Color Purple-Special Edition (1985)

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.

	Akosua Busia
	Oprah Winfrey
	Adolph Caesar
	Willard Pugh
	Margaret Avery
	Danny Glover
	Whoopi Goldberg
	Rae Dawn Chong
	Alice Walker - Source Writer
	J. Michael Riva - Production Designer
	Michael Kahn - Editor
	Allen Daviau - Director of Photography
	Jon Peters - Executive Producer
	Quincy Jones - Producer
	Steven Spielberg - Producer
	Frank Marshall - Producer
	Peter Guber - Executive Producer
	Quincy Jones - Composer
	Kathleen Kennedy - Producer
	Menno Meyjes - Screenwriter
	Steven Spielberg - Director

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. Sight and Sound
"...Remarkably faithful in incident and detail to Alice Walker's original..." 03/01/1985 p.135-6

New 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

Total Film
3 stars out of 5 -- "[Spielberg] elicits career-best performances from Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey..." 03/01/2011

Empire
4 stars out of 5 -- "[F]ull of riveting set-pieces, bravura filmmaking and great performances from Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey." 03/01/2011