The saga of rural southerners trying to stay on the land continues unabated since industrialization. Tobacco Road is a wonderful illustration of this struggle, and has many subplots that only a mature viewer would appreciate. Jeeter Lester was a complicated person - he was willing to steal from his own family, but we admire his steely determination to save the farm. Idleness had acclimated him to leisure, and laziness now marked his days. And desperation had acclimated him to dishonesty as a way to get along. The Lesters were brutal, and they were brutalized. They were sinners and saints. If it weren't for Charley Grapewin's upbeat performance, the movie would have taken on the aura of a dark comedy at best, if not an outright tragedy. Which is exactly what the story was - a tragedy wrapped in the cloak of a comedy. It has often been said that the line between tragedy and comedy is the finest thread. I think Ford does a good job of keeping the cloak of comedy on, with occasional glimpses of the "inside" story. Then ending is perfect, for it leaves the laughing child viewer with an assumed happy ending, thinking that it all worked out and they lived happily ever after. But the mature viewer knows that the ending is sad, because the benevolence of the wealthy friend only prolongs the inevitable. I recommend this movie for both the amusement seeker and the serious thinker.
Review of Tobacco Road
