A Raisin in the Sun

The title of this film is taken from a line from a Langston Hughes poem called "A Dream Deferred":What happens to a dream deferred?Does it dry uplike a raisin in the sunOr fester like a sore-And then run?Does it stink like rotten meat?Or crust and sugar over-Like a syrupy sweet?Maybe it just sagslike a heavy load.Or does it explode?"A Raisin In The Sun", an award-winning Broadway stage play brought to the screen, is a story about dreams. Everyone in this film has them, but the question is, do they ever come true? Do you have to put that dream on hold because of other circumstances beyond your control, until it consumes you to do something unthinkable? Or in order to reach that dream you want to come true so badly, you decide to take another route to get it? Or you just let it die, and you are forever regretting not taking the necessary steps to make that dreams a reality?I first saw this on television umpteen years ago and in school, and I was touched by the whole plot. In the 1950s, an African-American family living in a Chicago tenement obtains a large amount of money from an insurance policy due to the death of the patriarch, and his widow (Claudia McNeil) decides to use a large portion of it as a down payment on a home in the suburbs, which is a thrill to everyone in the family, except her petulant son Walter Lee (Sidney Poitier). Walter Lee has dreams of his own, and wants the insurance money for another purpose.Walter Lee's headstrong, witty and socially conscious younger sister, Beneatha (Diana Sands), is a college student who has dreams of going to medical school and becoming a doctor and in the meanwhile, trying desperately to identify with her African roots after meeting a Nigerian exchange student (Ivan Dixon). This is a major ingredient in the script, being that this was written shortly after the birth of the Civil Rights Movement, several years before the Black Panthers were formed and at least 15 years before the women's liberation movement. Will she ever get there? Meanwhile, Walter Lee and his mother continuously clash until his mother finally breaks down and gives him a portion of the money, but she is very careful about how she wants him to use it.Meanwhile, the residents of the white suburban neighborhood where this family wants to move don't want them there. Later on, a decision must be made. Should they move to this beautiful new home where they aren't really wanted, or take the white neighbors up on their offer to buy the house back from them with a profit?The entire cast, which is the original Broadway ensemble, is stellar, especially Claudia McNeil's amazing portrayal of the widowed Lena Younger, Walter Lee's mother. She is nothing short of phenomenal - she is a proud woman, a tower of strength in the face of tragedy and although she herself is suffering, she is able to put her own grief aside to comfort the other family members. This is clearly Sidney Poitier's finest role, right up there with playing Virgil Tibbs in 1967's "In The Heat of the Night". Exploding with intensity, he accurately nails down the frustrations and pain of a black man who wants for much more for himself and his family, and pins his hopes on an unyielding dream. Ruby Dee plays Ruth, Walter Lee's wife, a beautiful woman of quiet dignity who is struggling with conflicts of her own. Also appearing in his first movie role is future Oscar winner Louis Gossett, Jr. as George Murchison, an articulate and well-to-do college student.This is still a relevant topic today, even though this film was made over 40 years ago because these things are still happening. Lorraine Hansberry, the playwright, was inspired to write this masterpiece by her own experience of moving to an all-white Chicago suburb as a child, and the very public genrification story of entertainer Nat King Cole, who faced the same kind of bigotry when he brought a house in a wealthy white neighborhood in California in 1948.Wonderful family film. Highly recommended.

