SparkMore n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Golden Davis Having been on set a few days I can say the acting overall was very good. A good early dramatic performance by Oprah. (Hint: She get's in a funky blue mood by singing spirituals offstage between takes) And a very impressive performance by Victor Love. Since everybody was working for scale all the names were to be listed and evenly credited.Question: Who played Oprah's daughter? Diamond Dawn Cook (AKA: AdrienneCook) That's not in the IMDb database.I was also impressed by the rat wrangler. Who knew so much effort went into that one scene. One rat to skitter across the floor. One to cower in the corner. And one killed, though not really with a frying pan.

bakerd1-1 Of all the movies I've seen, this one rates almost at the bottom (Haunted Mansion, Nothing but Trouble and a few others keep it from reaching rock bottom.) It is hasty, the story is shaky and the events depicted are poorly acted. Of course we have to lay some of this at the book writer's door. The book the movie was filmed after is outrageously ponderous, and illogical. Oprah gives a palatable appearance as "Bigger's" mom, but is not nearly at her potential. Other famous performers also seem to be at their worst. The plot which centers around an African American who decided to take a job as a chauffeur. In driving the family daughter to a communist dinner he becomes acquainted. One thing leads to another and the girl gets drunk. Now the family he's working for are not against blacks, but he thinks they are. So when he comes home he puts her to bed, but she begins caterwauling. The blind mother (yes) hears this, so Bigger tries to silence her, but instead smothers her. Now fearing he's really in trouble for killing a white girl he does what any logical thinking man would do--he shoves her into the coal furnace. So investigators are carrying out a missing person case and lo they check the furnace (the idiot didn't have the foresight to get rid of the ashes. He is then arrested and the last hour or so are obnoxious segments from the courtroom. If your desperate for a bad movie, this one could do the job, but if you seriously want to learn about culture issues in th 40's and 50's or see a good drama, there are a lot better options. Avoid this.

R.C. I'm not sure what Diane Silver was thinking when she was making this movie, but it obviously had nothing to do with Richard Wright's novel, which the movie is based on.We read the novel this past summer for AP English 12, and just watched the film. During periodic note-taking and checking of the clock, I contemplated the chances of being struck by lightning. Of course, the sky was completely clear, and I was forced to watch the rest of the movie... and then write a 5-paragraph essay on it.Wright's novel discussed very real themes, of the mind of a killer and the psychology behind it. Silver's movie turned a murderer into a victim, which is NOT what Wright wanted (see: "How Bigger was Born" 454).I'm going to make this short and sweet: if you want to leave your consciousness, in Raphael Lambert's words, unsullied, skip the movie and read the book. The 1986 adaptation is not thought-provoking material.... ::sigh:: Now I have to write the essay.

vchimpanzee Bigger is a teenager who is so poor he and his mother must share a bedroom in an apartment that appears to be falling apart, and they don't have enough money to eat well. When they get out of bed, two other hidden children pop up from under the covers--Bigger's sister sleeps with her mother, and his brother sleeps with him, and the males must turn around while the females get dressed. To improve their situation, Bigger's mother knows of a great opportunity for him and hopes he will finally get a job he can hold on to. If he doesn't, things could be even worse (at least they HAVE a home now).Bigger goes to be with his friends when he should be interviewing for the job. He lets them know he will NOT work for the white man. Yet he does finally show up at the home of a rich family, and immediately turns into what his friends would likely call an Uncle Tom--not Stepin Fetchit, but respectful and polite.Everything appears to be going well for a while, but then something quite terrible changes the situation drastically.Oprah Winfrey came across quite convincingly as a poor black mother. This was in the days before she became a superstar talk show host. I won't say it's too bad she was successful in her best-known career, because she did so much good, but she could have been quite a fine actress. Victor Love was good as Bigger, primarily because Bigger had to be so convincing in order to keep his job. A great performance came from John Karlen as a defense lawyer (yes, someone needed a lawyer).This was an African Heritage Network Monthly Movie Classic. It wasn't as good as some movies selected for this honor, but it was pretty good.