have
mentioned this earlier about one of my biggest

574
00:43:09.119 --> 00:43:15.679
likes is when Norma is out of
jail and she's in the car with Ruben

575
00:43:15.559 --> 00:43:21.119
and he gives that speech in the
vehicle because she's crying, she's upset,

576
00:43:21.400 --> 00:43:23.159
and he gives that line. He
goes, I know, the first time

577
00:43:23.239 --> 00:43:27.159
you're you know, the first time
you're in is bad. It comes with

578
00:43:27.239 --> 00:43:30.599
the job. I saw a pregnant
woman on a picket line get hit in

579
00:43:30.639 --> 00:43:34.039
the stomach with a club. I
saw a boy of sixteen shot in the

580
00:43:34.079 --> 00:43:37.320
back. I saw a guy blown
to hell and back when he tried to

581
00:43:37.320 --> 00:43:39.719
start his car in the morning.
You just got your feet wet on this

582
00:43:39.760 --> 00:43:46.079
one. You know, Wow,
what a powerful line right there, and

583
00:43:46.159 --> 00:43:52.519
just just that in itself. What
an impact that this film has on any

584
00:43:52.599 --> 00:43:58.159
industry. Would you guys agree with
that? Yes? Absolutely, And it's

585
00:43:58.440 --> 00:44:04.000
something that you know, is it
still remains relevant today. We just saw

586
00:44:04.760 --> 00:44:12.559
the sag after a strike and the
way that like the studios, they cut

587
00:44:12.599 --> 00:44:21.159
down the trees that were shading the
picket line so that people were picketing in

588
00:44:21.559 --> 00:44:25.119
you know, downtown LA in ninety
degree heat. And then said, oh

589
00:44:25.320 --> 00:44:30.400
and you can't pass out water,
you know, I mean it's still you

590
00:44:30.440 --> 00:44:36.280
know, it's the same relevancy.
You know, it's just on different levels,

591
00:44:36.360 --> 00:44:42.920
you know, and you know that
fight still goes on and it would

592
00:44:42.920 --> 00:44:49.400
never stop either. You know,
the minute you you are silent, you

593
00:44:49.440 --> 00:44:52.800
know, is the minute you start
to slide backward. Yep, yep,

594
00:44:52.159 --> 00:44:55.719
yep. That's that is very true, and where there are plenty of movies

595
00:44:55.960 --> 00:45:02.800
you know that focus on struggle that
have come after. But I just you

596
00:45:02.800 --> 00:45:07.199
know, going back to the beginning
when I said it was somewhat hard to

597
00:45:07.239 --> 00:45:09.039
find this one. Yeah, it's
a shame, that's the case. And

598
00:45:09.079 --> 00:45:13.320
I feel like, you know,
hopefully forty fifth anniversary, it's more of

599
00:45:13.360 --> 00:45:19.920
an opportunity to bring this back,
I agree, get it seen more often

600
00:45:19.920 --> 00:45:23.400
by more people, just remembering,
you know, one of the milestones in

601
00:45:23.440 --> 00:45:29.400
there, and and I think an
important movie for this, for this kind

602
00:45:29.400 --> 00:45:34.320
of message. Yep, for sure, absolutely well, any any quotes that

603
00:45:34.360 --> 00:45:38.239
you guys might have find from anybody, Scott. I found one. It

604
00:45:38.280 --> 00:45:44.639
wasn't necessarily about one particular moment or
one particular movie, but there was an

605
00:45:44.679 --> 00:45:50.920
interesting quote that I found from an
article in a variety where Steven spiel Steven

606
00:45:50.960 --> 00:45:55.000
Spielberg was talking about Sally Field after
he directed her in Lincoln and said,

607
00:45:55.119 --> 00:46:00.400
as an actor, she dared this
town to typecast her and then simply through

608
00:46:00.519 --> 00:46:04.159
every dogmatic barrier to find her own
way, not to start them, which

609
00:46:04.199 --> 00:46:07.199
I imagine she'd to cry, but
to great roles in great films and television.

