A Raisin in the Sun

Plot

While this original movie version of Lorraine Hansberry's award-winning play may have dated somewhat, it was groundbreaking when first released in 1961, and a wealth of future plays, films, and TV productions have taken their lead from this socially conscious drama about a struggling African-American family. Lena Younger (Claudia McNeil) is a strong, proud woman who has raised a family in a crowded apartment on the South Side of Chicago. Her son Walter Lee (Sidney Poitier) works as a chauffeur; intelligent and ambitious but impulsive and often angry, he desperately wants to get ahead in a world that offers him few opportunities. His wife Ruth (Ruby Dee) takes in laundry to help make ends meet and watches over their son. Younger daughter Beneatha (Diana Sands) is a college student who wants to become a doctor and often speaks of searching for her cultural identity. On the death of her husband, Lena becomes the beneficiary of a $10,000 life insurance payment, and suddenly the family is in conflict over how the money should be spent. Lena wants to use the money for a down payment on a house. Beneatha is hoping that Lena will help her pay for medical school. And Walter Lee wants to go into business with friends who plan to open a liquor store, which he's convinced will be a sure money maker. The cast, nearly all reprising their roles from the original Broadway production, offers a collection of superb performances; also keep an eye peeled for a young Louis Gossett Jr. as George Murchison. While Daniel Petrie's direction never takes A Raisin in the Sun very far from its roots as a stage play, it captures the power and tension of a strong ensemble cast working with an intelligent and moving script. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Review

After a successful run on Broadway, A Raisin in the Sun came to film in 1961, offering a snapshot of an urban, working-class, African-American family at a turning point in their lives. The film powerfully conveys the inter-familial and inter-generational conflicts that arise out of different hopes, dreams, and ambitions. Set in the 1940s, but filmed just as America was beginning its civil rights movement, the film draws its intelligent dialogue from the complex questions facing a racial minority in an environment in which the effects of prejudice are always percolating just beneath the surface. The story examines such serious generational and racial issues as assimilation and the conflicts between idealism, the pursuit of the American dream, and pride in one's racial and cultural heritage. The cramped and claustrophobic apartment setting reminds us of the film's theatrical roots, but it also serves the movie's themes well, and director Daniel Petrie keeps the camera moving, even if the setting and action are static. The issue of racism is handled relatively subtly, quietly insinuating itself into the situation rather than slamming you in the face. There is some unevenness in the performances, as some of the actors from the stage production still seem to be projecting to the back row of the theater, but Sidney Poitier and Ruby Dee lead the cast with their charismatic presences. ~ Dan Jardine, Rovi

Cast

• Sidney Poitier - Walter Lee Younger
• Claudia McNeil - Lena Younger
• Ruby Dee - Ruth Younger
• Diana Sands - Beneatha Younger
• Ivan Dixon - Joseph Asagai

Louis Gossett, Jr. - George Murchison; Stephen Perry - Travis Younger; John Fiedler - Karl Lindner; Joel Fluellen - Bobo; Roy E. Glenn, Sr. - Willie Harris; Ray Stubbs - Bartender; Rudolph Monroe - Taxi Driver; George de Normand - Employer; Thomas D. Jones - Chauffeur; Louis Terkel - Herman

Credit

Carl Anderson - Art Director, Daniel Petrie - Director, William Lyon - Editor, Paul Weatherwax - Editor, Laurence Rosenthal - Composer (Music Score), Arthur Norton - Musical Direction/Supervision, Ben Lane - Makeup, Charles Lawton - Cinematographer, David Susskind - Producer, Philip Rose - Producer, Louis Diage - Set Designer, Lorraine Hansberry - Screenwriter, Lorraine Hansberry - Play Author

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