The Color Purple (film)

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The Color Purple

Directed by	Steven Spielberg
Produced by	Steven Spielberg Kathleen Kennedy Frank Marshall
Written by	Screenplay by Menno Meyjes based on the novel by Alice Walker
Starring	Danny Glover Whoopi Goldberg Oprah Winfrey
Music by	Quincy Jones Andraé Crouch Rod Temperton Jeremy Lubbock Caiphus Semenya
Cinematography	Allen Daviau
Editing by	Michael Kahn
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	December 18, 1985
Running time	154 mins
Country	U.S.
Language	English
Budget	$15 million
IMDb profile

The Color Purple is the ninth film directed by Steven Spielberg, and was released 1985. It is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Alice Walker. The film tells the story of a young African American girl named Celie and shows the problems faced by African American women during the early 1900s; including poverty, racism and sex discrimination. The character Celie is transformed as she finds her self-worth through the help of two strong female companions.

1 Plot summary
2 Main cast
3 Awards and nominations
4 Trivia
5 Differences from the book
6 References
7 See also
8 References
9 External links

Taking place in the Southern United States during the early- to mid-1900s, the film follows the life of a poor African American girl, Celie (Goldberg), whose abuse begins when she is young. By the time she is fourteen she has already had two children by her father (later discovered to be her step-father), who takes them away from her at childbirth and forces Celie to marry a local widower whom she calls "Mister," but his name is Albert Johnson (Glover). Mister, who had his eyes on Celie's younger, more attractive sister Nettie, treats Celie like a slave, making her clean up his disorderly household and take care of his unruly children. Mister beats, and sometimes, rapes her often, intimidating Celie into near silence and submission. Nettie comes to live with them, and there is brief period of happiness as the sisters spend time together and Nettie begins to teach Celie how to read. This is short-lived, however; after Nettie refuses Mister's predatory affections once too often, he kicks her out.

Mister's old flame, the jazz singer Shug Avery (Margaret Avery), whom Mister has carried a torch for many years, comes to live with him and Celie. Delirious with sickness, Shug initially insults Celie by saying "you sure is ugly" on their first meeting, but they eventually become close friends and Shug helps Celie begin to see her worth as a human being. Shug and Celie also entertain a lesbian affair; this was more pronounced in the book, and is only hinted at in the film. Celie also finds strength in Sofia (Winfrey), who marries Mister's son Harpo (Willard Pugh). Sofia has also suffered abuse from the men in her family, but unlike Celie, she refuses to tolerate it. This high-spiritedness proves to be her downfall, however, as a rude remark to the town mayor's wife ends with Sofia in jail.

Nettie, meanwhile, has been living with missionaries in Africa and writing Celie often. Mister confiscates Nettie's letter, telling Celie that she will never hear from her sister again. During a visit from Shug and her new husband, Celie and Shug discover years worth of Nettie's correspondence. Reconnecting with her sister and the assurance that she is still alive helps give Celie the strength to stand up to Mister, threatening his life and then leaving him permanently.

Celie opens up a haberdashery selling "one size fits all" slacks. Upon the death of her father, she learns that he was, in fact, her stepfather, and that she has inherited a house from her real father. Meanwhile, Mister's fields languish as he slips into alcohol-fueled idleness. The film ends when Nettie and Celie's children, Adam and Olivia (raised in Africa), are reunited with Celie at last.

Albert (Mister): Danny Glover
Celie: Whoopi Goldberg
Shug Avery: Margaret Avery (Táta Vega provided Avery's singing voice)
Sofia: Oprah Winfrey
Harpo: Willard E. Pugh
Nettie: Akosua Busia

Oprah Winfrey as Sofia.

The film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards (including Best Picture, Best Actress for Goldberg and Best Supporting Actress for both Avery and Winfrey) but saw none of them awarded. The big Oscar winner that year was instead the colonial drama Out of Africa.