610
00:46:07.679 --> 00:46:12.679
Through her consistently good taste and feisty
persistence, she has survived our ever

611
00:46:12.760 --> 00:46:16.199
changing culture, stood the test of
time, and earned this singular place in

612
00:46:16.360 --> 00:46:23.199
history. Again like she it's a
long way to come from the Flying Nun

613
00:46:23.599 --> 00:46:30.280
and Gidget days. Everybody was like, tell me about it, But you

614
00:46:30.320 --> 00:46:35.079
know, knowing who she is now
looking back on this kind of role,

615
00:46:35.679 --> 00:46:39.000
you absolutely see that kind of review
crystallized in this kind of role, which

616
00:46:39.039 --> 00:46:44.559
is why I think it's important to
look back on Amber. What about you.

617
00:46:45.400 --> 00:46:51.679
I saw an interview with the director
and he was talking about Crystally setting

618
00:46:51.880 --> 00:46:55.559
the woman that this movie is about, and he said, there are women

619
00:46:55.679 --> 00:47:00.559
with more education in class than Crystally
Sutton, but they did didn't have the

620
00:47:00.599 --> 00:47:07.159
balls that she had. Nice.
I think that just like underlines the whole

621
00:47:07.159 --> 00:47:08.960
movie right there. It does.
It does. That's the quote I had

622
00:47:08.960 --> 00:47:13.639
too, and it was perfect.
It was perfect. That is awesome when

623
00:47:13.679 --> 00:47:15.599
that happens. I do too,
Yeah, because it's just so much meaning

624
00:47:15.599 --> 00:47:21.960
behind that, And he is absolutely
right. He also talked about how women.

625
00:47:22.119 --> 00:47:27.679
He found that the women in like
the southeast corridor of the country were

626
00:47:27.719 --> 00:47:34.480
really like moving into leadership roles in
like political movements and union movements. They

627
00:47:34.519 --> 00:47:37.599
were the ones that were kind of
stepping up and kind of pushing things forward.

628
00:47:37.800 --> 00:47:43.719
And I thought that was a very
astute observation. And I wondered if

629
00:47:44.800 --> 00:47:47.679
it's not because like men on some
level, like they consider hardship like a

630
00:47:47.719 --> 00:47:53.159
personal challenge, you know, like
I'm going to be the tough guy that

631
00:47:53.239 --> 00:48:00.760
can you know, work through the
heat and you know, and women are

632
00:48:00.800 --> 00:48:09.159
like this is for the birds.
That is very true. Let's talk about

633
00:48:09.159 --> 00:48:14.559
some what ifs. I know there's
a few in this film. I know.

634
00:48:14.639 --> 00:48:21.800
According to her Autobiophery Sean McLean wanted
the lead role in this film.

635
00:48:22.239 --> 00:48:27.880
I find that quite interesting. I
know Jane Fonda, I think Faye Dunaway

636
00:48:28.599 --> 00:48:31.320
we're also considered for this. Is
that right? Yep? Yep? I

637
00:48:31.360 --> 00:48:40.639
also heard who else did we have? Jill Clayburg, Rusia Mason. We're

638
00:48:40.679 --> 00:48:46.880
a couple of other actors. Are
actresses that turned down Norma Ray. I'm

639
00:48:46.920 --> 00:48:50.880
glad they did. Yeah, I
did to no offense to those other actress,

640
00:48:51.039 --> 00:48:59.199
but you know, I think amazing. But nobody has the vulnerability,

641
00:49:00.239 --> 00:49:06.480
yeah that Sally Field has. She
just has that, Like I don't know

642
00:49:06.599 --> 00:49:12.039
Sherley McLain. Nobody's gonna like beat
her down. I'm not afraid for her.

643
00:49:12.159 --> 00:49:14.760
I don't want to give her a
hug like she'll give me fine,

644
00:49:15.440 --> 00:49:20.480
where Sally Field like you worry about
her. Yeah. Well, and it's

645
00:49:20.480 --> 00:49:24.599
that quality, right of somebody who's
very personable and is going to be able

646
00:49:24.639 --> 00:49:30.199
to, you know, relate to
other people very well and draw other people

647
00:49:30.239 --> 00:49:32.719
in very well. I don't think
it seems I could be as much of

648
00:49:32.760 --> 00:49:37.760
a leap to think that Shirley McClain
would stand up on that desk and hold

649
00:49:37.800 --> 00:49:44.920
up the sign, whereas in the
beginning of the movie. You believe that

650
00:49:45.159 --> 00:49:50.079
Sally Field would you don't necessarily expect
her to at the beginning of the at

651
00:49:50.119 --> 00:49:54.199
the movie, and I just think
I can't imagine it with different casting.