A RAISIN IN THE SUN opened on Broadway 3/10/59, playing 530 times before its final 6/25/60 show. It won the 1960 Best Play Tony; Sidney Poitier and Claudia McNeill were both nominated for acting Tonys. The main cast of the play appears in this David Susskind produced COLUMBIA motion picture. Director: Daniel Petrie.SYNOPSIS--Lena Younger (McNeil) has lived in the same cramped, sunless Chicago tenement apartment all her married life. Now a widow, Lena plans to use a portion of her husband's 10K life insurance policy as down payment on a pleasant home in a white neighborhood. The balance will be evenly divided between her 35-year-old son Walter Jr. (Poitier) and 20-year-old daughter Beneatha (Sands), a college student with dreams of becoming a doctor.Beneatha is seeing Asagai (Dixon), a Nigerian exchange student, and now she preaches against "assimilation" and embraces traditional African garb and music.Walter and wife Ruth (Dee) have a young son named Travis (Perry). Like his mom and sister, Walter also has dreams. He wants to quit being a white man's chauffeur and become partners in a package store with Bobo (Fluellen) and fast-talking Willie Harris (Glenn). His hopes are crushed when the insurance check arrives and Mama refuses to invest in Walter's liquor store idea.Walter despairs that his last chance to make something of himself is gone. He spends three days in a local bar and is on the verge of getting fired. Lena comes for him, gives Walter her remaining 7K with instructions that half is for Beneatha's tuition and the rest for Walter to open a checking account with. He asks in surprise if she trusts him with this money and Mama answers "I've always trusted you."The Youngers' moving day is interrupted by a distraught Bobo. Con man Wille has disappeared with Bobo's life savings and with the money Mama entrusted to Walter. The dreams of all seem irrevocably shattered.Roy Glenn, who appears briefly as Willie, was a regular supporting player on the controversial TV sitcom,  THE AMOS 'N' ANDY SHOW . Claudia McNeil was half-Apache. Here she plays a woman much older than her 44 years. This was Louis Gossett Jr.'s movie debut.Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 imdb viewer poll rating.(8.1) A Raisin in the Sun (1961) - Sidney Poitier/Claudia McNeil/Ruby Dee/Diana Sands/Ivan Dixon/John Fiedler/Louis Gossett Jr./Stephen Perry/Joel Fluellen/Roy Glenn

Purchased this movie because my 7th grader was reading the book in class and she wanted a visual feel of the characters interactions.

This incredible movie was a gift to my Grandson. He loved it. 😍

Loved movie

The cast is exemplary (Sidney Poitier - how could you go wrong?) the tension is palpable, taking place throughout the movie mostly in a small apt. You feel trapped with each character as they each try to deal with those things that feel hold them back with a sizeable insurance payout in and of itself playing another character, an antagonist and also a ray of hope for all. I have chosen to watch it again and again and shared with my high school age children who also found it an outstanding film.

I first watched this film on tv many, many years ago, and loved it! This film provides an excellent insight into the struggles of an African American family, with great values, with three generations crammed together, living together in a 2 bedroom apartment, with a bathroom shared by other tenants in the building. Because this where the majority of the story takes place, is like watching a play.The cast is nothing short of spectacular, and their story is one of tremendous strength, hope and love that will stay with you, as it has me.I am writing this in a way that will not give too much away, because it has to be seen!I have also read this, and is proudly on my bookshelves.Even though it is an old film, it is a great reminder to where we, collectively, as a country were at that time, in contrast to where we are today.

A good human story and acting by Sydney Poiter.

Beau et grand film ! Merveilleux acteurs !

Einer der Klassiker! Gut, weil sehr nah an der Textviorlage! Diese Fassung ist jeder anderen Version auf alle Fälle vorzuziehen!

Certes un vieux film, mais de bons acteurs et une exploration de la mentalité de l'époque. Un bon moment. De détente.

Der Film ist vermutlich sehr gut, allerdings ist die DVD im amerikanischen Format, die mein europäisches Gerät nicht abspielen kann. Wäre schön, wenn das in der Produktbeschreibung stünde.

I showed this to my "film group" recently and we all agreed that it was a very powerful movie, showing racial prejudice in the 1960's from the "black" side and very well acted. The disk is two sided, but somewhat misleadingly labelled. One side is "full screen" i.e. in the original screen ratio, and the other cropped to "wide screen" to fit a 1080p HD screen. But if you want to see the widescreen version, the side labelled full screen has to be played, with the Widescreen label on top. We watched the full screen version with black bars at the side and I was pleased with the sharpness and visual balance as the director intended. Later I had a look at the widescreen version, the picture is less sharp and I think cropping off the top and bottom of the picture spoils the visual balance. This was a zone 1 DVD playable on normal Canadian players.