Reviews (14)

Rae of Hope
Sally Field gives a career turning performance in 1979's Norma Rae. Up to that point, Ms. Field was better known as a TV actress who starred in fluffy comedies like Gidget, The Flying Nun & The Girl With Something Extra. In 1976, she showed a more serious side, taking home an Emmy for her work as a young girl with multiple personalities in Sybil. After Sybil, she proceeded to star in more fluff pieces like Smokey & The Bandit, Hooper & The End with her then boyfriend Burt Reynolds. Norma Rae was a film with much more substance. In fact after reading the script, Mr. Reynolds advised her that she would win an Oscar for the film. He turned out to be quite prophetic. Ms. Field is superb in the title role. Norma is an unassuming factory worker from a small town in the South, who is widowed and has two kids with two separate fathers. That is until she meets Reuben Warshawky (Ron Liebman). Reuben is an Union organizer from New York City and he is trying to get the mill workers to set up a union. Most people ignore as they are fearful for their jobs, but Norma is intrigued and she starts meeting with Reuben to try and start a union. She is met with resistance and is bullied by her bosses, but Norma is not persuaded to quit. She feels that she has stood by her whole life without making a difference and this is her chance to actually matter. There is of course the famous scene where Norma is about to be removed from the mill and she defiantly stands on a table with the Union sign. Her co-workers one by one realize the chances she's taken for them and they shut off their machines in support. The film has some excellent supporting work from Mr. Liebman, Beau Bridges and Pat Hingle, but this is Ms. Field's film all the way. She proved Mr. Reynolds right and took home the 1979 Best Actress Oscar and set forth on a path that would add another Oscar to her collection and feature some of the best films of 1980's & 1990's.

A stunning achievement!
Director Martin Ritt reportedly commented that his film of a mother working in a southern textile mill was flawed but that he hoped it was a realtistic portrayal of life and its flaws. It's tough to find the flaws in this superb film that earned Sally Field the first of her two Oscars ("Places in the Heart" won her the second five years later). As mill worker Norma Rae, Field's character lands the reluctant role of union organizer but in the process uncovers the essence of her own character and courage. The latter is no better conveyed than in what turned out to be one of cinematic history's most memorable images when the near-beaten Norma Rae stands on a table in front of 800 co-workers and, in so doing, becomes her own person. The film expertly conveys life in a southern town, but its devastating impact is Norma Rae's gradual emergence as a truly courageous person who is willing to risk it all to literally stand up for what she knows is right. Field's riveting performance reeled in every major acting award the year the film was released, and justly so. It may well remain her best work ever.

A textbook example of how to organize in your workplace!!
I finally got the chance to watch this movie after missing out for almost 20 years. I should have watched this film years ago. Not only is Sally Field's acting great, but the screenplay was just as great as well. My only problem was the length of the movie as I thought 20 minutes could have been chopped off. With that said, this movie should be mandatory watching for all workers. If you care about the conditions in your workplace, watch it and learn how to organize your workplace!! It's a film much needed for required viewing in our society today!

One of the 10 Best Performances by an Actress Ever!!!
"Norma Rae" contains the thrilling performance by Sally Field as a woman on the wrong side of the tracks of life who decides it's time to stand up for the rights of her co-workers at a small textile plant.

She is offered and accepts a promotion when the plant's management tries to divert her, but a supervisory role doesn't appeal to her when her mother loses her hearing and she has to chastise her father for poor performance. Logically, inevitably she becomes more committed to fighting for a better life for herself and her loved ones and joins forces with a union organizer who came down from NYC. She ends up sacrificing all, including her self esteem, to give the workers more control over their working conditions.

Chills ran down my spine during the scene where she held up the "union" sign and another where she rebuked her husband for being non-supportive of her union efforts. I am not a union supporter, but I know good drama, strong performances, and a logical and interesting plot when I see it, so I recommend this fine film to all.

Hopefully they will give as much time and attention to dubbing and subtitling this movie into languages of third world countries because that's where this textile plant probably relocated a year after the events this film portrayed. A sad, sad outcome to an ideal.

No matter what the outcome, Sally Field delivers one of the finest performances in film history so "Norma Rae" gets only my highest recommendations!

TWO THUMBS UP! FIVE STARS OF EXCELLENCE!!!!
This movie is definitely a monster of a hit. Sally Field was great playing the single mother who wouldn't let unsafe conditions go undetected. This movie was Oscar material. It was strong, smart, and very uplifting. I like the part when she had the black men in the meeting and she told her husband played by Jeff Bridges that "they didn't give me a hard time". Whatever you say about it, but it's AWESOME! 10+ ... Read more

Amazon.com

Is Back to the Beach a masterpiece of postmodernism? Or just a slaphappy hoot? Hey, why can't it be both? Either way, this is a zippy tribute to/spoof of the 1960s Beach Party pictures. Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello, landlocked in the Midwest since their surfing days, return to the California sun with their wild kids. There are mucho gags about the earlier films (including Frankie on a surfboard in front of a cheesy rear-projection wave), and cameos (much of the Leave It to Beaver cast, surf-guitar king Dick Dale). Pee-wee Herman sails in to perform "Surfin' Bird," and Annette teaches a thousand people "The Jamaican Ska." All that's missing is Erich von Zipper. This is a genuinely smart and funny movie, although it helps to know the original films, so you can savor the moment a beach boy gazes at Annette and marvels, "After all that surfing, her hair's perfectly dry!" --Robert Horton ... Read more

