In Dubious Battle (2016)

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

900 migratory workers rise up "in dubious battle" against the landowners. The group takes on a life of its own - stronger than its individual members and more frightening. Led by the doomed Jim Nolan, the strike is founded on his tragic idealism - on the "courage never to submit or yield." Published in 1936, the novel "In Dubious Battle" is considered the first major work of Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Steinbeck. In Dubious Battle has a terrific cast that unfortunately doesn't use as good as it could or as memorable to say "i liked this movie a bit".

In my summer reading this year, I am catching up on the John Steinbeck novels I have missed over the years, and just finished In Dubious Battle this week. As other reviewers have pointed out, the movie version omits or rewrites many of the details of the book. But I found the film to be wonderfully faithful to the spirit of the novel, and certainly to the spirit of the labor movements of the 1930s.Moreover, I thought the casting was excellent. Vincent D'Onofrio wonderfully captures the character London. Nat Wolff and James Franco do an above average job of portraying the two radicals attempting to instigate the labor movement. Having Robert Duvall, Ed Harris, and Sam Shepard add their talents to their respective roles leant depth to their characters and a sort of weight to the film. Of course, for the most part, the female characters either did not appear in the novel or were completely reoriented by the script-writer and director. But the characters and actors here also, in my opinion, represented the spirit of the book and the times.I definitely recommend reading the novel before watching the film, but I liked the film very much.

Perhaps one day a faithful adaptation of Steinbeck's novel will be produced. This movie has nothing in common with the book it supposedly bases itself on aside from some names of the characters -- there's nothing wrong with the choice of cast -- and the setting -- the locations could have set the scene for a wonderful film.The speech in Steinbeck's novel is authentic and believable. The scriptwriter could have transplanted it directly and with a little imagination expanded on it.What a terrible shame!

I think this movie tells a tale that is worth telling. The actors are superb. It has conflict and surprises. The characters aren't shallow. The filming is very good. I would recommend watching this. A great movie directed by Franco that allows him to step out from comedy and show that he can do more complex roles.