Color Purple

Danny Glover Director: Steven Spielberg Steven Spielberg

Overview

Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker, The Color Purple spans the years 1909 to 1949, relating the life of Celie (Whoopi Goldberg), a Southern black woman virtually sold into a life of servitude to her brutal husband, sharecropper Albert (Danny Glover). Celie pours out her innermost thoughts in letter form to her sister Nettie (Akousa Busia), but Albert has been hiding the letters Nettie writes back, allowing Celie to assume that Nettie is dead. Finally, Celie finds a champion in the don't-take-no-guff Sofia (Oprah Winfrey), the wife of Glover's son from a previous marriage. Alas, Sofia is "humbled" when she is beaten into submission by angry whites. Later, Celie is able to forge a strong friendship with Albert's mistress Shug (Margaret Avery). Emboldened by this, Celie begins rifling through her husband's belongings and finds Nettie's letters. Able at last to stand up to her husband, Celie leaves him to search for a new life on her own. A major box-office hit, The Color Purple was nominated for eleven Oscars. The film was co-produced by Quincy Jones, who also wrote the score.

Product Details

Release Date:	05/15/2007
UPC:	0085391163107
Original Release:	1985
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	Warner Home Video
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Full Frame, Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby AC-3 Surround Sound]
Time:	2:34:00
Sales rank:	461

Special Features

Production notes; Theatrical trailers; Languages: English & Français; Subtlitles: English, Français & Español (Feature Film Only)

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Danny Glover	Albert
Whoopi Goldberg	Celie
Margaret Avery	Shug Avery
Oprah Winfrey	Sofia
Willard E. Pugh	Harpo
Akosua Busia	Nettie
Desreta Jackson	Young Celie
Adolph Caesar	Old Mister
Dana Ivey	Miss Millie
Carl Anderson	Rev. Samuel
Clarence Avant	Actor
Susan Beaubian	Corrine
Drew Bundi Brown	Jook Joint Patron
Donna Buie	Daisy
Reuben Cannon	Actor
Rae Dawn Chong	Squeak
Marcus Covington	Boy
Lillian Njoki Distefano	Young Tashi
Jo Ann Doster	Actor
Laurence Fishburne	Swain
Margaret Freeman	Odessa
Bennet Guillory	Grady
John Hart	Mailman
Leonard Jackson	Pa
Hawthorne James	Jook Joint Patron
Jadili Johnson	Young Adam
Peto Kinsaka	Adam
Lechanda Lathrap	Child
Marcus Liles	Boo
Lelo Masamba	Olivia
Maurice Moore	Child
Carrie Murray	Loretta
April Myers	Emma
Daphaine Oliver	Young Olivia
John Patton	Preacher
Juliet Poe	Church Sister
Jeris Poindexter	Jook Joint Patron
Leon Rippy	Store Clerk
Job Seda	Actor
Katie Simon	Church Sister
Howard Starr	Young Harpo
Phillip Strong	Mayor
Ethel Taylor	Church Sister
David Thomas	Road Gang Leader
James Tillis	Buster
Arnold Turner	Jook Joint Patron

Technical Credits

Menno Meyjes

Steven Spielberg	Director,Producer
Richard Alonzo	Makeup
Chris Boardman	Score Composer
Andrae Crouch	Score Composer
Allen Daviau	Cinematographer
Linda de Scenna	Set Decoration/Design
Greg W. Elam	Stunts
Peter Guber	Producer
Jack Hayes	Score Composer
Jerry Hey	Score Composer
Carole Isenberg	Associate Producer
Quincy Jones	Score Composer,Producer
Michael Kahn	Editor
Kathleen Kennedy	Producer
Randy Kerber	Score Composer
Steve LaPorte	Makeup
Michael Laudati	Makeup
Frank Marshall	Producer
Tom McCown	Set Decoration/Design
Menno Meyjes	Screenwriter
Gerald R. Molen	Production Designer
Jon Peters	Producer
Lionel Richie	Songwriter
J. Michael Riva	Production Designer
Aggie Guerard Rodgers	Costumes/Costume Designer
Joel Rosenbaum	Score Composer
Fred Steiner	Score Composer
Rod Temperton	Score Composer
Alice Walker	Source Author
Bo Welch	Art Director
Robert W. Welch	Production Designer

Menu

Disc #1, Side A -- The Color Purple
   Jump to a Scene
      9
      13
      17
      19
      Start Movie
   Cast
      Danny Glover - Mr. (Albert)
      Adolph Caesar - Old Mr.
      Margaret Avery - Shug Avery
      Rae Dawn Chong - Squeak
      Whoopi Goldberg - Celie
      Directed by Steve Spielberg
      Continue
   Production Notes
   Awards
   Trailers 1
   Trailers 2
   Film Flash
   Languages
      English
      Français
   Subtitles
      English
      Français
      Español
      Off
Disc #1, Side B -- The Color Purple
   Jump to a Scene
      3
      6
      8
      10
      14
      Start Movie
   Cast
      Danny Glover - Mr. (Albert)
      Adolph Caesar - Old Mr.
      Margaret Avery - Shug Avery
      Rae Dawn Chong - Squeak
      Whoopi Goldberg - Celie
      Directed by Steve Spielberg
      Continue
   Production Notes
   Awards
   Trailers 1
   Trailers 2
   Film Flash
   Languages
      English
      Français
   Subtitles
      English
      Français
      Español
      Off

Editorial Reviews

The Color Purple was not it familiar territory for a moviemaker whose glittering screen career had relied so far on man-eating sharks, flying saucers and extraterrestrials. Yet, in the end, Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel transcended his other works, in part because it was so different. Whoopi Goldberg gives a heart-breaking, Oscar-nominated performance as Celie, a Southern black woman who in the early years of the 20th century finds herself a slave within her own home -- married to a violently abusive sharecropper (Danny Glover) and still suffering the loss of her sister, from whom she'd been forcibly separated when they were young girls. The script dips and soars through a series of poignant, sometimes melodramatic vignettes involving racist mobs, illicit love affairs and religious salvation, the latter scenes backed by a clapping and stomping gospel choir. Through it all Spielberg effectively captures the small but crucial victories of the human spirit which punctuate the story and make for an original and uplifting film.

Barnes & Noble - Bruce Kluger

Steven Spielberg's first cinematic attempt to delve deeper than escapism produced a rich, heartfelt epic that matched the Pulitzer Prize-winning credentials of Alice Walker's novel, receiving 11 Oscar nominations but famously winning none of them. The Color Purple is a triumph of all elements of production design, nominated for its screenplay, cinematography, makeup, costumes, art direction, score, and three of its actresses -- though not for director Spielberg. The snub may have helped push him as an artist toward such prestigious works as Schindler's List. One would hardly guess Whoopi Goldberg's roots were in comedy, given the layered dramatic performance she offers in her first real screen role. Oprah Winfrey (also debuting) and Margaret Avery are the other two-thirds of the heart-breaking dynamic between three black women in Spielberg's brutal world of racial and sexual prejudice. Even Danny Glover's role shows late-blooming sympathy, however agonizingly wrought, which demonstrates the dimension of Menno Meyjes' script. There's nothing simple about this early 20th century South, populated by characters paralyzed by the roles ascribed to them, and wickedly punished when they try to venture beyond their bounds. It boils the blood at the same time that it touches the soul, making for genuinely tear-soaked cinema with a visceral emotional payoff.

All Movie Guide

Read More