This movie was made during the U.S. entry in WWII. Maybe that is why it leaves out the deaths that occur in the actual story of Steinbeck. The people in charge perhaps had the directive to make a light inspiring movie ("no heavy stuff, y'hear?"). I don't think it was in the spirit of the novel AT ALL. My low rating is based on the movie's lack of faithfulness to the novel AND the casting of Spencer Tracy in the role of Pilon. It was just not a good fit. Even if I could ignore the messing with Steinbeck's story, I could not watch Tracy's performance with any ease. It pretty much ruined the movie for me despite what I thought were pretty good performances by everyone else.
34 Reviews
Great film
theredflyer10 December 2006
I grew up in Monterey and I vividly remember my father speaking of these characters when he was growing up. Steinbeck sought to place these men in a motif that was similar to that of the knights of the Round Table showing all their excesses, loves, and loyalty to each other. While the film shows 1940's insensitivities it also captures a great deal of Steinbeck's purposes. It might be helpful to remember that Steinbeck wasn't writing of chicano's or even Mexicans per se, but of the creollo or Californio, i.e. the Spanish and later Mexican vaquero who ruled and reigned in Californio long before the Mexican national arrived in California.
It has its flaws but was decent for its time
serval2623 June 2006
Okay yes, Spencer Tracy does NOT look like a Paisano, but his performance in this movie is pretty cool and worth noting. I absolutely loved the book and Spencer Tracy's portrayal of Pilon went above and beyond what I expected the character to turn out like on screen. Frank Morgan was wonderful too. The scenes with the songs are particularly charming.
The story is about homeless men who live life one day at a time. Their biggest concern of each day is how they're going to acquire wine. Their friend Danny inherits two houses and Pilon is concerned that this newfound wealth is affecting their friendship.
Along the way they bring in more roommates including the wonderful Pirate character and the guys get into some shenanigans involving what else? Money, women and wine.
I also very much adored the simplicity of Victor Fleming's direction. He made a lot of beautiful shots, especially of the Pirate's adorable dogs!
The story is about homeless men who live life one day at a time. Their biggest concern of each day is how they're going to acquire wine. Their friend Danny inherits two houses and Pilon is concerned that this newfound wealth is affecting their friendship.
Along the way they bring in more roommates including the wonderful Pirate character and the guys get into some shenanigans involving what else? Money, women and wine.
I also very much adored the simplicity of Victor Fleming's direction. He made a lot of beautiful shots, especially of the Pirate's adorable dogs!
Great Classic 1942 Film
whpratt124 April 2008
Greatly enjoyed this story written by John Steinbeck and a great cast of veteran actors who all gave outstanding performances. Daniel Alvarez, (John Garfield) is a poor young man who pals around with a bunch of lazy men who never seem to work and love to eat and drink wine. Daniel inherits two homes that his grandfather left him and one of his friends, Pilon, (Spencer Tracy) decides to take advantage of him and brings in all his friends to live in one of the houses. There is a great deal of trying to steal chickens and also obtaining free wine from local female ladies. Daniel meets up with a very pretty woman named Dolores Ramirez, (Hedy Lamarr) and they both become very good friends and lovers. There is also a man named The Pirate, (Frank Morgan) who lives like a tramp, but has plenty of money hidden in the woods. The Pirate is trying to save money to buy a silver golden stick for the Statue of St. Franicis in the local Catholic Church. Pilon wants to steal this money from the Pirate and then he starts experiencing different changes in his personality which creates a great ending to this story. Enjoy.
A Little-Known Gem From the Past
cman2099x18 May 2002
I find it difficult to believe that this picture is not remembered more fondly by film critics and historians. I went into this film expecting nothing more than a few chuckles and a few yawns. I was wrong! This picture should be remembered in the same light as other great comedies of the 1940's such as THE LADY EVE, ARSENIC AND OLD LACE, and THE BANK DICK.
Steinbeck's Latinos
theowinthrop13 April 2008
Warning: Spoilers
There is no denying that the man who gave us THE GRAPES OF WRATH, OF MICE AND MEN, and EAST OF EDEN is a major literary figure - one of the handful of American literary figures to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. But John Steinbeck was also a man of his time and some of his time is hard to swallow. This is particularly when dealing with his novels and stories dealing with Latin-Americans in California. A man raised in the early 20th Century, his views of Latinos is rather heavily into stereotypes. That he could develop character despite the stereotypes was a sign of his abilities as a fine writer...but those stereotypes remain as a stigma today.
