Word: leibman
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...much of its power from the screenplay written by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank, Jr.--it's hokey as hell but it plays. Motivated by a magazine article by Henry F. Leifermann, the screenplay delineates the growing bond between Norma Rae, a hard-assed little cracker and Reuben (Ron Leibman) a New York Jewish labor organizer who comes down to unionize her factory. Refreshingly, their bond stems not from wild, trans-ethnic couplings but from a shared philosophy towards life. Ravetch and Frank use humor, wit and most of all, respect in their screenplay--as a result, their dialogue...
Norma Rae is the story of trashy white woman (Sally Field), a textile worker in a small Southern town, who discovers that she actually has a social conscience when a labor organizer (Ron Leibman) arrives at her mill to establish a union. Despite his education and his uplifting concerns, he is a rainmaker figure, a man capable of breaking through the various dins (of factory, family and juke joints) that have drowned out the voice of Norma Rae's best instincts. His winning out over her suspicions (there is a romantic attraction here that is wisely left unconsummated...
...fault is surely not Field's or Leibman's. Each is at once tough and vulnerable and, above all, engagingly high-spirited. And their roles are well written. Norma Rae's somewhat checkered sexual history, we come to understand, represents the only locally available outlet for a venturesome, restless but essentially very moral spirit. She has, we see, merely been waiting for something more rewarding to occupy her energies and her realistic, feisty if untutored mind. The character of Reuben, the organizer, represents a triumph of sorts. He is the first accurate representation onscreen of a type...
...Sept. 10, CBS, 10 p.m.). Ron Leibman is a brash and at times abrasive character actor who does not have what it takes to be a movie star. The small screen is another matter. TV audiences adore performers who burst into their living rooms like loudmouthed relatives. Though such actors as Peter Falk, Telly Savalas, Robert Blake and Carroll O'Connor never caused a sensation in movies, they all made it quickly to TV superstardom. Thanks to Kaz, Leibman will soon join their ranks...
...pushy, his language rough, but you can be sure he gets results for his clients. Smartly enough, the series' creators have also provided the hero with a perfect foil: Patrick O'Neal as an elegant corporate lawyer who takes Kaz into his firm. Whenever it seems that Leibman might burn a hole in the tube, Old Pro O'Neal trots out to cool things down...