The Long Walk Home is a recreation of a troubled era in American history. The time is 1955; the place, Montgomery, Alabama. When Rosa Parks, an African American woman, is arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man, it is the first volley in the great Bus Boycott, organized by Dr. Martin Luther King in order to desegregate the Birmingham transportation system. The boycott is a decided inconvenience for Miriam Thompson (Sissy Spacek), a well-to-do white woman. Now, Miriam must drive to the black section of town to pick up her maid Odessa Cotter (Whoopi Goldberg) and bring her to work. Outside of her own social circle, Miriam realizes for the first time just how privileged, sheltered and self-centered her life has been. What brings this fact home is the realization that Odessa has literally been raising two families: the Thompsons' and her own. Odessa has also sacrificed her own health and wellbeing to serve her employers without question or complaint. Awakened to the true inequities of "Separate But Equal", and impressed by Dr. King's edict of nonviolent resistance, Miriam joins the boycott. This stirs up the racist feelings harbored by Miriam's husband Norman (Dwight Schultz), who at the behest of his goonish brother Tunker (Dylan Baker) joins the Klanlike White Citizen's Council. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
There's a scene in The Long Walk Home in which the son of a long-suffering maid tries to intervene with a hate crime against his sister, and ends up absorbing the blows intended for her. Each time he gets on his feet again, his hands ball up into fists, before gradually relaxing to their prior condition of restraint. As viewers watch this powerful indictment of institutionalized racism in the South, they may feel a similar desire to express their anger through violence. And so they'll be even more amazed that those personally affected were able to resist peacefully -- a direct result of their desire to be taken seriously. The Long Walk Home does not break new ground among films about the civil rights movement, nor does it utilize anything but utterly straightforward techniques. Perhaps this last is why the film's message is so urgent and uncluttered. Helping in this regard are exceptional performances by Whoopi Goldberg and Sissy Spacek, not to mention their director, Richard Pearce. Goldberg, who has always opted for serious alternatives to her zany comedic roles, produces some of her best work in that parallel focus. Resigned to the realities of her world, including the occasional inconvenience of her own principles, Goldberg's Odessa Cotter is an image of proud stoicism. But Spacek's Miriam Thompson may be the more technically challenging role. Starting as the businesslike wife who inundates her maid with a laundry list of cavalier requests, she shows her evolving sympathy only gradually, through subtle gestures. She's a woman fighting not only her upbringing, but the blind stubbornness of her husband, with a weapon that often seems insufficient: her sense of human decency. Since Odessa essentially remains constant, it's Miriam's growth that marks the film's narrative catharsis -- which society on the whole would eventually mirror. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Erika Alexander - Selma Cotter; Lexi Randall - Mary Catherine Thompson; Richard Habersham - Theodore Cotter; Jason Weaver - Franklin Cotter; Mary Steenburgen - Narrator; Crystal Thompson; Cherene Snow - Claudia; Chelcie Ross - Martin; Dan Butler - Charlie; Philip Sterling - Winston; Haynes Brooke - Policeman at Oak Park; Stacy Fleming - Tall Boy; Jeff Taffet - Boy #2; Jay Reed - Boy #3; Afemo Omilami - Taxi Driver; Norman Matlock - Preacher; Nancy Moore Atchison - Anne/Girl At Oak Park; Schuyler Fisk - Judy (Girl at Oak Park); Jim Haffey - Bus Driver; Daniel Jenkins - Auburn Fan #1; Kevin Thigpen - Worker #1; Graham Timbes - Clyde Sellers; Rebecca Wackler - Lucille; Jim Aycock - Roger; Bobby Howard - Clipboard Man; Crystal Robbins - Sara Thompson; Shari Rhodes
Credit
Edwin C. Atkins - Associate Producer, Jo Ann Doster - Casting, Shari Rhodes - Casting, Shay Cunliffe - Costume Designer, Richard Pearce - Director, Bill Yahraus - Editor, Stuart Benjamin - Executive Producer, Taylor Hackford - Executive Producer, George Fenton - Composer (Music Score), Marie Carter - Makeup, Edwin C. Atkins - Production Designer, Blake Russell - Production Designer, Roger Deakins - Cinematographer, Howard W. Koch - Producer, Gretchen Rau - Set Designer, Mack Chapman - Special Effects, Allan Wyatt, Jr. - Stunts, John Cork - Screenwriter
The film is set in Montgomery, Alabama, United States, during the 1955Montgomery Bus Boycott, and features Goldberg as Odessa Cotter, an African-American maid, employed by a well-to-do white woman, Miriam Thompson, played by Spacek. The story is told through the eyes of Miriam's young daughter Mary Catherine, for whom Odessa is a nanny. Odessa and her family are faced with all of the social problems typical of African Americans at the time: poverty, racism, violence, and discrimination based solely on the color of their skin. When a boycott of the city buses prevents Odessa from riding the bus to work, she is left with no other choice but to walk. Her employer, Miriam Thompson, offers to give her a ride two days a week in order to ensure she makes it to work on time and alleviate the effect the “long walk home” is having on her. However, as the boycott progresses, tensions rise and giving Odessa a ride to work becomes an issue with the white prominent members of her community, as well as with her husband. Miriam is faced with the choice between doing what she believes is right or succumbing to pressure from her husband and friends. After a fight with her husband, Miriam decides to follow her heart and becomes involved in a carpool group for other workers like Odessa. In the film's emotional final scene, Miriam and Mary Catherine join Odessa and the other protesters in standing against oppression.
One of the three GM "old-look" transit buses used in this film was the actual Montgomery Bus Lines bus #2857 that Rosa Parks was riding in when she was famously arrested. The bus was in poor condition by the time the film was made. It was given a partial repaint and was towed by a cable for its scenes in the movie.