652
00:49:55.119 --> 00:50:00.159
No, I'm very thankful Sally Field
for not listening to Burt Reynolds. Yes,

653
00:50:00.239 --> 00:50:07.320
yes, probably one of many times. Yeah, absolutely, all right,

654
00:50:07.360 --> 00:50:12.639
where did both of you see this
movie at on TV? At least

655
00:50:12.719 --> 00:50:16.280
once a year? Okay? Since
I was like, it came out in

656
00:50:16.320 --> 00:50:20.760
seventy nine, so I was five. So now do you have it on

657
00:50:22.239 --> 00:50:27.679
DVD or Blu ray or any special
kind of I actually do not. Long

658
00:50:27.719 --> 00:50:31.159
story short, but I don't have
a lot of physical media. But don't

659
00:50:31.239 --> 00:50:35.760
let date hear that? Oh dat? And I go around and let me

660
00:50:35.840 --> 00:50:44.559
tell you. But it is available
on Cinemax if you through Prime. So

661
00:50:44.639 --> 00:50:49.599
if you do like a I did
a free seven day thing, you can

662
00:50:49.599 --> 00:50:52.079
watch it on there. If you
have Cinemax, you can watch it on

663
00:50:52.119 --> 00:50:57.400
Cinemax. What I did. I
caught this, like I said, at

664
00:50:57.440 --> 00:51:01.840
the library. It's it's my go
to, especially for harder to find movies.

665
00:51:02.760 --> 00:51:07.719
Instead of you know, jumping through
a bunch of the hoops, I

666
00:51:07.840 --> 00:51:09.840
basically just looked it up, put
it on hold. They had delivered to

667
00:51:09.880 --> 00:51:15.039
the local library, and it's DVD
with you know, a handful of extras.

668
00:51:15.400 --> 00:51:20.840
You don't always get a big,
you know production with a lot of

669
00:51:20.840 --> 00:51:24.039
these, but it does help if
you want to listen to commentaries or whatever.

670
00:51:24.159 --> 00:51:28.800
So thankful to the library for that. Yeah, that's a good place

671
00:51:28.840 --> 00:51:30.960
to go. So listeners, listen
to that. Go go to your local

672
00:51:31.000 --> 00:51:34.519
library for your library. That's right, support them, and you know,

673
00:51:34.679 --> 00:51:36.760
check out some movies. You never
know what you're going to find there.

674
00:51:37.119 --> 00:51:39.320
Right well, As always, I
want to thank our listeners and hope you

675
00:51:39.360 --> 00:51:44.199
are excited as much as we are
as we continue our journey through the year

676
00:51:44.440 --> 00:51:47.840
nineteen seventy nine. I also want
to thank Amber for joining us. I

677
00:51:47.840 --> 00:51:51.400
hope you had a good time with
us. Amber, Oh I did.

678
00:51:51.440 --> 00:51:54.480
This was such a delight to talk
about. Good awesome, Thank you for

679
00:51:54.480 --> 00:51:59.039
being on. Yes, very much
appreciated. And I know when we saw

680
00:51:59.079 --> 00:52:00.840
this the movie was coming out,
We're like, oh, we got to

681
00:52:00.840 --> 00:52:02.840
get amper for this. So yeah, I mean Women's History Month. You

682
00:52:02.920 --> 00:52:09.960
might want to have just a third
of your cast be representing that Democrat.

683
00:52:10.840 --> 00:52:16.519
That's probably that's a good idea,
absolutely good suggestion. Mber. So if

684
00:52:16.559 --> 00:52:20.400
you want to leave a comment,
discuss what's next, or even have suggestions,

685
00:52:20.440 --> 00:52:22.679
you can find us at www dot
a film buy podcast dot com,

686
00:52:22.760 --> 00:52:27.280
A film by podcasts at gmail dot
com. I film by a podcast on

687
00:52:27.280 --> 00:52:30.960
Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. I
don't say goodbye. I have been known

688
00:52:30.960 --> 00:52:37.280
to cry, be happy, be
well until our film reels start rolling again.

689
00:52:37.559 --> 00:52:39.760
Go out, watch something new,
watch something different, and who knows

690
00:52:39.760 --> 00:52:42.840
what you'll discover next. Thanks everyone,