The best movies about farmers

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Farming isn’t a profession that attracts the all-seeing and dramatic eye of Hollywood.

Movie goers are constantly barraged with films about soldiers, firefighters, police officers, teachers, super heroes, lawyers, and films about aspiring writers and artists.

Though movies don’t often feature farmers or farms, agriculture has had some nods from Hollywood in the past. Some of the movies that are farm-centric may not be the gigantic and special effects-motivated summer blockbuster like The Dark Knight or Marvel’s: The Avengers, but they’re good entertainment.

The following is a list of some of the best farming movies ever.

Field of Dreams (1989)

Field of Dreams is a movie, based on W.P. Kinsella’s novel, Shoeless Joe, that encompasses two quintessential American themes: farming and baseball. It may be the most American movie ever made ( if your vision of America is the idealistic “amber waves of grain”).

Kevin Costner stars as Ray Kinsella, an Iowa farmer who hears voices telling him, “If you build it, he will come.” Luckily, Kinsella doesn’t build a casino in hopes his farm becomes the next Las Vegas, rather, he builds a baseball diamond in the middle of his corn field. The ghosts of legendary baseball players then come to the field every night to play.

Tourists still flock to the film’s original baseball diamond which is located in Dyersville, Iowa, where much of the film was shot. The attraction has approximately 65,000 visitors annually.


Grapes of Wrath (1940)

Based on John Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel (do you see a pattern here?), Grapes of Wrath takes place during the during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The film stars a young Henry Fonda as Tom Joad, a man who returns home to his family’s farm in Oklahoma after a stay in prison.

Shortly after he arrives, he gets the news that his family has lost the farm. The decision is made to travel to California in search of employment.

The journey to California is wrought with hardships, the grandfather dies and is buried near the road, stops at migrant camps only reveal great economic inequality and Tom inadvertently kills a camp guard while defending his friend, and ex-preacher, Jim Casy.

The ending of the film differs from the novel. It offers a more hopeful outcome for the Joad family.

In 1989, Grapes of Wrath was one of the first 25 films to be selected for preservation in the United State National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.


Babe (1995)

How about something upbeat? Babe, one of my personal favorites, is another adaptation. The film is based on the 1983 novel, Babe: The Gallant Pig by Dick King-Smith.

Babe is an orphaned piglet who is picked for a “guess the weight” booth at a county fair. A sheep farmer, Arthur Hoggett, played by James Cromwell, wins the contest and takes Babe home. Babe is raised by Fly, a female sheepdog.

Eventually, Babe begins herding sheep, which leads him to participate in a herding contest. Babe wins the herding contest and all is well.

Babe is a charming movie that won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and was also nominated for 6 others including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. It’s a great movie to watch with the kids.


The Real Dirt on Farmer John (2005)

There’s plenty of documentaries about agriculture and the food supply in the world, but many have political leanings that can be off-putting. The Real Dirt on Farmer John, however, is an award-winning documentary about John Peterson, a Midwest farmer who operates Angelic Organics.

Peterson is an outcast in his community who turns his family’s farm around by taking his family traditions and combining them with art and free expression. Filmmaker Taggart Siegel documented Peterson’s story over 25 years through various forms of media.

Peterson’s farm is still in operation today. His farm is one of the largest CSA (community-supported agriculture) operations in the United State. Every year, Angelic Organics feeds more than 1,400 families. Participants in the farm receive a weekly bushel of fresh vegetables. CSA (community-supported agriculture) operations in the United State. Every year, Angelic Organics feeds more than 1,400 families. Participants in the farm receive a weekly bushel of fresh vegetables.


Charlotte’s Web (1973)

This movie brings back so many memories of my childhood. I absolutely loved his film. Again, the film is based on a book, of the same name, by E.B. White. E.B. White also wrote other children’s novels including Stuart Little.

Wilbur is a pig and the runt of the litter. The farmer, Mr. Arable, is going to kill him before Arable’s daughter, Fern, interrupts and begs her father to let the little Wilbur live. Fern takes care of Wilbur until he’s old enough to be sold to her uncle. Fern visits, yet over time her visits get less frequent.

Wilbur is lonely and afraid that he’ll be eaten for Christmas until a spider, named Charlotte, hatches a plan to save him.

The film has wonderful musical numbers written by the Sherman Brothers, who had also written music for Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. If you’re feeling a bit nostalgic, watch this movie.


Places in the Heart (1984)

Finally! A farm movie that isn’t based on a book! Places in the Heart stars Sally Field as Edna Spalding, a woman who finds herself alone and penniless on a farm during the Great Depression. Her husband dies in an accident and Spalding is left to pick up the pieces.

Moze, played by Danny Glover, comes by her home looking for work, Spalding refuses. Soon after she is faced with a fact, she must make the farm profitable or she’ll have to sell the property.

Spalding eventually has the help of Moze, a blind man named Will, played by John Malkovich, and her children to help turn her old farm into a profitable cotton farm.

