WasAnnon Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Spoonatects Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

aabigbill John Steinbeck was very disheartened by how many viewed his portrayal of the residents of "Tortilla Flat". He wrote in the the foreword of a 1937 edition of the book,"..it did not occur to me that paisanos were curious or quaint, dispossessed or underdoggish. They are people whom I know and like, people who merge successfully with their habitat...good people of laughter and kindness, of honest lusts and direct eyes. If I have done them harm by telling a few of their stories I am sorry. It will never happen again." The only sad thing is that view was of the times. "Tortilla Flat" is a great movie, a movie of great saddest and wonderful joys. Well worth the time to watch.

lastliberal It could only happen in Hollywood. They buy the rights to a Steinbeck novel about Mexicans and Portuguese in California and put all white actors in the cast.Now, maybe I can buy Hedy Lamarr as a Portuguese beauty, but Spenser Tracy and John Garfield as Mexicans? Ludicrous casting, especially when the story is so ethnic.But, maybe it was genius as common stereotypes about Afro- and Mexican-Americans are played out in the form of Tracy, as a shiftless bum who mooches off his friends and manipulates them into providing him with wine and a roof over his head. Pilon (Tracy) is not interested in satisfying anything but his own belly and even goes after a poor wood-seller called The Pirate, in the form of Frank Morgan, who, in a Scorcese moment, got the Oscar nomination he should have gotten three years earlier for The Wizard of Oz.Lamarr was as beautiful as ever, and John Garfield did a great job as her pursuer, even as he had to avoid complete ruin from the machinations of Pilon.

MartinHafer I don't know if Hispanics are offended by this film. My frustration with this film is NOT because I am politically correct (I am proud that I am NOT), but because the casting and performances were just so stupid. So, even if most are NOT offended, I was offended by how stupid the studio thought the viewers were to believe that Spencer Tracy, Heddy Lamarr, John Garfield and Sheldon Leonard were even the least bit plausible as CHICANOS!! Come off it--I think Hattie McDaniel or Maureen O'Hara would have been about as believable if they'd been offered these roles! As a result, it looked more like a performance of Jose Jimenez than a drama about the plight of these poor immigrants.

cman2099x I find it difficult to believe that this picture is not remembered more fondly by film critics and historians. I went into this film expecting nothing more than a few chuckles and a few yawns. I was wrong! This picture should be remembered in the same light as other great comedies of the 1940's such as THE LADY EVE, ARSENIC AND OLD LACE, and THE BANK DICK.