In Dubious Battle (2016)

Excellent, a Must See

Best movie ever!

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel of the same name. Mac (James Franco) and Jim (Nat Wolff) are worker organizers seen as communists by many. They infiltrate a group of apple pickers in California to create a strike and all the turmoil that follows.While the film is basically pro-labor it does show some of labors dubious tactics as well as a brief land owners argument. The acting was decent with Vincent D'Onofrio, Robert Duvall, Ed Harris, and Sam Shepard in support roles. Selena Gomez was reluctant to have James Franco deliver her baby.Guide: No swearing or nudity. Near sex scene.

My wife and I watched this at home on BluRay from our public library. In fact she only watched the first half of it because the story moves very slowly.The movie is a screen adaptation of a John Steinbeck novel of the same title. Steinbeck was a California valley and Stanford man, as was James Franco, who read Steinbeck's work in his younger days and made a personal connection with the author who incidentally died 10 years before Franco was born.In the movie, also directed by him, James Franco is activist Mac. We don't learn much about his backstory but he appears to be sympathetic to the cause of migrant workers and ultimately gives up his life for their causes. As the script at the end of the movie tells us, in the 1930s there were perhaps 2000 strikes, most of them ineffective, but ultimately led to recognition of workers' rights to organize and eventually laws regarding minimum wages.The core point in this movie is migrant workers were lured to pick apples in the valley at a promised wage of $3 per day, not much but in the Great Depression a livable wage. When they arrived, essentially broke, the owners would tell them that unfortunately they could only pay $1 per day, take it or leave it.Mac convinces them ultimately to stand up for their rights, to strike until they received a fair wage. Even though the movie is well under 2 hours it seems long because most of it moves slowly and we intuit where it is going ... several clashes between the migrant workers, the orchard owners, and local lawmen who don't want the trouble in their community. There are beatings and shootings, houses and barns burned down in the middle of the night. So in all it isn't a pleasant movie to watch but it depicts an important chapter in American history.

This film tells the story of a group of workers in an Apple farm in the early 1900's in the United States of America, who demand improved pay and working conditions. As they rise up against exploitation by the farm owner, they pay begin to pay a price they cannot imagine.I had low expectations when I began watching it, as I have not enjoyed many films directed by James Franco. However, the story of "In Dubious Battle" is unexpectedly engaging, proving my preconceptions wrong. Neither side will budge from their positions, leading to an escalation of clash, ultimately leading to violence and death. It indeed is a dubious battle for both sides, as morality is eroded by desperation, greed and many other factors. It is also captivating to see how the roles of Vincent D'Onofrio and Nat Wolff change throughout the film. I find this film captivating, engaging and thought provoking.

"If you don't make trouble then nothing's gonna change." Jim (Wolf) is growing up in the depression and is tired and angry at the way his family and those he knows are being treated. Wanting to do something about it he meets up with Mac (Franco). Together they start a worker revolt that leads to a strike, but soon things become more dangerous than they expected. This is a movie I went in expecting it to be slow and boring. I mean how can a movie about a fruit picking strike during the great depression be good? I don't know if it was my expectations that played a part but this movie was very good. The movie was tense and I was surprisingly on the edge for most of it. The acting is amazing, but with the cast it has that's not a surprise at all. This film is based off a novel by John Steinbeck and really felt true to his style. The movie plays out as a great companion to The Grapes Of Wrath, this one just had a little more action. Overall, a surprisingly tense and good movie that I do recommend. One of the better historical fiction movies I have seen. I give this a high B+.