MovieChat Forums > The Grapes of Wrath (1940) Discussion > Did you catch it when their truck almost...

Did you catch it when their truck almost tipped over?

posted 10 years ago by raketex
5 replies | jump to latest

After the Joads had stopped at the Colorado River at the California/Arizona border to take a dip, once they got going again, did you notice that climbing back onto the road from the shoulder the truck's front driver's side wheel actually left the ground?!

You could hear some short vocal outbursts of concern which would be expected - but I couldn't tell if that was the actual recorded sound of the incident or if it was just recorded and looped in later.

Somehow, I can't imagine that they scripted in that popping-a-wheelie scene so it must have been rather exciting for all of those people on the truck when that happened. Another one of those "real-life" accidents that just happened to get captured on film.

[–] joekiddlouischama 10 years ago

You could hear some short vocal outbursts of concern which would be expected - but I couldn't tell if that was the actual recorded sound of the incident or if it was just recorded and looped in later.

That's a good question. I would guess the latter, but there is a great sense of spontaneity to the cries and the overall incident, whether it actually proved spontaneous or not.

[–] holbrookp 10 years ago

I knew Shirley Mills, who played Ruthie. One of her strongest memories of making the film was the unscripted moment when the truck nearly turned over and they all screamed. She referred to that several times in the years I knew her.

I once had a website about her and her film career.

"All necessary truth is its own evidence." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

[–] Soujurn 9 years ago

That is very interesting. Another good scene is when they have to change a tire and Jane Darwell sits on the front bumper and you hear Henry Fonda say to her to get the hell off the bumper as it'll be heavy enough as it is.

"Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government."
-Dennis

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] tropicaldiver2001 7 years ago

That was filmed on the old highway bridge at Topock, Arizona. I remember driving over that in the 1950s as a child going to visit relatives in Arizona. The bridge was a shiny metal color and had curved trusses on the sides. It was replaced by a modern interstate bridge in the 1960s. You can see the new bridge at the beginning of Easy Rider.

At that location California across the river is just as desolate as Arizona. In the film It is only when they arrive in Tehachapi after the Barstow checkpoint that it starts to look green.