Taglines: The story of a woman with the courage to risk everything for what she believes is right.
Thirty-one year old widowed mother Norma Rae Wilson (Sally Field) lives in the southern US town of Henleyville, which contains one major employer, O.P. Henley Textiles. Like most of her friends and family, she works in Henley’s mill – eight hundred on the line – those jobs on which the townsfolk rely to survive.
Norma Rae is outspoken in her complaints about the working conditions at the mill, and will do most whatever to ensure a good wage for herself to support her two young children. She has a stable of casual sexual partners purely to relieve her boredom, she not having had a good history with men, with her one husband having died in a bar brawl, and the father of her younger child not having taken any responsibility at all after their sexual encounter.
So she is surprised when she runs into a childhood mate, recently divorced Sonny Webster, the two who end up getting married. For Norma Rae, Sonny seems to be the kind of man who will make a good husband and father, the most important qualities in a man at this stage of her life. Like they do every few years, a Textile Workers Union of America representative, this time in the form of New York Jew Reuben Warshowsky, arrives in town, his goal to unionize the workers.
They have been unable to do so as the workers fear losing their jobs, Norma Rae no exception. But as she begins to befriend Reuben and trust what he has to say is true, Norma Rae decides to work for him to unionize. As this union work takes over her life, her marriage is in jeopardy. But as the local face of the union, she may risk more in the form of her livelihood, her standing in the community and her family and friends, especially if they do not follow what she and Reuben are espousing.
Norma Rae is a 1979 American drama film directed by Martin Ritt from a screenplay written by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr. Based on the true story of Crystal Lee Sutton, which was told in the 1975 book Crystal Lee, a Woman of Inheritance by reporter Henry P. Leifermann of The New York Times, the film stars Sally Field in the titular role. Beau Bridges, Ron Leibman, Pat Hingle, Barbara Baxley, and Gail Strickland are featured in supporting roles.
The film’s narrative follows Norma Rae, a factory worker from a small town in North Carolina who becomes involved in unionizing activities at the textile factory where she works after her and her co-workers’ health is compromised due to poor working conditions.
Norma Rae premiered at the 32nd Cannes Film Festival where it competed for the Palme d’Or, while Field received the Prix d’interprétation féminine. The film was released theatrically on March 2, 1979, and upon its release was a critical and commercial success: critics appreciated the film’s direction, screenplay, message and performances (in particular Field’s), while the film grossed $22 million on a production budget of $4.5 million.
It received four Academy Award nominations at the 52nd Academy Awards including for Best Picture, and won two: Best Actress (Sally Field) and Best Original Song for its theme song, “It Goes Like It Goes”.Norma Rae was filmed on location in Opelika, Alabama. The mill scenes were shot at the Opelika Manufacturing Corp., and the motel scenes were filmed at The Golden Cherry Motel. The film was selected for preservation at the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 2011, deemed as being “culturally, aesthetically or historically significant”.
Norma Rae (1979)
Directed by: Martin Ritt
Starring: Sally Field, Ron Leibman, Beau Bridges, Pat Hingle, Barbara Baxley, Gail Strickland, Morgan Paull, Robert Broyles, John Calvin, James Luisi, Gilbert Green, Gregory Walcott
Screenplay by: Irving Ravetch, Harriet Frank Jr.
Production Design by: Walter Scott Herndon
Cinematography by: John A. Alonzo
Film Editing by: Sidney Levin
Set Decoration by: Gregory Garrison
Art Direction by: Tracy Bousman
Music by: David Shire
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: March 2, 1979
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