JLRMovieReviews Cloris Leachman is the matriarch of this family, that travels wherever the work is. When it's spring, it's time to be here to pick that, Or, if it's fall, we go south. Sissy Spacek, Ron Howard, Cindy Williams, Ed Lauter, and David Clennon costar in this TV movie that is painfully real and is based on a Tennessee Williams story. Bad luck seems to find them and they are always behind the eight ball with no sign of change in sight. Cloris Leachman is a standout and is totally in character. It's amazing just how much she is immersed in her role, looks-wise and in terms of desperation of her situation. And, it's interesting to see Ron and Cindy paired together, before being in American Graffiti and Happy Days together. This may be disturbing for some, but it is one TV-movie that should never be forgotten.

debitubs Is this the movie where Sissy's character has a daughter that died and she shows the money she had been hiding to give her daughter a nice funeral instead of a "poor" one? I have been looking for that movie and this is the one that sounds the most like it but I am not sure.The movie I am talking about is a wonderful one but I do not remember the name. Only that she worked on the side as a seamstress or something close to it. But I thought Sissy's role was a larger one than this gives her credit for. Any help will be appreciated. I would love to watch it again as this has been stuck in my head for years. But for some reason THE MIGRANTS does not sound exactly like I was thinking the one I remember. But I never know with my memory.

Lance0812 I agree with Fred's assessment that this film should be known (and shown) more widely. I saw it when it first ran on TV many years ago and it was one of the most powerful made-for-TV movies ever. In fact, I'd rate it right up there with "Requiem For A Heavyweight" - the original, not the movie adaptation. I had a black-and-white TV at the time and if this was made in color it should not have been. After all these years one scene is so stuck in my mind that I can still hear and see the delivery. The story, of course, is about the bleak lives of migrant workers and nothing says more about their lack of a future than the moment when Cloris Leachman emerges from the tent in which her daughter (?) has just given birth to a baby. "Is it a boy or a girl?" someone asks. Cloris, face twisted in agony, wails, "Oh, God, what difference does it make?"

ChrissP-2 Recommended by a friend, I reluctantly watched this film, dreading the thought of watching familiar actors reenact the Joad family. Instead, I was mesmerized by a life made real by the extraordinary talents of Cloris Leachman and Ron Howard. This IS the Joad family, as they existed in more recent times in the South. The film continues to haunt my thoughts years later.