In TORTILLA FLAT Steinbeck looks at life among a set of Latinos in Salinas, California. The central figure is Pilon (Spencer Tracy) who is a happy - go - lucky type, without any interest in life but what pleasure (food, partying, girls, booze) he can get out of it. But he does not like to work. Nor do his pals Pablo (Akim Tamiroff), Tito (Sheldon Leonard), Jose (John Qualen), and Daniel (John Garfield). But then Daniel learns his uncle died and left him two houses. He suddenly changes a little (he is a property owner) but that is soon dented when Pilon reminds him they are pals and he owes them a share of his good fortune. Somewhat unsettled by this, he does agree to letting the four freeloaders use the other house. The wisdom of this action is shown when they gradually let the nice little house go to ruin, ending with them accidentally burning it down (Pilon just smiles and shrugs his shoulders at this).
Meanwhile Daniel meets Dolores Ramirez (Hedy Lamarr), a young woman who works in the local fish cannery. Daniel starts changing his whole views on life by his desire to woo Dolores - she feels her husband has to be a hard working man to win her respect. But Pilon and the others resent this hold Dolores has on Daniel. Pilon in particular tries to break up the love affair, but only manages to make his friendship with Daniel get strained.
Daniel now has a job too at the cannery, but the others are still gainfully unemployed. Pilon decides that he and the others can rob "the Pirate" (Frank Morgan) a lonely eccentric. The best scenes in the film deal with Morgan, who turns out to be a touching old man who loves his pets and is saving his money for a religious offering for them.
I won't go into the rest of the plot (which shows that Pilon can be a real friend too when he wants to be). Again it is well acted, although Tracy is reusing his "Spanish" accent that he used as Manuel in CAPTAIN'S COURAGEOUS, and would use again in THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA. Lamarr and Garfield actually display some chemistry together to heat up their scenes. Garfield too is slightly reusing a previous accent - his "Porfirio Diaz" voice in JUAREZ toned down a little. Actually if it wasn't for the performances (particularly Morgan's) the film would only have the character development shown by Tracy and Garfield. But the weakness of the stereotypes makes this film a difficult one to swallow. So I can only give it a "7" out of "10".
In TORTILLA FLAT Steinbeck looks at life among a set of Latinos in Salinas, California. The central figure is Pilon (Spencer Tracy) who is a happy - go - lucky type, without any interest in life but what pleasure (food, partying, girls, booze) he can get out of it. But he does not like to work. Nor do his pals Pablo (Akim Tamiroff), Tito (Sheldon Leonard), Jose (John Qualen), and Daniel (John Garfield). But then Daniel learns his uncle died and left him two houses. He suddenly changes a little (he is a property owner) but that is soon dented when Pilon reminds him they are pals and he owes them a share of his good fortune. Somewhat unsettled by this, he does agree to letting the four freeloaders use the other house. The wisdom of this action is shown when they gradually let the nice little house go to ruin, ending with them accidentally burning it down (Pilon just smiles and shrugs his shoulders at this).
Meanwhile Daniel meets Dolores Ramirez (Hedy Lamarr), a young woman who works in the local fish cannery. Daniel starts changing his whole views on life by his desire to woo Dolores - she feels her husband has to be a hard working man to win her respect. But Pilon and the others resent this hold Dolores has on Daniel. Pilon in particular tries to break up the love affair, but only manages to make his friendship with Daniel get strained.
Daniel now has a job too at the cannery, but the others are still gainfully unemployed. Pilon decides that he and the others can rob "the Pirate" (Frank Morgan) a lonely eccentric. The best scenes in the film deal with Morgan, who turns out to be a touching old man who loves his pets and is saving his money for a religious offering for them.
I won't go into the rest of the plot (which shows that Pilon can be a real friend too when he wants to be). Again it is well acted, although Tracy is reusing his "Spanish" accent that he used as Manuel in CAPTAIN'S COURAGEOUS, and would use again in THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA. Lamarr and Garfield actually display some chemistry together to heat up their scenes. Garfield too is slightly reusing a previous accent - his "Porfirio Diaz" voice in JUAREZ toned down a little. Actually if it wasn't for the performances (particularly Morgan's) the film would only have the character development shown by Tracy and Garfield. But the weakness of the stereotypes makes this film a difficult one to swallow. So I can only give it a "7" out of "10".
good story....okay casting.
ksf-212 July 2022
SO many huge names.... frank morgan, spencer tracy, john garfield. Supporting roles for familiar faces donald meeks, hedy lamarr. Willy fung, allen jenkins. When danny inherits two houses, his friends all move in and take advantage of his new wealth. Pilon (tracy) is a trouble maker, always looking out for himself. He'll say anything to get ahead and stir up trouble! Will he get his come-uppance? It's pretty good, for a steinbeck story. It's a shame they couldn't have actually hired some hispanic actors, instead of trying to use those terrible fake accents, but i guess that's how hollywood operated at the time. Directed by victor fleming. Frank morgan (The Wizard!) was nominated for an oscar.
