I didn't see this movie until many years after it came out, but its message was certainly present in the Zeitgeist. I think it had a major influence on me; I went on three wildcat strikes in the ten months after it was released. Being non-union, that means I lost three jobs in less than one year.
Coming from NC, I knew a lot of people whose parents were “lint heads” the name given to textile workers because of all the debris from the material that filled the air of a mill. Not sure if they were union but based on the way they lived they most likely were not. They were all dirt poor.
I also did a play, written by a local entitled “Lint”. I played a dead skunk. Twas not the highlight of my stage career.
The film is based on a real-life union organizing campaign at J.P. Stevens Mill in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. Norma Rae is based on Crystal Lee Sutton. Reuben Warshowsky, the union organizer, is based on Eli Zivkovich, a 55-year-old former West Virginia coal miner. In 1974, thanks to the efforts of Sutton and Zivkovich, workers at J.P. Stevens Mill voted to join the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union. However, it took 10 years for the union to get a contract. Some real-life events are re-created verbatim in the movie, including Norma Rae holding up the "UNION" sign and the plant workers shutting down their machines, and Norma Rae waking up her children to tell them about her relationships with their fathers.
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."
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.”
This was still in the day that Beau was the more famous Bridges brother. Later Jeff took that mantle.
I didn't see this movie until many years after it came out, but its message was certainly present in the Zeitgeist. I think it had a major influence on me; I went on three wildcat strikes in the ten months after it was released. Being non-union, that means I lost three jobs in less than one year.
Coming from NC, I knew a lot of people whose parents were “lint heads” the name given to textile workers because of all the debris from the material that filled the air of a mill. Not sure if they were union but based on the way they lived they most likely were not. They were all dirt poor.
I also did a play, written by a local entitled “Lint”. I played a dead skunk. Twas not the highlight of my stage career.
If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend Remarkably Bright Creatures, featuring Sally Field.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remarkably_Bright_Creatures_(film)
It's a wonderful film, and she is simply terrific!
Why (and *how*) was this remade a mere two years later?!
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1929329/?ref_=fn_t_2
Good question, I didn't remember it existed, maybe because that was the year I graduated high school.
Already posted earlier today, but this is an ideal place to post (again):
https://capitalandmain.com/ten-films-for-a-labor-day-under-new-management
fnord
I've never seen "Silkwood", but I feel like I should have known that Kurt Russell and Cher were in it, along with Streep.
Cher held her own against Meryl. She was very good.
Excellent film.
Who can ever forget Eric Cantor's assessment of Labor Day being the day that we honor the job creators. Talk about rewriting history.
BONUS TRIVIA:
The film is based on a real-life union organizing campaign at J.P. Stevens Mill in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. Norma Rae is based on Crystal Lee Sutton. Reuben Warshowsky, the union organizer, is based on Eli Zivkovich, a 55-year-old former West Virginia coal miner. In 1974, thanks to the efforts of Sutton and Zivkovich, workers at J.P. Stevens Mill voted to join the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union. However, it took 10 years for the union to get a contract. Some real-life events are re-created verbatim in the movie, including Norma Rae holding up the "UNION" sign and the plant workers shutting down their machines, and Norma Rae waking up her children to tell them about her relationships with their fathers.
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."
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/
Her Bio is excellent. Highly recommend.
I had forgotten they were a couple. He seems so insignificant now.
I guess there’s more to life than having a hairy chest.
IK,R?
And he was a massive star but he really faded away didn't he
I do remember that Burt was a solid GOP backer.