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Features: DVD, Pan and Scan (TV Format), Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 1.85:1, Mono Audio, English, Spanish, Korean, Subtitled
A RAISIN IN THE SUN is a groundbreaking drama celebrating the human spirit, featuring an electrifying performance by Academy Award®-winner Sidney Poitier (Best Actor, Lilies of the Field, 1963). The Younger family, frustrated with living in their crowded Chicago apartment, sees the arrival of a $10,000 insurance check as the answer to their prayers. Matriarch Lena Younger (Claudia McNeil) promptly puts a down payment on a house in an all-white suburban neighborhood. But the family is divided when Lena entrusts the balance of the money to her mercurial son Walter Lee (Poitier), against the wishes of her daughter (Diana Sands) and daughter-in-law (Ruby Dee). It takes the strength and integrity of this African-American family to battle against generations of prejudice to try to achieve their piece of the American Dream.
"One of the most powerful films to grace the 1961 screen." Hollywood Citizen-News
Editor's Note
Director Daniel Petrie's highly acclaimed drama is a seminal portrait of African American life in the mid-1950s, based on Lorraine Hansberry's groundbreaking play, that achieved critical and commercial success at a time when the viability of a black audience or a white crossover audience was not considered a possibility. Lena Younger (Claudia McNeil), the stalwart matriarch of an impoverished black family, dreams of owning a nice home in a tidy, integrated suburb. In the meantime, she shares a small apartment on Chicago's South Side with her underemployed adult son, Walter (Sidney Poitier); his emotionally resilient wife, Ruth (Ruby Dee); their child, Travis (Stephen Perry); and her daughter, Beneatha (Diana Sands). Though there's plenty of love in the family, the close quarters breed desperation and discontent. But Lena's prayers are finally answered when she receives a $10,000 insurance policy her husband left behind. The money becomes a symbol for freedom for each member of the Younger family: Lena sees it as a ticket out of the ghetto and into a home of her own, Walter sees it as a chance to regain his dignity and start his own business, while Beneatha dreams of medical school. Their internal struggle threatens to tear the Younger family apart in this moving and claustrophobic vision of life in the bigoted and oppressive environment of a 1950s tenement. Petrie's film features strong and captivating performances from the cast, reprising their 1959 Broadway roles.
Plot Summary
A RAISIN IN THE SUN is a penetrating drama which relates the plight of a poor black family living in a tiny Chicago tenement and their struggle to survive in the prejudiced and tense surroundings.
| Features | Bonus Trailers | | Scene Selections | | Thai Subtitles | | Talent Files | | Theatrical Trailer | | Portuguese Subtitles | | Chinese Subtitles | | Korean Subtitles | | English Mono | | English Subtitles | | Spanish Subtitles | | Digitally Remastered Audio And Anamorphic Video | | Production Notes | | Interactive Menus |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Columbia Tri-Star |
| Release Date: 2/22/2000 |
| Running Time: 128 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1961 | | Catalog ID: 00919 | | UPC: 00043396009196 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Available Subtitles: English, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai, Chinese | | Video: B&W |
Aspect Ratio | | 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
British Academy Awards (1962) | | | Sidney Poitier, Nominee, Best Foreign Actor | | | Claudia McNeil, Nominee, Best Foreign Actress | |
Cannes Film Festival (1962) |  | Daniel Petrie, Winner, Gary Cooper Award |
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| | Professional Reviews | Leonard Maltin's Movie And Video Guide 9 of 10
Lorraine Hansberry's play receives perceptive handling by [an] outstanding cast in [a] drama of [a] black Chicago family's attempts to find sense in their constrained existence. - Leonard Maltin
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