Should have been better
krocheav28 November 2012
This work turned out to be an unexpected disappointment. Heres a film from a major producer, with a respected Director and top flight cast, that just ambles along without doing any of the characters full justice.
No-one seems able to convince the viewer they are whom they play. Tracys accent is near laughable, and Garfield tends to drop in and out of his, as if he feels silly putting it on. Nearly every major character is unlikeable, with greed and drunkenness almost their only motivation. It seems the only one that succeeds is Frank Morgan as the towns humble hermit and friend to all lost dogs.
Static studio backgrounds give the film a cheapened look. The best thing about this one is Franz Waxmans melodic Music score.
Some will enjoy, but I feel most will be left wanting better. KenR............
No-one seems able to convince the viewer they are whom they play. Tracys accent is near laughable, and Garfield tends to drop in and out of his, as if he feels silly putting it on. Nearly every major character is unlikeable, with greed and drunkenness almost their only motivation. It seems the only one that succeeds is Frank Morgan as the towns humble hermit and friend to all lost dogs.
Static studio backgrounds give the film a cheapened look. The best thing about this one is Franz Waxmans melodic Music score.
Some will enjoy, but I feel most will be left wanting better. KenR............
A good film with great scenes
Swithin13 August 2006
"Tortilla Flat" is a good movie. In some ways, it reminds me of "Juarez," another film in which John Garfield plays a Latino. The similarity is that both are good films that have contained within them really terrific scenes. I guess you could say that in these films, the parts are in some ways greater than the whole.
For me, the best scenes in "Tortilla Flat" revolve around Frank Morgan, who plays a sort of tramp (homeless man) who goes around with a bunch of dogs. Like Mr. Morgan, one of the dogs seems to have appeared in "The Wizard of Oz" -- yes, I think Toto is in "Tortilla Flat." Not surprising, since both films were directed by Victor Fleming.
But the most extraordinary scene is that in which Frank Morgan has gathered his five dogs, in the midst of the majestic Redwood Forest, and relates to the dogs the story of St. Francis. As he is telling the story, the dogs actually have a vision! As the vision hovers, and the dogs react, Morgan averts his eyes. When the vision passes, Morgan shouts to the dogs: "Did you see him? Did you see him? It was St. Francis! What good boys you must be to see St. Francis!"
I know of few other films that depict pure religious experience so effectively. It raises this good film onto another level.
For me, the best scenes in "Tortilla Flat" revolve around Frank Morgan, who plays a sort of tramp (homeless man) who goes around with a bunch of dogs. Like Mr. Morgan, one of the dogs seems to have appeared in "The Wizard of Oz" -- yes, I think Toto is in "Tortilla Flat." Not surprising, since both films were directed by Victor Fleming.
But the most extraordinary scene is that in which Frank Morgan has gathered his five dogs, in the midst of the majestic Redwood Forest, and relates to the dogs the story of St. Francis. As he is telling the story, the dogs actually have a vision! As the vision hovers, and the dogs react, Morgan averts his eyes. When the vision passes, Morgan shouts to the dogs: "Did you see him? Did you see him? It was St. Francis! What good boys you must be to see St. Francis!"
I know of few other films that depict pure religious experience so effectively. It raises this good film onto another level.
Hot for Hedy as a Potuguese beauty
lastliberal18 April 2008
It could only happen in Hollywood. They buy the rights to a Steinbeck novel about Mexicans and Portuguese in California and put all white actors in the cast.
Now, maybe I can buy Hedy Lamarr as a Portuguese beauty, but Spenser Tracy and John Garfield as Mexicans? Ludicrous casting, especially when the story is so ethnic.
But, maybe it was genius as common stereotypes about Afro- and Mexican-Americans are played out in the form of Tracy, as a shiftless bum who mooches off his friends and manipulates them into providing him with wine and a roof over his head. Pilon (Tracy) is not interested in satisfying anything but his own belly and even goes after a poor wood-seller called The Pirate, in the form of Frank Morgan, who, in a Scorcese moment, got the Oscar nomination he should have gotten three years earlier for The Wizard of Oz.
Lamarr was as beautiful as ever, and John Garfield did a great job as her pursuer, even as he had to avoid complete ruin from the machinations of Pilon.
Now, maybe I can buy Hedy Lamarr as a Portuguese beauty, but Spenser Tracy and John Garfield as Mexicans? Ludicrous casting, especially when the story is so ethnic.