Places in the Heart won Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Field) and Best Writing. It was also nominated for 5 other awards including Best Director and Best Picture.

 


Do you have any other suggestions for great farm movies? Let us know below in the comments!

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18 COMMENTS

  1. Two of the best and most realistic farm movies are not on your list. They are: The River starring Mel Gibson and Sissy Spacek and Bitter Harvest starring and I believe directed by Ron Howard.

  2. There is the 1988 film “Miles From Home” had one scene that laid out the economic issues facing farmers in the late 70’s early 80’s.

    • Hi Tom,

      I’m looking at that movie right now. It seems like there were a bunch of budding stars in that one: Richard Gere, Hellen Hunt and it was (interestingly) directed by Gary Sinise, you may recognize that name from his starring roles in Apollo 13, The Green Mile and CSI: NY.

      Good stuff!

      Thanks for the info.

  3. Three of my favorite films about farms:

    Our Vines Have Tender Grapes – Edward G. Robinson and Margaret O’Brien. Life lessons on a Wisconsin Farm, seen through the eyes of a little girl. Wonderful 1945 film!
    Friendly Persuasion – Gary Cooper, Dorothy McGuire. 1956. The struggles of a Southern Indiana Quaker farm family during the Civil War. Insights into the Quaker faith, social mores, and farm life at the time.
    The Egg & I – Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert. 1947 film based on novel about a newly-wed couple trying a new life on a chicken farm. Hilarity ensues. First appearance of the characters Ma & Pa Kettle.

    • Also saw a charming film from 1940 called LADDIE. Its a story about a farm family and the new neighbors who move in who aren’t very neighborly. Christian values abound, and the lead character is the best example of a Christian character in a young man I’ve seen in a movie in a long time. He also gives a very good speech on why farming is the most important job there is.

    • I love these films! They are great farm films. Our Vines Have Tender Grapes has a great message to it as does Friendly Persuasion. When films are done this well about farm life, it just makes me want to have a farm of my own!

  4. Country (1984) with Jessica Lange, Sam Shepard, Wilfred Brimley …An excellent film, probably based at least in part on a 1995 documentary called Troublesome Creek (which was also quite good).

  5. American Harvest. It was a 1987 TV movie starring Wayne Rogers (Trapper John from M*A*S*H*), as prairie grain farmer Walter Duncan, locked in a desperate bid to save the family farm by launching a combine harvest brigade.

    Stacking. Also a 1987 movie, starring Megan Follows (Anne of Green Gables) as a coming-of-age farmer’s daughter, who starts her own bale stacking business, also in an attempt to prevent the loss of the family farm.

  6. Here’s more of my recommended list of Farms Films:
    The River (1984) – Mel Gibson and Sissy Spaceck. Farm family fights against a local land-grabber to keep their farm. Insight into the gobbling up of American farmland by corporate conglomerates.

    Places in the Heart (1984) – Sally Fields, Danny Glover, Ed Harris, John Malkovich. Depression-era Texas widow fights to keep her home by farming cotton to pay her mortgage. An Oscar win for Fields for this performance. Great performances by supporting cast as well!

    The Green Promise (1948) – Walter Brennan, Natalie Wood. A little girl struggles to join 4H and raise a lamb against the wishes of her controlling father. Includes a 4H meeting and reciting of 4H pledge. Covers more detailed aspects of farming and life among farm children in mid-20th century rural communities.

    Tammy and the Bachelor (1957) – Debbie Reynolds, Leslie Nielson, Walter Brennan. Fish out of water tale about Southener Tammy who lives on a riverboat with her Grandfather. They rescue a crashed pilot, who ends up taking Tammy in when Grandfather is arrested. Pilot tries to resuscitate the family plantation by growing better tomatoes with Tammy’s love and support.
    Tammy’s plantation open house speech is charming!

    Parrish (1961)- Troy Donahue, Claudette Colbert, Karl Malden. A young man struggles to find himself, when his mother marries into the tobacco business. Interesting to see how tobacco is grown and harvested.

    So Big (1953) – Jane Wyman, Sterling Hayden, Steve Forrest. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Edna Ferber, chronicles the real life story of a South Holland, IL farmer’s widow, who struggles to make a go of the farm when her husband dies. Set in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Interesting moral tale of what may happen to farm children when they leave the family farm.

    Johnny Belinda (1948) – Jane Wyman, Lew Ayres. Oscar-winning performance for Wyman as she portrays deaf and dumb Belinda, who lives on a hardscrabble farm with her father and aunt on Prince Edward Island in Canada. Ayres plays local doctor who helps Belinda learn to communicate and cope with sexual assault. Gives insight to the difficulties of farm life in rougher climates and depressed local economies at the turn of the 20th century.

  7. The greatest single movie ever made about the American farmer was directed by a Frenchman:
    The Southerner (1946). Second best: Disney’s So Dear to My Heart.

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