A Rewatch: Salt of the Earth

I once tried to explain to one of my nephews how different it was to watch old movies when I was young: no cable, no DVD's. As someone who loves old movies, I was frustrated that I could usually only catch them late at night. Then there was the time my mother let me stay home from school to watch The Letter, a Bette Davis movie I was dying to see. Only a good student could get away with that.

I was happy to find that my college screened several old movies. I remember a poster for a Marx Brothers movie listing Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Zeppo, Karl.

I think I saw The Salt of the Earth as part of my American Studies film course. We watched films from the 30's, 40's, and 50's, including A Night at the Opera, Citizen Kane, The Best Years of Our Lives, Pillow Talk. For the record, I loved all but the last.

Tonight Jeff and I re-watched The Salt of the Earth. I loved it. The men were so reluctant to trust their strike to the women, even when it was the only way to succeed.

Maybe it wasn't realistic to think that bosses wouldn't plow through women strikers in their cars. Maybe it wasn't realistic that police officers would be cowed by women screaming for the formula.

I still loved it.