But, maybe it was genius as common stereotypes about Afro- and Mexican-Americans are played out in the form of Tracy, as a shiftless bum who mooches off his friends and manipulates them into providing him with wine and a roof over his head. Pilon (Tracy) is not interested in satisfying anything but his own belly and even goes after a poor wood-seller called The Pirate, in the form of Frank Morgan, who, in a Scorcese moment, got the Oscar nomination he should have gotten three years earlier for The Wizard of Oz.
Lamarr was as beautiful as ever, and John Garfield did a great job as her pursuer, even as he had to avoid complete ruin from the machinations of Pilon.
As Shiftless A Group As You Could Find
bkoganbing28 January 2006
I'm not sure of the appeal of this story either in the book or in the film. The group of paisanos that John Steinbeck created is as shiftless and lazy a group as you will find anywhere. Their leader Pilon played by Spencer Tracy works this whole bunch as ruthlessly as Abbott regularly did to Costello. And the Costello of this story is of all people John Garfield.
Garfield inherits a couple of houses courtesy of his late grandfather and Tracy and his friends move in to free load. Garfield also has his eye on Hedy Lamarr who works in a cannery and for a husband, much as she likes Garfield, doesn't want a shiftless loafer for a life partner. Garfield has to mend his ways before he's got any chance with her. Of course the prospect of kanoodling with Hedy Lamarr is enough to make any man straighten out, even get a haircut.
Tracy has no intention of changing his ways. He even tries to bilk simple hermit Frank Morgan out of his savings. Morgan, who's called the Pirate in this film, got an Oscar nomination for Supporting Actor and he's the best one in the film. Close to him is the always dependable Henry O'Neill as the local parish priest.
Tortilla Flat is about as opposite a story from The Grapes of Wrath that it's hard to believe they come from the same author, John Steinbeck. The Grapes of Wrath is about hard working Anglo farmers from Oklahoma who've lost everything and just want the chance to earn a living from the soil again. Tortilla Flat's paisanos have an attitude about work that is on the level of Maynard G. Krebs. They're a harbinger of hippies to come.
Tracy in his portrayal of Pilon dusts off some of the accent he used in Captains Courageous. But as good an actor as he is, he just can't make this viewer have any degree of empathy for his character. About as opposite as you can get from the simple hardworking Manuel Fidelio of Captains Courageous.
A lot of Latinos today find this film offensive and looking at it, I can't really blame them.
Garfield inherits a couple of houses courtesy of his late grandfather and Tracy and his friends move in to free load. Garfield also has his eye on Hedy Lamarr who works in a cannery and for a husband, much as she likes Garfield, doesn't want a shiftless loafer for a life partner. Garfield has to mend his ways before he's got any chance with her. Of course the prospect of kanoodling with Hedy Lamarr is enough to make any man straighten out, even get a haircut.
Tracy has no intention of changing his ways. He even tries to bilk simple hermit Frank Morgan out of his savings. Morgan, who's called the Pirate in this film, got an Oscar nomination for Supporting Actor and he's the best one in the film. Close to him is the always dependable Henry O'Neill as the local parish priest.
Tortilla Flat is about as opposite a story from The Grapes of Wrath that it's hard to believe they come from the same author, John Steinbeck. The Grapes of Wrath is about hard working Anglo farmers from Oklahoma who've lost everything and just want the chance to earn a living from the soil again. Tortilla Flat's paisanos have an attitude about work that is on the level of Maynard G. Krebs. They're a harbinger of hippies to come.
Tracy in his portrayal of Pilon dusts off some of the accent he used in Captains Courageous. But as good an actor as he is, he just can't make this viewer have any degree of empathy for his character. About as opposite as you can get from the simple hardworking Manuel Fidelio of Captains Courageous.
A lot of Latinos today find this film offensive and looking at it, I can't really blame them.
Much more than a comedy
danlevans6 February 2005
If you like comedies the whole family can see and enjoy. This is a movie for you. But it is more than a good comedy of life an wonderful characters in a poor Mexican community in Monterry California. First is the most improbable casting that worked so well. I can picture Spencer Tracy cast as most any character except for a Mexican passion, wise in somethings and dumb -- plain foolish -- in others. He managed the role wonderfully. Hedy Lamar -- a peasant girl looking for a man with a job who could make her a work at home mom with many babies. She pulled it off with a sizzle. Most of all it was a very thought provoking movie. If followed the ideas of the famous book by John Stienbeck most accurately. Showing how we tend to get into ruts in life and using the wonderful Northern California landscape to show some overlooked opportunities to live well. If you want to really get into this movie read the book first.
Spirit was there, actual story wasn't.
timcvaughan12 October 2021
Big fan of the book (exceptions for period insensitivities) but the film takes an awful lot of liberties as it reaches the finale. Not a fan of Tracy in the Pilon role but the rest of the folks were pretty good. Pirate was amazing. Worth a watch if details aren't super important.