Reviews (26)

A wonderful parody of 60's beach movies. Great fun!
For anyone who has sat through the mindless Frankie and Annette beach movies this is a real treat! In retrospect, the original movies are fun time capsules of the early sixties and this film trashes them all. Frankie and Annette are back as a married couple with children returning to their old beach for a vacation. The plot is the same lame one used in every beach movie (surfers vs. punks, jealous girlfriends, boy loses girl, boy gets girl, etc...) and there are numerous cameos throughout the film (Alan Hale, Bob Denver, the Cleavers, Peewee Herman, and many others). Connie Stevens is Great, and everyone looks like they had a blast making this film. Anyone who has any love for the old beach movies will really enjoy the self-parody of "Back to the Beach".

For those who hated beach movies, I loved this one
I absolutely refused to watch this movie in the theatres, or on video. A friend asked if I had seen it and I responded 'I hated the beach movies." He responded, "so did the people who made this movie, you'll enjoy it." I watched it, I loved it, I still love it! It's sarcastic, which I believe, is why a lot of people don't "get it." Great sarcasm, great cast (who better to make fun of themselves?) and great Frankie Avalon and Dick Dale surf music. Everything that was great about the surf movies (music)and everything that was terrible, made with fun.

A wonderful parody of 60's beach movies. Great fun!
For anyone who has sat through the mindless Frankie and Annette beach movies this is a real treat! In retrospect, the original movies are fun time capsules of the early sixties and this film trashes them all. Frankie and Annette are back as a married couple with children returning to their old beach for a vacation. The plot is the same lame one used in every beach movie (surfers vs. punks, jealous girlfriends, boy loses girl, boy gets girl, etc...) and there are numerous cameos throughout the film (Alan Hale, Bob Denver, the Cleavers, Peewee Herman, and many others). Connie Stevens is Great, and everyone looks like they had a blast making this film. Anyone who has any love for the old beach movies will really enjoy the self-parody of "Back to the Beach".

Much funnier than platoon
There are quite a few people proclaiming this the worst movie ever made.
They're wrong.
This movie was so funny that I had to be rushed to the hospital for emergency intestinal repair surgery when it ended.
This movie may be the answer you seek, even if the question is about dry cleaning. See this movie.
Buy it, rent it, do something. We must save this before "they" ban it. It's an important piece of cinema, and a work of art.
Most importantly, Salvador Dali loved this movie.

Ska, ska, ska
I grew up watching this movie. I looked forward to watching it each summer. BACK TO THE BEACH pokes fun at it's two lead stars - Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello (who produced this film). This is part of the hilarity of this film. It spoofs the beach films for which the stars are famous for. This would be Annette Funicello's last theatrical release before her multiples sclurosis sets in. She has the greater parts in this movie. One highlight in the song "Jamaica Ska" for which she sings and dances. What you have to remember is that all the cheesy dialogue and lame jokes are intentional. Remember this and the movie will put a stitch in your side from laughing so much. So in the spirit of this movie I'll say - Dude, you totally gotta see this rituous movie. ... Read more

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Flesh-starved furballs invade an L.A. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

I'm Alive
I can relate to the 40 yr-old wife. I am 70, and consider myself a latent extrovert. I will purchase this video, and send it to my "girl"-friend. She needs to lighten-up. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Drivel
As a tribute to the ROCKY AND HIS FRIENDS (1959-1961) and THE BULLWINKLE SHOW (1961-1964) television series, David Thomas and Sally Kellerman star respectively as BORIS AND NATASHA, the two inept East European spies appearing in the original cartoon animation as adversaries of Bullwinkle and the squirrel. (Yeah, ok, even "old time" TV wasn't necessarily scintillating.)

In B&N, Pottsylvania's despotic Fearless Leader (Christopher Neame) orders our two heroes to infiltrate America in order to track down a fugitive scientist, who's developed a microchip that can reverse time. Once in the U.S., Natasha is "discovered" by hair stylist Jose (Jose Eber), who makes Natasha a media star. Only Boris, troubled by his partner's loss of focus and dedication, keeps the assignment on track.

There are a few decent sight gags, e.g. Boris and Natasha in fat suit disguises and John Travolta in a fleeting cameo. For me, however, the best feature of the film is long-legged Sally Kellerman, who manages to be sexy in a ditzy sort of way. But otherwise, the storyline is drivel. Even a 5-minute scene that includes John Candy as retired Pottsylvania super agent Kallishak, who now has a shoe-shine stand in the Big Apple, adds nothing.

Only die-hard fans of the original small screen adventures may find this movie entertaining. Having said that, where are Dudley Do-Right and Snidely Whiplash when you need them? (Daniel Day-Lewis would make a great Whiplash!)

GET THAT CHIP BORIS & NATASHA !!!!!!!!!!!!
This is like The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle, only with a love story. But, don't get me wrong its got mystery,comedy,and a mysterious professer,agent,chip,man in weird shoes,& man named Manelli.Want to see how it all pulls together,well then, buy it! ... Read more