Word: rae
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Field's performance however derives 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...
...once, a director has been able to deal honestly with the life of a working-class woman, using neither pathos nor piquancy. Widowed by a beer brawl and left with two children, one illegitimate, Norma Rae is trapped in a one-industry, sexist little shitbox of a southern town. Her plight evokes far more sympathy than that of many recent feminist heroines like Erica from An Unmarried Woman or the French nymphets in One Sings, the Other Doesn't. While directors no longer trumpet forth about making black films, many still want to make women movies. Ritt escapes this well...
...idealistic halo surrounding unions has deteriorated into a fearful contempt for leaders like Jimmy Hoffa and the New Orleans police chief "who'll wreck the city if our demands aren't met," Ritt has made a movie about places disenchantment hasn't reached...because unions aren't allowed. Norma Rae sharply reminds us that yes, there places where people work for substandard wages and who are forbidden to unionize. The scenes in the textile mill lack the blatant horror of coal mining but instead, they capture the numbing, back-breaking monotony which is just as lethal to the spirit...
Thematically, Norma Rae comes off with nary a hitch--the pro-union sentiments and the subtle feminist message are powerfully conveyed to the audience. But the film has two, fairly significant flaws, one of characterization and one of atmosphere...
With the exception of Bridges, all the actors turn in fine performances. Complementing Sally Field's tour-de-force, Pat Bingle in the role of her father deftly shades his performance so that it explains not only his character but also where Norma Rae got her fire-cracking sparkle. The ensemble acting of the management staff in the factory deserves kudos as well. Rather than performing as a contingent from the Ku Klux Klan in mufti, the six men act with an understated assurance which suggests, but does not exaggerate, both their down-home humanity and their anti-semitic hostility...