Synthetic casting of MGM stars as lazy fishermen in seaport town...
Doylenf26 December 2007
There are two standout features of this film version of John Steinbeck's TORTILLA FLAT. One is the improbably beautiful HEDY LAMARR as a Portugese girl, showing more fire and spirit than usual in an unusual role (for her). The other is FRANK MORGAN, who in an exquisite sequence set in a forest, does an unforgettable job as an old man who thinks his dogs have seen a vision.
Other than that, it's pretty hard to accept SPENCER TRACY (again assuming the sort of accent he had in CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS) as the town's laziest and most conniving drifter, JOHN GARFIELD, SHELDON LEONARD and others as Latinos with Brooklyn accents showing, and AKIM TAMIROFF, the only supporting player who seems the least bit authentic.
The story is almost non-existent, a minor trifle in which it's pretty obvious that the California fishing community has been filmed on studio soundstages at MGM with the actors often photographed against location shots filmed in northern California's Monterey.
Definitely a Victor Fleming film that hasn't dated well and many will find offensive in its racial stereotypes. It's a wonder J. CARROL NAISH didn't find his way into the suppporting cast. He would have been a lot more believable than casting actors like ALLEN JENKINS and CONNIE GILCHRIST as Chicanos.
An almost unrecognizable FRANK MORGAN deserved his Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination as The Pirate, a lazy, dog-loving eccentric whom Tracy tricks into revealing the whereabouts of his money. He's in the film's most memorable sequence but most of the film is slow and talky to an irritating degree and filled with unsympathetic characters.
Other than that, it's pretty hard to accept SPENCER TRACY (again assuming the sort of accent he had in CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS) as the town's laziest and most conniving drifter, JOHN GARFIELD, SHELDON LEONARD and others as Latinos with Brooklyn accents showing, and AKIM TAMIROFF, the only supporting player who seems the least bit authentic.
The story is almost non-existent, a minor trifle in which it's pretty obvious that the California fishing community has been filmed on studio soundstages at MGM with the actors often photographed against location shots filmed in northern California's Monterey.
Definitely a Victor Fleming film that hasn't dated well and many will find offensive in its racial stereotypes. It's a wonder J. CARROL NAISH didn't find his way into the suppporting cast. He would have been a lot more believable than casting actors like ALLEN JENKINS and CONNIE GILCHRIST as Chicanos.
An almost unrecognizable FRANK MORGAN deserved his Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination as The Pirate, a lazy, dog-loving eccentric whom Tracy tricks into revealing the whereabouts of his money. He's in the film's most memorable sequence but most of the film is slow and talky to an irritating degree and filled with unsympathetic characters.
Electrodomestics as gift at its early times
carvalheiro3 November 2007
"Tortilla flat" (1942) directed by Victor Fleming is of course a very good movie for now, instead maybe the novel itself where it came from a John Steinbeck's own tale, because many aspects of the structure of the allegedly poor's society. Where it was necessary fifteen dollars for the location of the flat of a given heir, whose notification by a barrister is made in jail and after, by this path, good fellows coming up helping him, but by lack of chance the flat is burned by accident.
The wealthy of work surplus in income to the exploitation not retributed is lost, if the couple not insures their own lives and instead allows that for the free moments with such a kind of job to save them as too characters. Still as though themselves were either inside a struggle, for also developing by this way the community. Where they are inserted like two human beings, but far away from the misery of the beginning of their natural instincts, not possible otherwise for surviving alone if without the help of friendship circumstances. Victor Fleming in this movie made an unforgettable artistic view of the so-called half citizenship, at the time with their believers, dogs and a young lady whose charming revolt attracts these poor individuals, near the industrialism of the outskirts of a small town, from West coast in America, while beginning a decade before during the Depression times.
The photography of this movie was made by Karl Freund and it is quite typical expressionist, mingled with realistic aspirations as when we saw the rays of a sunny day, inside a forest nearby the town. Where the old mendicant is living with five different - abandoned, but domesticated - dogs, it is inspired too by the resurrection of a new standard of living with his great amount of coins. By whom we had suddenly the vision of a kind of natural phenomena, that put suddenly the dogs as protagonists standing up, as if all it were believing in a kind of apparition such in likely one vision of the almighty of the animals, as it was for them such as unlikely a naturalistic influence of exterior divine maturity. It's interesting watch how the character of John Garfield in a brawl on the factory got the hand of Heddy Lamarr and decidedly both joint their belonguing's for a new life, after the whole of disputing each other but honoring friends with a private ceremony.
The wealthy of work surplus in income to the exploitation not retributed is lost, if the couple not insures their own lives and instead allows that for the free moments with such a kind of job to save them as too characters. Still as though themselves were either inside a struggle, for also developing by this way the community. Where they are inserted like two human beings, but far away from the misery of the beginning of their natural instincts, not possible otherwise for surviving alone if without the help of friendship circumstances. Victor Fleming in this movie made an unforgettable artistic view of the so-called half citizenship, at the time with their believers, dogs and a young lady whose charming revolt attracts these poor individuals, near the industrialism of the outskirts of a small town, from West coast in America, while beginning a decade before during the Depression times.
The photography of this movie was made by Karl Freund and it is quite typical expressionist, mingled with realistic aspirations as when we saw the rays of a sunny day, inside a forest nearby the town. Where the old mendicant is living with five different - abandoned, but domesticated - dogs, it is inspired too by the resurrection of a new standard of living with his great amount of coins. By whom we had suddenly the vision of a kind of natural phenomena, that put suddenly the dogs as protagonists standing up, as if all it were believing in a kind of apparition such in likely one vision of the almighty of the animals, as it was for them such as unlikely a naturalistic influence of exterior divine maturity. It's interesting watch how the character of John Garfield in a brawl on the factory got the hand of Heddy Lamarr and decidedly both joint their belonguing's for a new life, after the whole of disputing each other but honoring friends with a private ceremony.
Steinbeck book
SnoopyStyle10 July 2022
In northern coastal California, poor Mexican-American Danny (John Garfield) inherits two houses from his grandfather and gets taken advantage by Pilon (Spencer Tracy) and his other slacker friends. Danny has a crush on Dolores Sweets Ramirez (Hedy Lamarr).
I both love and hate Spencer Tracy. He's a no good guy but he's so beguiling. I would sympathize with Garfield except that he's such a loser. There are slackers everywhere. Lamarr is always beautiful but she's not always appealing. This tries to be comedic. It would work better as a darker drama or at least a black comedy. The material is too dark to be light. This is based on a Steinbeck book and directed by legendary Victor Fleming. I don't love these characters but they are interesting.
I both love and hate Spencer Tracy. He's a no good guy but he's so beguiling. I would sympathize with Garfield except that he's such a loser. There are slackers everywhere. Lamarr is always beautiful but she's not always appealing. This tries to be comedic. It would work better as a darker drama or at least a black comedy. The material is too dark to be light. This is based on a Steinbeck book and directed by legendary Victor Fleming. I don't love these characters but they are interesting.
Spencer Tracy is selfish, John Garfield is a creep, and Hedy Lamarr is nut.
thomasherlihy28 August 2020
This movie is a disappointment. The characters are terrible. Spencer Tracy's accent is ridiculous. Was he supposed to be a Mexican? Whatever he was trying to portray, he comes across very silly. The only likable character is Frank Morgan who plays the humble hermit. Everyone else is selfish and looking out for themselves. Spencer Tracy is a con man, always trying to take advantage of people. John Garfield is another story. First, he's in and out of jail. That's not a good sign. He is very selfish too. He goes to the girl's house and is very rude to another guest and tells him to leave. Then he very disrespectfully kisses the girl and hold her against her wishes like a creep. Then she gets mad and he goes crazy and starts beating people for no good reason. But for some reason everyone keeps saying how Garfield is such a good person! What are they talking about!! As for Hedy Lamarr, she is just a nut. She threatens John Garfield with a kitchen knife and tells him to get out and says she hates him. Next minute she loves him. Then she hates him again. It goes back and forth like this the whole movie! Overall, this is a cheap and boring movie.
Its only a movie and a very good one and Hedy
bruno-3226 January 2009
I've been reading some of the negatives of some of the reviewers here about the authenticity of the actors involved. Its only a movie and brought out by a studio that had to use their top actors that were available at the time. It goes way back to the early 30's on how actors were used for certain roles. Recall Edward G. Robinson a Jew, as Rico an Italian mobster, Paul Muni another Jew, as a Mexican, Meryl Streep, Polish as an Italian and etc. and etc. If this bothers you, then don't go to the movies. Its called "make believe"...remember? Most commend Frank Morgan's role here as a big highlight for his performance, but he was definitely not a Mexican. But the only ones that I thought pulled it off was Akin Tamiroff and Hedy Lamarr...maybe because they actually have accents..and speaking of Hedy, she looked terrific as usual and was very sexy. Somehow I wished Cecil B. DeMille made "Samson & Delilah" then. Worth to watch this movie for her alone.
horrible casting and terrible stereotypes abound
planktonrules17 August 2005
I don't know if Hispanics are offended by this film. My frustration with this film is NOT because I am politically correct (I am proud that I am NOT), but because the casting and performances were just so stupid. So, even if most are NOT offended, I was offended by how stupid the studio thought the viewers were to believe that Spencer Tracy, Heddy Lamarr, John Garfield and Sheldon Leonard were even the least bit plausible as CHICANOS!! Come off it--I think Hattie McDaniel or Maureen O'Hara would have been about as believable if they'd been offered these roles! As a result, it looked more like a performance of Jose Jimenez than a drama about the plight of these poor immigrants.
a film for film-lovers
cypresscj4 February 2001
This movie is full of surprises, not the least is the casting. (Was that "Toto" as "one of the boys"?) So many of the cast are in our movie memory banks. It's a well-acted, well-scripted film that can be enjoyed by the whole family.
