Search - The Long Walk Home on DVD

MPAA Rating: PG Content Advisory: Violence, Questionable for Children, Profanity Movie Release: 1989 DVD Release: 11/26/2002 Format: DVD Audio Tracks: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 38 mins Studio: Platinum Disc Total Copies: 10 Genres: Drama, Historical Film, Message Movie See Also: The Long Walk Home

The Long Walk Home is a recreation of a troubled era in American history. The time is 1955; the place, Montgomery, Alabama. When Rosa Parks, an African American woman, is arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man, it is the first volley in the great Bus Boycott, organized by Dr. Martin Luther King in order to desegregate the Birmingham transportation system. The boycott is a decided inconvenience for Miriam Thompson (Sissy Spacek), a well-to-do white woman. Now, Miriam must drive to the black section of town to pick up her maid Odessa Cotter (Whoopi Goldberg) and bring her to work. Outside of her own social circle, Miriam realizes for the first time just how privileged, sheltered and self-centered her life has been. What brings this fact home is the realization that Odessa has literally been raising two families: the Thompsons' and her own. Odessa has also sacrificed her own health and wellbeing to serve her employers without question or complaint. Awakened to the true inequities of "Separate But Equal", and impressed by Dr. King's edict of nonviolent resistance, Miriam joins the boycott. This stirs up the racist feelings harbored by Miriam's husband Norman (Dwight Schultz), who at the behest of his goonish brother Tunker (Dylan Baker) joins the Klanlike White Citizen's Council. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Sissy Spacek - Miriam Thompson
Whoopi Goldberg - Odessa Cotter
Dwight Schultz - Norman Thompson
Ving Rhames - Herbert Cotter
Dylan Baker - Tunker Thompson

Though John Cork's screenplay occasionally relies upon stock characters and situations to make its points, The Long Walk Home is for most part an on-the-money recreation of a troubled era in American history. The time is 1955; the place, Montgomery, Alabama. When Rosa Parks, an African American woman, is arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man, it is the first volley in the great Bus Boycott, organized by Dr. Martin Luther King in order to desegregate the Birmingham transportation system. The boycott is a decided inconvenience for Miriam Thompson (Sissy Spacek), a well-to-do white woman. Now, Miriam must drive to the black section of town to pick up her maid Odessa Cotter (Whoopi Goldberg) and bring her to work. Outside of her own social circle, Miriam realizes for the first time just how privileged, sheltered and self-centered her life has been. What brings this fact home is the realization that Odessa has literally been raising two families: the Thompsons' and her own. Odessa has also sacrificed her own health and wellbeing to serve her "white folks" without question or complaint. Awakened to the true inequities of "Separate But Equal", and impressed by Dr. King's edict of nonviolent resistance, Miriam joins the boycott. This stirs up the racist feelings harbored by Miriam's husband Norman (Dwight Schultz), who at the behest of his goonish brother Tunker (Dylan Baker) joins the Klanlike White Citizen's Council. Everyone's true nature is exposed during the inevitable showdown-and while nothing is resolved, there is renewed hope that justice will prevail. So far as anyone can determine, no wealthy white women really joined the bus boycott, nor was every white man in Birmingham aligned in some way with a hate group. These purely dramatic devices are injected into The Long Walk Home to personalize a struggle that, to many viewers of the 1990s, is as remote a historical event as the Civil War. Too, by creating a schism between the male and female characters, screenwriter Cork emphasizes the correlation between the civil rights activities of the 1950s and the much-later feminist movement. Those who feel uncomfortable with the handful of fabrications in The Long Walk Home will hopefully be appeased by the film's remarkable attention to period detail, not to mention the excellent performances of the two stars. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide