Norma Rae is based on the real life of textile worker and union activist Crystal Lee Sutton and the novel Crystal Lee, a Woman of Inheritance by New York Times writer Henry P. Leifermann.
Norma Rae Webster and her family work in a cotton mill that also employs most of her town in North Carolina. There are terrible and dangerous working conditions but they don’t have many options if they want a roof over their heads and the ability to feed their families. Even with the jobs it is still a struggle to do those things as the wages are pathetic.
Norma’s attention has shifted to a stranger in town even as she worries about her parents’ health and her children’s futures. Reuben Warshowsky has knocked at her father’s door. He is an organizer from the Textile Workers Union of America and he is not receiving a very warm welcome in town, including from Norma’s father. But he has caught Norma’s interest.
She has already been speaking up for her co-workers and the boss thinks she’s a loudmouth. To keep her under control they promote her to being a spot checker which means being a “fink” as far as the other employees are concerned. She decides to quit but they won’t let her, instead demoting her and sticking her with a shitty job.
But after hearing Reuben speak she is inspired to join the union. When she signs her union card, Reuben says, “Norma Rae Webster, how come everyone down here has three names?” When she starts talking to the other workers about the union it draws the ire of management who do not want their workers unionizing. Because then they might have to start treating them fairly.
The bosses will try anything, even spreading gross lies about Norma, to the point the national union questions if Reuben should be associating with her because it could make them look bad. It doesn’t work so they use another tactic, using Black versus white to shatter the unity of the workers. With a notice posted to inflame the tensions, Norma needs to write it all down so the union can take legal action.
Management has had enough of Norma, fires her and has her arrested.
That is when Norma steps up on the counter and holds up a handwritten sign with one word,
Norma’s fierce determination inspires her coworkers to stand up for themselves and each other and they shut down their machines. When the vote is held to unionize will her courage be enough for the cotton mill’s workers to realize that their strength is in their unity and only they will fight for themselves?
Norma Rae stars Sally Field, Beau Bridges, Ron Leibman, Barbara Baxley, Pat Hingle, Gail Strickland, Morgan Paull, and Robert Broyles. Directed by Martin Ritt.
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BONUS TRIVIA:
In Burt-sounds-like-a-bit-of-an-insecure-controlling-dick trivia:
Sally Field did the film against Burt Reynolds' advice, and it eventually ended the relationship. “It was the beginning of me pulling away when he didn’t want me to do ‘Norma Rae,’ called her a whore, and it was because she had some sexual past. He threw the script at me,” Field told People magazine. “He wanted to control me, and because I was standing up, he said, ‘Boy, you’re letting this get the better of you.’ And I said, ‘This is the better of me.’ And I went and I met with [director] Marty Ritt. I did the film. But it was the beginning of me finding my legs.”
Field went on to say that not only did he discourage her from attending the premiere of “Norma Rae” at the Cannes Film Festival, but he even refused to attend the Oscars. The two split up for good in 1982. “Being Norma at that time was exactly what I needed, because to learn how to stand in her shoes, I think I said this [in her 2018 memoir In Pieces], I could feel my own legs,” Field told People magazine. “I could feel my body getting stronger. Because I was having to portray how she grew up, I started to grow up, and I eventually just wouldn’t be manipulated and humiliated like that. And ultimately I left.”
https://variety.com/2026/film/news/sally-field-burt-reynolds-threw-script-1236741278/
BONUS TRIVIA:
Marsha Mason, Jane Fonda, Faye Dunaway, and Jill Clayburgh all passed on the title role. Raquel Welch was also considered for the role. As it turned out, Mason, Fonda and Clayburgh were all nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, which Sally Field won for this film.
Norma Rae (1979) premiered at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival where it competed for the Palme d'Or, while Sally Field won the Best Actress Prize. 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."