Frank Morgan finally gets a Rag award!
HotToastyRag15 September 2019
After Spencer Tracy's atrocious Portuguese accent in Captains Courageous, Hollywood sought fit to cast him as a Mexican peasant in Tortilla Flat. In the silver screen, it was common to cast white actors as different ethnicities, but Tortilla Flat and Dragon Seed might take the cake. Spencer Tracy, Frank Morgan, John Garfield, Hedy Lamarr, Akim Tamaroff, Allen Jenkins, and Sheldon Leonard all putting on phony accents make for a pretty unwatchable movie.
It's also a John Steinbeck story, so you know you're in for a long haul of depression, as well as an old man who gets swindled and is attached to his dog. In this one, the old man is Frank Morgan, and he does the best he can with the material he was given. It's not his fault he was cast as a Mexican! His scenes with his dogs are very touching, and here at The Rag, we were proud to right a wrong and award him a Best Supporting Actor award. If you love Frank Morgan and want to see his Rag-winning movie, you can try this out, but be prepared to fast-forward through the rest of the movie. Fans of anyone else in the cast, you can try something else this weekend.
It's also a John Steinbeck story, so you know you're in for a long haul of depression, as well as an old man who gets swindled and is attached to his dog. In this one, the old man is Frank Morgan, and he does the best he can with the material he was given. It's not his fault he was cast as a Mexican! His scenes with his dogs are very touching, and here at The Rag, we were proud to right a wrong and award him a Best Supporting Actor award. If you love Frank Morgan and want to see his Rag-winning movie, you can try this out, but be prepared to fast-forward through the rest of the movie. Fans of anyone else in the cast, you can try something else this weekend.
Flat Tortilla features dreadful and offensive Tracy in bronze face.
st-shot4 March 2008
Even if MGM plays fast and loose with the Steinbeck novel there is additional blame beyond that to cast and crew in this all star catastrophe.
In the less exclusive area of Monterrey, Tortilla Flat, lives Danny and his lay about com padres. Averse to work they pass the time drinking and self righteously philosophizing about there life style. Enter Delores, a becoming senorita who entrances Danny. Pilon the self appointed leader of the loafers does what he can to make sure it doesn't interfere with the set up. Tragedy threatens but fear not, MGM is not about to let that happen to this lighthearted look at alcoholism and vagrancy in the Latino community.
Oz and Wind director Victor Fleming is certainly off form with his cast of miscast performers sounding and looking ridiculously out of place. Spencer Tracy in Coppertone face as Pilon gives an insulting and embarrassing performance as does Lower East Side John Garfield's Danny. Hedy Lamarr is passionate and impressive but unconvincing as a Portuguese immigrant. Akim Tamiroff does his usual generic immigrant and Frank Morgan is outstanding as dog lover Pirate. Unlike the blustery characters he played in so many films Morgan is both genuine and moving in look and feeling. He is the films only redeeming quality especially the scene with his scruffy band of mutts that takes place in an almost mystical forrest. The rest is all Hollywood arrogance and insensitivity.
In the less exclusive area of Monterrey, Tortilla Flat, lives Danny and his lay about com padres. Averse to work they pass the time drinking and self righteously philosophizing about there life style. Enter Delores, a becoming senorita who entrances Danny. Pilon the self appointed leader of the loafers does what he can to make sure it doesn't interfere with the set up. Tragedy threatens but fear not, MGM is not about to let that happen to this lighthearted look at alcoholism and vagrancy in the Latino community.
Oz and Wind director Victor Fleming is certainly off form with his cast of miscast performers sounding and looking ridiculously out of place. Spencer Tracy in Coppertone face as Pilon gives an insulting and embarrassing performance as does Lower East Side John Garfield's Danny. Hedy Lamarr is passionate and impressive but unconvincing as a Portuguese immigrant. Akim Tamiroff does his usual generic immigrant and Frank Morgan is outstanding as dog lover Pirate. Unlike the blustery characters he played in so many films Morgan is both genuine and moving in look and feeling. He is the films only redeeming quality especially the scene with his scruffy band of mutts that takes place in an almost mystical forrest. The rest is all Hollywood arrogance and insensitivity.
