Films at the Farm’s Fall 2022 edition begins with this emotionally-stirring 1985 classic film

THE COLOR PURPLE

1985 • 154 min 

With Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, Oprah Winfrey, Willard Pugh, Rae Dawn Chong, Akosua Busia, Adolph Caesar, Laurence Fishburne, and Margaret Avery

Covering 40 years of the early 20th century, Celie (Goldberg), a Southern Black woman, lives a life of servitude to her brutal sharecropper husband Albert (Glover). But emboldened by the strong women in her life, Celie gradually gains self-respect as she strives to educate herself and to find love.  Amidst an ever-present turmoil, this emotional adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel possesses emotional and humorous turns as Celie finds her own identity and love.

With sterling if not at times over-the-top performances all-around, The Color Purple  was a box-office and home video hit, and made Whoopi Goldberg a household name.  It also cemented Oprah Winfrey, a year before the national debut of her eponymous talk show, as a media darling thanks to her also memorable performance of the no-nonsense Sofia, further catapulted Danny Glover to stardom, and was bolstered by the memorable score by Quincy Jones. 

Rated PG-13 for emotional intensity, verbal, physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, and other mature themes