MovieChat Forums > Tobacco Road (1941) Discussion > We do not like these people...

We do not like these people...

posted 17 years ago by xerses13
24 replies | jump to latest

Was rummaging around through some old tapes (VHS) and came across TOBACCO ROAD recorded off the OLD AMC. I watched it, then thought about it and realized that there was not one (1) character that I cared for. More then that, I felt they should all be STERALIZED so this much laziness, slougth and stupidity could not be continued into future generations. These people have no right to reproduce, all we felt was a complete feeling of contempt and no empathy at all.

[–] bullit2513 16 years ago

To a certain point, Jeeter and Ada I could go along with, maybe even Ellie May because she doesn't do much. But Dude could be the most obnoxious, annoying character I've ever seen in a movie. I wanted to deck him whenever he talked or did the car horn impression. When he got popped in the face by Ward Bond, I wanted to shake that man's hand! And flipping the car over was a nice touch too.

"Congratulations, Major. It appears that at last you have found yourself a real war." Ben Tyreen

[–] dim_sumus 16 years ago

Not liking these people is kind of the point of the movie. It's a very broad comedy about inbred Southern white trash. Should you ever read the novel on which this movie is based, you'll see the caricatures are even nastier.

[–] HarlowMGM 15 years ago

It's a wild satire on white trash - yes it's malicious but I found it very funny. But you will never see it revived or remade that's for sure because it is frankly not politically correct. And yes, the book and play were much wilder than the film.

[–] davegering 15 years ago

How do you feel about sterilizing people who can't spell "sterilized" or "sloth"?

[–] Skrbi 15 years ago

davegering you took the werds rite out of my mowth

[–] ronm1945 14 years ago

I totally agree. To me the highlight of the movie was when Lov punched that idiot Dude senseless.

[–] wtl471629 14 years ago

The movie is a tragic comedy. It is funny but at the same time there were people like that and that is the tragedy. Jetter has come on hard times like most folks on Tobacco Road. But at one time it was prosperous. The movie indicates that at one time years ago when Jitter was younger that he was a good worker and the area prospered. But hard times came and he became shiftless as the years went by. A sad ending.

[–] xerses13 14 years ago

wtl471629; Have recently seen the picture again on FMC. Nothing has changed our opinion of one of utter contempt. Sad thing is that 3/4 of the Worlds population is no different.

[–] ronaldt49 14 years ago

Near Augusta, Ga. and across the Savannah River from Aiken S.C. Tobacco Road does actually exist. Whether the people there are in any way remotely like the people in the novel/movie is unknown to me as I've never been there. Remember that Augusta was mentioned several times in the novel/movie. If there are any people from that area who read this, perhaps they could comment on Tobacco Road, then and now.

[–] xerses13 14 years ago

ronaldt49; Thanks for the info. I would hope that the if there were people like that they are now extinct. Would rather have the Dinosaurs back.

[–] Geechee 14 years ago

To start with, I grew up not far from the original Tobacco Road. Yes, there are still some folks this ignorant and lazy, but, as I traveled around the country, I found that such people are not confined to the south. You can find the same ignorance and laziness all over the country. It's just more acceptable to point at and deride southerners. Southerners are, to some degree, still considered the proverbial black sheep of the country. There is 'white trash' in every state. Some just don't like to admit it. There are Jeeter Lesters and Lov Benseys all over the country.

Caldwell created these characters based on some real characters he came across during the depression. He didn't set out to create characters that readers would like or admire. Comments about sterialization of such people shows far more ignorance and bigotry than any of these characters show.

If all characters in all books were smart, educated and likeable, it would be a boring world.

"If I don't suit chu, you kin cut mah thoat!"

[–] xerses13 14 years ago

moliz01-2; Your points were salient and JEETER and his brood in no way represent typical Southern People. Not the ones I have met at least. As for 'sterilization' it is a practical solution if extreme. After all 50 years of the Great Society Programs and there extents have not solved the problem, that will, permanently.

[–] borg1005 14 years ago

Granted the movie portrayed these people as over-the-top stereotypes, but not by much.

I had to work in South Carolina in the '60s. We rented a nice two-story home in a decent neighborhood. Then some kin of these people moved in next door. My brothers car, on two occasions, had the gas siphoned out and a spare stolen from the trunk. Every time these people saw you looking their way they gave you the finger.

One winters day we had a "blizzard" of about two inches of snow. The next thing hear brakes squealing and a lot of Yee-Doggies hee-hawing. Here these yokels were speeding down the street, slamming on the brakes and skidding/cartwheeling through the intersection time and again. They gave white trash a bad name.

After a month or so they were thrown out for non-payment. We were not sad - and the thefts/vandalism stopped.

I saw them again in this movie as Dude's offspring.

Sorry, but in my book, sterilization DOES have its merits.

[–] xerses13 14 years ago

borg1005; Were you YANKEE? Hard to believe but some of these hicks still have a death grip on the Civil War! When my Father was in the 'Big One' he came up against a-lot of this Southern nonsense in the Army. NON of our Family had even been here during the conflict. Did that matter too these hicks, NO. 'Yous All from the NORTH and burned ATLANTA'! GONE WITH THE WIND was their de facto Bible.

Ignorance that JEETER and his brood breeds then and now should be nipped in the bud.

[–] lastmidnite2 13 years ago

So you believe in sterilization? So did the nazis. Maybe all poor people around the country could be rounded up and put into camps. You could volunteer to be the guy who goes around telling them it's time to take a "shower".

[–] xerses13 13 years ago

lastmidnite2; No doubt I am supposed to reply with some sort of outrage. Sorry to disappoint you. No need for the "shower" with 'sterilization'. You sound like a likely candidate to start with. Trouble with people like you is that you can breed and vote and force your 'guilt trips' on the rest of us.

[–] joeparkson 9 years ago

Today we call these people the working poor.

Soy 'un hijo de la playa'

[–] xerses13 9 years ago

joeparkson: Except JEETER and its brood did not even WORK. Even with the War-Time Boom (WWII) I doubt they would have found useful employment. The younger ones failing their entrance exams to the Armed Forces. Just totally useless.

[–] noirgirl 8 years ago

Well, the two kids that were left didn't work...they seemed like something was "wrong" with them. The other children who survived left for a better working life. Maybe the parents were naturally shiftless, they were just beaten down.

[–] xerses13 8 years ago

noirgirl; Maybe this is just a case of too much backwoods inbreeding. All those 1st Cousins reproducing cannot produce superior offspring.

[–] noirgirl 8 years ago

It's interesting that the author of the novel was a supporter of eugenics.

[–] xerses13 8 years ago

noirgirl; Was not aware of that, will do a little more reading, thanks.

[–] DeepFriedJello 8 years ago

If I remember correctly, 17 children, 5 buried in the field. More than likely when the surviving children were younger they helped out on the farm. When the captain invested in Jeeter's farm, I just thought that that was a poor investment. They will be in the same boat in 6 month's. no crop and no farm. Or were they going to con Lov into working the farm, in trade for Ellie May?

[–] xerses13 8 years ago

DeepFriedJello; You are most likely right. Every year the same thing with the same results and expecting something different. A definition of insanity.