| | | It's About Life. It's About Love. It's About Us.
Features: DVD, Pan and Scan (TV Format), Widescreen, English, French, Spanish, Subtitled
Based on Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Color Purple is a richly-textured, powerful film set in America's rural south. Whoopi Goldberg, winner of the Best Actress Golden Globe Award and an Oscar nomination, makes a triumphant screen debut as the radiant, indomitable Celie, the story's central character. Her impressive portrayal is complimented by a distinguished cast that includes Danny Glover, Oprah Winfrey, Margaret Avery, Adolph Caesar, Rae Dawn Chong and Akosua Busia. The Color Purple marks a new, more mature color in Steven Spielberg's artistic palette. It is an exquisitely crafted, landmark film that will be treasured and talked about for years to come.
"A work of heart and soul dazzlingly performed by Spielberg's tightest ensemble..." Bill Chambers, Film Freak Central
"Rich performances..." Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide
"Spielberg adapts Alice Walker's novel with respect and (heretofore unseen) mature artistry." Scott Weinberg, eFilmCritic.com
"Brilliant, disturbing storytelling by Spielberg with standout performances." Steve Crum, Kansas City Kansan
"Brilliant photography..." VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever
Editor's Note
Steven Spielberg's masterful adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel stars Whoppi Goldberg, in her impressive screen debut, as Celie, a sharecropper's daughter living in rural Georgia. The film opens in 1909 when Celie is a young girl, a victim of incest, pregnant with her father's child. Ugly and unloved, separated from her children and her sister, Celie's only option is marriage to an abusive, philandering husband (Danny Glover) who treats her little better than a slave. Her life changes forever when her husband brings his mistress, a beautiful blues singer named Shug (Margaret Avery), into the house. THE COLOR PURPLE was also the film debut for Oprah Winfrey, who beautifully plays Celie's sister-in-law, Sofia. THE COLOR PURPLE was nominated for 11 Academy Awards (including one each for Goldberg, Avery, and Winfrey) but surprisingly won no Oscars, and although the film was nominated for a Best Picture award, Spielberg was snubbed by the academy and was not nominated for Best Director.
Plot Summary
Steven Spielberg's gentle film is a masterful adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about a southern black girl's rise from tragedy to personal triumph through the course of her lifetime. The acting in the film is superb, including terrific performances by Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover, Margaret Avery, and Adolph Caesar.
| Features | 2 Theatrical Trailers | | Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.0 Surround Sound | | Audio: French Dolby Digital Stereo | | Dubbed: French | | Interactive Menus | | Production Notes | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, French, Spanish |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Warner |
| Release Date: 5/15/2007 |
| Original Release Date: 1985 | | Catalog ID: 116310 | | UPC: 00085391163107 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen/Standard 1.85:1/1.33:1 [4:3] |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Winner (1988) | | | Image Award, Whoopi Goldberg, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Motion Picture | | | Image Award, The Color Purple, Outstanding Motion Picture | |
Winner (1986) | | | Golden Globe, Whoopi Goldberg, Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama | |
Nominee (1986) | | | Oscar, Whoopi Goldberg, Best Actress in a Leading Role | | | Oscar, Margaret Avery, Best Actress in a Supporting Role | | | Oscar, Oprah Winfrey, Best Actress in a Supporting Role | | | Oscar, Menno Meyjes, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium | | | Oscar, Steven Spielberg, et. al., Best Picture |
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| | Professional Reviews | Sight and Sound
"...Remarkably faithful in incident and detail to Alice Walker's original..." 03/01/1985 p.135-6New York Times
"...Momentum, warmth and staying power....[Goldberg] eventually grows into a tremendously compelling figure..." 12/18/1985 p.C18 Los Angeles Times
"...An intimate story of suffering, endurance and triumph....Distinctive and deeply moving..." 12/18/1985 p.C1 Entertainment Weekly
"...Goldberg's stoic turn will go down as one of cinema's great breakouts..." 03/21/2003 p.133 Chicago Sun-Times
"...A heartbreaking, joyous masterpiece..." 02/07/2003 p.22 Reel.com 10 of 10
Adapted from Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Spielberg's richly textured film chronicles the saga of a poor, black Georgia family from 1909 to 1947. Though it deviates significantly from the book, it has a raw and evocative power all its own. The acting is solid, the cinematography gorgeous, and the story moving...Nothing demonstrates the power and resonance of Walker's book more than to hear Winfrey talking in one of the features about how she's wanted nothing more in her career, before or since, than to have a part in the movie version of The Color Purple. Strangely, while the book, a first-person narrative in letters, is a quick read, Spielberg's film version seems long at times, with a number of false endings...But some memorable and defining music has been added by Spielberg, who says, "I've been making musicals all my life. I just disguise them as science fiction." - James Plath
Chicago Sun-Times 10 of 10
The film is based on the novel by Alice Walker, who told Celie's story through a series of letters, some never sent, many never received, most addressed to God. The letters are her way of maintaining sanity in a world where few others ever cared to listen to her...The wonderful performances in this movie are contained in a screenplay that may take some of the shocking edges off Walker's novel, but keeps all the depth and dimension. The world of Celie and the others is created so forcibly in this movie that their corner of the South becomes one of those movie places - like Oz, like Tara, like Casablanca - that lay claim to their own geography in our imaginations...The affirmation at the end of the film is so joyous that this is one of the few movies in a long time that inspires tears of happiness, and earns them. "The Color Purple" is the year's best film. - Roger Ebert
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