In Dubious Battle 2016

     This film is based on a novel of the same name by John Steinbeck published in 1936.  The setting is the labor movement for farm workers in California during the 1930’s.  Mac McLeod and Jim Nolan begin to rally workers at a fruit farm in California.  Mac is an old hand at this work but Jim hasn’t done this before.  It’s during the Depression and the workers are not getting paid what they were offered and the working conditions are poor.  The people were promised $3 an hour but they are getting $1 an hour.  An elderly man falls from a ladder and breaks his leg.  It looks as if the ladder rung had been cut to cause the fall?

     The workers promise one of the farmers that they will pick his apples without wages if he will let them stay on his property while they fight the owners of the other farms.  The other farmers come down strong and hard on the workers.  They don’t mind killing a few of them to set an example.  They also don’t mind other dirty tricks to get the workers to return.  The only thing they won’t do is pay them $3 and hour.  Mac and Jim are supposed to guide the workers.  There is a LOT more they should’ve done to protect the people and the owner of the farm where they are living.  They were too naïve and didn’t expect this kind of harshness.  3* (This movie is OK)

110 min, Drama directed by James Franco with Nat Wolff, Ed Harris, Vincent D’Onofrio, James Franco, Selena Gomez, Ahna O’Reilly, Analeigh Tipton, Jack Kehler, Scott Haze, Sam Shepard, Joel Marsh Garland, John Savage.

Note:  Imdb 6.2 out of 10, 29% critic 38% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 2*, Amazon 3.4* out of 5* with 43 reviews.

Special Note:  To keep the budget down Franco used extras in scenes that should have had stuntmen.  Parts of the movie were shot in Tieton, Washington.