Rating: PG-13 | Runtime: 154 minutes
Release Date: December 18th, 1985 (USA)
Studio: Warner Bros.
Director(s): Steven Spielberg
Writer(s): Menno Meyjes / Alice Walker (novel)

The jail you planned for me is the one you’re gonna rot in.

This was good. I say that like I’ve never seen it even though I think I have because bits and pieces definitely stuck out—although it’s in a way that means I might know them from clips and cinematic osmosis.

It’s a lot funnier than anticipated. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised considering it’s Spielberg. Funny and heavy-handed in its melodrama … doesn’t get more Spielberg than that (I jest). Epitomized with Miss Millie driving Sofia home for Christmas only to hilariously try leaving alone before the laughter is inevitably replaced by tragic sorrow.

Whoopie Goldberg, Margaret Avery, and Oprah Winfrey earn those Oscar nominations. All three are truly fantastic. Danny Glover is real good too, but rightfully overshadowed considering the subject matter. As is Willard E. Pugh as the consummate whipping boy.

I’m sure the generational trauma themes work better in book form since there simply isn’t time to dig into it more than abuser and victim rather than victims aplenty (although the last thirty minutes succeeds in ensuring it’s not glossed over). So, I’m interested to see how it translates as a musical. If the show-shopping sequence with Shug heading to church is any indication, I feel that new adaptation will work very well.

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Whoopie Goldberg in THE COLOR PURPLE.