Some critics pointed to the controversy that occurred during the production of the film as the reason for it getting snubbed by the Academy. The Color Purple is the most nominated film (tied with The Turning Point) in history to not receive any Oscars. Some African American civil rights leaders were upset that a film about a disadvantaged and abused black woman was being directed by Spielberg, who was better known for his fantasy and adventure films rather than a filmmaker of serious dramas.

Best Actress (Drama) - Whoopi Goldberg

Best Picture (Drama)
Best Director - Steven Spielberg
Best Supporting Actress - Oprah Winfrey
Best Original Score - Quincy Jones

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

DVD cover.

This movie marked the screen debuts of Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey.
The film's score was done by Quincy Jones. This (along with Twilight Zone: The Movie, scored by Jerry Goldsmith) is the only time since before Sugarland Express that someone has scored a Spielberg film other than John Williams.
Alice Walker wrote the original screenplay under the title Watch For Me in the Sunset.^{[citation needed]} Walker, however, was unhappy with the finished script, and asked Steven Spielberg not to use it, so Menno Meyjes was assigned the task. Alice meanwhile became part of the movie's production team as the project consultant (as mentioned in the closing credits).
In the scene where she confronts Celie in the cornfield, Sofia says "You want a dead son-in-law, Miss Celie?". Sofia is referring to Harpo, who is Celie's stepson, not son-in-law (this mistake was also made in the book, but it could be deliberate).
Alice Walker chose Whoopi Goldberg for the role of Celie after seeing her standup act in San Francisco, appreciating the fact that she could perform as many different characters. Goldberg was invited to come in and perform her stand-up routine for Spielberg, Quincy Jones, and several others. Goldberg did a bit about E.T. landing in Oakland and getting busted for drug possession, which she had been asked not to perform in the past.^{[citation needed]}
Tina Turner refused the role of Shug Avery in the film, saying "I lived Celie's life with Ike. I don't want to live it again".^{[citation needed]} Patti LaBelle also auditioned for the role.^{[citation needed]}
In the scene in the cornfield where Sofia confronts Celie after finding out she told Harpo to beat her, Oprah Winfrey wasn't talking to Whoopi Goldberg, but was looking at a clapperboard. She did the scene in one take.^{[citation needed]}
The baby that Celie gives birth to in the opening scene was a rubber doll, while the sound of the baby crying was a recording of Steven Spielberg's son, Max, who was born early on in the production.^{[citation needed]}
Danny Glover admitted on one of the special features on the two-disc special edition DVD that he hated doing the scene where he has to separate Celie and Nettie.
Oprah Winfrey has long maintained in interviews that while filming the juke joint scene (which was the first one she filmed), she looked into the camera while saying her line "Miss Celie, it sure is good to see you" on the first take, prompting Steven Spielberg to yell "Cut!"^{[citation needed]}
Much of the movie was filmed in North Carolina.^[1]

"Mister" is not given a full name in the novel. In fact, a blank is in place where his name would be. In the film, he is called "Albert" by Shug and others, and the "Johnson" surname is clearly seen on the mailbox and mail he receives.
The scene where Mister separates Celie and Nettie, then throws Nettie off his farm, did not happen in the novel. Instead, Nettie runs away before Mister had the chance. The reason for her sudden departure is the same as it was in the movie (with Nettie hitting Mister), but it isn't revealed until later on in the novel when Celie is reading her letters
The novel goes into more details concerning Nettie's time in Africa, including her subsequent marriage to the Reverend after Corrine dies.
The novel also reveals that Corrine thought that Olivia and Adam were Nettie's children (not Celie's) because they look like her. This is the reason they allowed Nettie to join them for the missionary trip to Africa.
The scene where Celie meets Corrine and Olivia in the store, Olivia is a baby. In the novel she is six years old.
The novel details the relationship between Grady (Shug's husband) and Squeak (Harpo's girlfriend). They get together and move to Panama where he grows marijuana. Eventually Squeak leaves him and returns to the US.
In the novel, Mister did not have anything to do with Nettie's return to the US.
By the end of the novel, Mister and Celie have formed a friendship and spend time together. She even teaches him how to sew.