Claudine (1974)

Thanks for the memories!

Blistering performances.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

I just watched this for the first time and absolutely love this movie. The movie shows a single mom trying to raise her 6 kids and having to deal with "Mr. Welfare" all up in her business. The soundtrack for the movie was just perfect. I will be going out today to see if I can find the movie and soundtrack. I loved the characters and how they made the movie about real life situations, its crazy because they still happen today. The plot was realistic ans easy to follow. Just perfect all across the board!!! I just wished I would have seen this movie sooner. But I'm glad that I was able to catch it when I did. A great movie to watch with your loved ones.

Calaudine (Diahann Carroll) is 36, unmarried and has six children and is trying to raise them all on Welfare. Garbage truck guy Roop (James Earl Jones) starts romancing her. Her kids don't trust him and she doesn't trust herself. This movie chronicles how shes deals with her relationship with Roop and how to deal with her six kids--two who are teenagers and starting to fight back.I've never even HEARD of this movie until FXM showed it one night. It seems to have disappeared and thats too bad. It's easily got to be one of the most honest and accurate portrayals about growing up poor and black in the city. I'm not black but I've read books on the subject and had some friends who lived like this and this movie hits the subjects right on. Also this is one of the few movies where the kids act and talk like kids--not like little adults. The language is strong (there's plenty of casual swearing and sex talk) but that's how people act and talk. Also this film doesn't shrink from Claudine and Roop having sex--it presents it in a matter of fact way. The script is OK but tries to cover all the bases of being poor and struggling with kids--that's WAY too much for one movie. Also it seems to pile one disaster after another on Claudine. It's gets to be overkill. I also didn't buy the happy shots during the closing credits. Still this is an exceptional movie that seems to have fallen between the cracks. The acting is great--Carroll and Jones are so young and full of life and energy. Carroll was nominated for an Oscar for this film. Also, among her kids, is Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs who went on the star in the TV series "Welcome Back Kotter".I do have to point out that the language is STRONG in this one and it has flashes of nudity (female). It wouldn't get a PG today--it would get an R. Still it's just being honest and there's nothing wrong with that!

After playing a smartly-dressed working mom on television for years, Diahann Carroll finally gets back to her dramatic roots and triumphs here as "Claudine", a single welfare mother in a houseful of unruly kids who begins seeing a well-meaning garbage collector (nicely played by a low-keyed James Earl Jones). Dated product of the 1970s has all the expected stereotypes, but director John Berry has fun with the convincing urban milieu and gets mileage out of Claudine's monetary predicaments, played for sarcastic laughs. The script brings up some all-too-realistic problems which it hasn't a hope in hell of solving, but the sharp, knowing, wise-ass dialogue lends a bracing quality to these characters--one respects them almost immediately. It's a fairy tale, a black variation on "Cinderella", yet the film is a bit overreaching, hoping to be both a lightweight romp and a diatribe on how we're all victims of the Man. Despite the hardships we presume are to come, the overall absence of malice--coupled with a cast full of brash, wonderful kooks--is ingratiating. **1/2 from ****

If this film is examined closely, it's a bit sad. It is detailed enough to touch upon very real problems children, who grow up in poor, dysfunctional environments. Yet, it retains it's comedic value, with spirited performances by Diahann Carroll and James Earl Jones. The sadness lies in the struggles and dysfunction of the mother (Carroll), who cannot truly help her children, not because she doesn't want to, or try, but because, it's obvious she doesn't know how. Remember, this is a comedy, but if you've never seen this, or if you have, watch this film and see the humanity, in the characters. Good film.