Sally Field Ron Leibman Beau Bridges Pat Hingle Barbara Baxley
Cinematography
John A. Alonzo
Edited by
Sidney Levin
Music by
David Shire
Distributed by
20th Century-Fox
Release date
March 2, 1979 (1979-03-02)[1]
Running time
110 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$4.5 million[2]
Box office
$22 million[3]
Norma Rae is a 1979 American drama film directed by Martin Ritt from a screenplay written by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr. The film is based on the true story of Crystal Lee Sutton[4][5] – which was told in the 1975 book Crystal Lee, a Woman of Inheritance by reporter Henry P. Leifermann of The New York Times[6] – and stars Sally Field in the title role. Beau Bridges, Ron Leibman, Pat Hingle, Barbara Baxley and Gail Strickland are featured in supporting roles. The film follows Norma Rae Webster, a factory worker with little formal education in North Carolina who, after her and her co-workers' health are compromised due to poor working conditions, becomes involved in trade union activities at the textile factory where she works.[7]
Norma Rae premiered at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival where it competed for the Palme d'Or, while Field won the Best Actress Prize. It was theatrically released by 20th Century-Fox on March 2, 1979, to critical and commercial success. Reviewers praised the film's direction, its screenplay, its message, and especially Field's performance, while the film grossed $22 million on a production budget of $4.5 million. The film received four nominations at the 52nd Academy Awards including Best Picture and won two: Best Actress (for Field) and Best Original Song for its theme song "It Goes Like It Goes".[8] The film is considered "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant by the U.S. Library of Congress and was selected to be preserved in the National Film Registry in 2011.
^"Norma Rae - Details". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
^Aubrey Solomon, Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History, Scarecrow Press, 1989, p. 259
NormaRae is a 1979 American drama film directed by Martin Ritt from a screenplay written by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr. The film is based on...
American union organizer and advocate who gained fame in 1979 when the film NormaRae was released, based on events related to her being fired from her job...
(1978), and Hooper (1978). She won two Academy Awards for Best Actress for NormaRae (1979), and Places in the Heart (1984). Other notable roles include in...
Valkyrae RaE, the historic notation of Bismuth-210 isotope NormaRae, 1979 American film The Rock-afire Explosion, an animatronic robot band Rae (album)...
received various accolades, including two Academy Award for Best Actress for NormaRae (1979), and Places in the Heart (1984). She also received three Emmy Awards...
appeared in films such as Where's Poppa? (1970), The Hot Rock (1972), NormaRae (1979), and Zorro, The Gay Blade (1982). Later in his career, he became...
during the 1980s, receiving the Academy Award for Best Actress for both NormaRae (1979) and Places in the Heart (1984), and she appeared in Smokey and...
(1990) and Visitor #1 in Inland Empire (2006). Other film roles include NormaRae (1979), An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), Nickel Mountain (1984), The...
Bob Fosse's All That Jazz. The song lost to "It Goes Like It Goes" from NormaRae, a win that some critics denounced. The song's name has been used by a...
for Best British Film. Two of his subsequent films, Sounder (1972) and NormaRae (1979), were both nominated for Best Picture Oscars. Ritt directed many...
(1970), The Other Side of the Mountain (1975), Greased Lightning (1977), NormaRae (1979), The Fifth Musketeer (1979), Heart Like a Wheel (1983), and The...
Drowning Pool (1975), Bound for Glory (1976), Who'll Stop the Rain (1978), NormaRae (1979), and Protocol (1984), and appeared regularly on various network...
nomination which could honor their work in more than one film. Greta Garbo and Norma Shearer were both nominated for two different roles in the same category...
Actress for Meryl Streep. Sally Field received Best Actress honors for NormaRae, and Melvyn Douglas won Best Supporting Actor for Being There. The telecast...
York (1975); Greased Lightning (1977); The Boys in Company C (1978); NormaRae (1979); Brubaker (1980); The Howling (1981); La Bamba (1987); Good Morning...
series as Chinatown, RoboCop, The Gun, Geronimo: An American Legend, NormaRae, Cannon and Gunsmoke. Run, Angel, Run! (1969) - Pappy Tell Them Willie...
Sutton (1940–2009), American union organizer and inspiration for the film NormaRae, died of a malignant meningioma. Elizabeth Taylor (1932–2011), American...
widely known for portraying the father of Sally Field's title character NormaRae (1979). He also played manager Colonel Tom Parker in John Carpenter's...
Marilyn Monroe (/ˈmærəlɪn mənˈroʊ/; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926 – August 4, 1962) was an American actress and model. Known for playing comic...
Frank McRae (March 18, 1941 – April 29, 2021) was an American film and television actor and a professional football player. McRae was born in Memphis...
film Nashville (1975) and as the mother of Sally Field's character in NormaRae (1979). Baxley was a close friend of musician Dave Brubeck and his wife;...
David Shire and Norman Gimbel. Jennifer Warnes sang the vocals for the NormaRae soundtrack in 1979. "It Goes Like It Goes" won an Academy Award for Best...
accepted her second Academy Award for Best Actress (the first was for NormaRae), she uttered the memorable (and much-mocked) line "I can't deny the fact...
(Shadow Hours) and Venice (The Reluctant Fundamentalist) Film Festivals. NormaRae, Clayton’s first feature, was named in 2011 to The Library of Congress...
Award for Best Song in 1979 for his and Norman Gimbel's theme song for NormaRae, "It Goes Like It Goes." He was also nominated the same year in the same...
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