Norma Rae (1979) movie review - Sneak Previews with Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel

I agree with them both. Sally Field was great and deserved her Oscar, but the movie as a whole wasn't all that great and didn't deserve a best picture nomination.

This movie was a two hour pro union campaign.

'you used to come in my mamma's bakery ' --- sounds so dirty

the boys were correct. The film is a bit wobbly... It would have worked better had the relationship with Norma and the union rep been scaled down a bit. Ron Liebman comes off a bit pushy and shady even at times. Bo Bridges is in a very thankless role reserved usually for females whenever its a fight the system type of film and the put-upon wife must endure the trials....

RIP Ron Liebman

The real Norma Rae applied for a job with Sally Field's production company as a seamstress; she was turned down.

Boy, Gene is trying to sound like a tough guy here, wanting to "punch a guy out for overacting".

I doubt that Gene could punch out a bagel, let alone an adult man....

This movie was a triumph for Sally Field, but it was truly boring at any time that she wasn't on screen. And the plot was undeveloped and predictable.

I'm about as right-leaning as they come and therefore not a big fan of unions, but I've always adored this movie and think it works on all levels much better than they criticize in this review. There are a few nitpicks but most of that comes with the territory when making the kind of docudrama that Martin Ritt was attempting here, on location with non-professional actors and a smaller budget, etc. Sally Field more than holds it all together.

[WORK WHISTLE] UNION!

Wow. I love Sneak Previews but man were they harsh on this movie. Maybe time soften things but I always thought this movie was really great. I saw it in the theater when it came out at 11 years old and thought it was great even then.

I saw "Norma Rae" when it first came out, but I neither loved it nor hated it. I do remember Sally Field's performance and it was pretty good, but I have no great desire to see the picture again-----once was enough. Same goes for "Silkwood."

Sally Field is a beautiful American master of her craft.

I absolutely love everything about this movie. And those guys are wrong - its not about unions and mill workers - its about Norma Rae.

They are both such chauvinist idiots. Lol. OMG. People listened to these morons? Bahaha!

Pretty good flip out scene.

I grew up and around millworkers and they really were treated like garbage and once they formed unions the managers and owners were forced to give them higher wages and better working conditions but years later they got even with the workers in the unions by closing the Mills little by little and selling out to China India and other countries who ran mostly illegal sweatshops to manufacture a much cheaper product Sally Fields performance was good but the story also shows her as the small town w h o r e

Totally disagree

❤

In a scene where the cops drag her into a police car, Sally Field kicked and struggled so hard against the other actors that she broke one of their ribs.

I'm pretty shocked here. I thought for sure they would have both given two enthusiastic YES votes for Norma Rae. Of course, Sally Field DESERVEDLY won the Oscar® for Best Actress for it. She was amazing.

Despite any perceived flaws, take it as a testament to a lost sensibility that Ritt - no matter how meagre his budget - could get a film about organized labour (and grassroots feminism) made and distributed - and Oscar nominated in that once upon a time post-Bretton Woods pre-Reaganomics razor's edge called 1979 seems now, monumental and quietly miraculous. Imagine someone trying to pull this off now for a multiplex.