Steinbeck was sorry.
aabigbill16 July 2013
Warning: Spoilers
John Steinbeck was very disheartened by how many viewed his portrayal of the residents of "Tortilla Flat". He wrote in the the foreword of a 1937 edition of the book,"..it did not occur to me that paisanos were curious or quaint, dispossessed or underdoggish. They are people whom I know and like, people who merge successfully with their habitat...good people of laughter and kindness, of honest lusts and direct eyes. If I have done them harm by telling a few of their stories I am sorry. It will never happen again." The only sad thing is that view was of the times. "Tortilla Flat" is a great movie, a movie of great saddest and wonderful joys. Well worth the time to watch.
So politically incorrect, it's offensive in 2020......
661jda2 November 2020
Overlooking the fact that the picture was made at a time when people weren't worried about political correctness, the casting and the storyline are so blatantly offensive that I couldn't enjoy the picture. Hedy Lamarr can "almost" pull this off, but John Garfield and even worse = A brown faced Spencer Tracy with a gawd-awful accent. The latino population of Tortilla Flats is extremely stereotypical. Maybe I wasn't in the mood to watch this film, but the casting - regardless good or bad - ruined what may have been a good film.
Victor Fleming's best?
JohnHowardReid3 October 2017
Warning: Spoilers
If I were asked which were the best scenes Victor Fleming had directed, I would answer, "The bar-room scenes in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde." If I were asked which was the best film he directed, my reply would be "Tortilla Flat".
I've never been able to understand the critical apathy to this fine film. I strongly suspect that most of them haven't seen it. I guarantee that if it was spoken in a foreign language, they would be rating it with silver stars and golden superlatives. I wish I could get hold of a dubbed Italian print. I'd pass it off as an early work by De Sica; and I bet I'd be able to land a score of rave reviews for the asking.
A picaresque tale of life among squalid California paisanos, "Tortilla Flat" had rather an odd history: John Steinbeck wrote the novel in 1935 and found his first public. Dramatist Jack Kirkland (Tobacco Road) made it into a dirty, dismal, unsuccessful play in 1938, and socked friendly drama critic, Richard Watts Jr, for saying so. It went to Paramount for peanuts ($4,000) and after some customary Hollywood sleight-of-hand, wound up at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for $60,000.
After Steinbeck had come by success and a bank account (then swollen by the astronomical $300,000 Fox had paid for his novel-play, "The Moon Is Down"), he brooded over his wayward "Flat", and offered Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer $10,000 to buy it back. This virtually unheard- of maneuver produced its almost inevitable result: "Tortilla Flat" became a movie.
Of all the big and little books Steinbeck has written, "Tortilla Flat" still rates with me as his most satisfying job. It wrestles with no big problems like The Grapes of Wrath or The Moon Is Down or Of Mice and Men. For though Steinbeck writes like a realist, he thinks like a sentimentalist. And in the frankly sentimental "Tortilla Flat", he writes about his lazy, simple-hearted Mexicans with a warming glow and an indulgent sympathy.
It is the outstanding virtue of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's movie that — due mainly to Fleming's masterful control of atmosphere and acting — it preserves Steinbeck's sympathies.
For the first time in her Hollywood career, Hedy Lamarr depends on no glamorous clothes or background to enhance her charms. She wears no fake eye-lashes, no make-up except a ten-cent lipstick and grease to darken her skin. Her costume cost less than four dollars and took less than four minutes to slip into. Commenting on the joys of working with her, John Garfield confessed: "I tried to steal scenes from Hedy, Hedy tried to steal them from Spencer Tracy, Tracy tried to steal from Frank Morgan, Morgan tried to steal from me, and the dogs stole the show."
Garfield's witticism, of course, is somewhat inaccurate. Tracy's performance is by far the best. Morgan's ingrained tendency to over- act is always evident — especially in his later scenes. As for the dogs: their vision strikes a somewhat jarring note, and the scene would be better deleted, if only in the interests of good taste.
Fleming's great achievement in "Tortilla Flat" was that he created a leisurely atmosphere, without causing us to lose interest in the proceedings. It is true that he was helped considerably by Karl Freund's photographic expertise and the John Lee Mahin-Benjamin Glazer script itself. After all, we don't meet characters like these paisanos every night. Their story is as fascinating as it is original and off-beat. But even so, we could still get bored with them, if they were not handled with a polished touch and a sure sense of timing.
I've never been able to understand the critical apathy to this fine film. I strongly suspect that most of them haven't seen it. I guarantee that if it was spoken in a foreign language, they would be rating it with silver stars and golden superlatives. I wish I could get hold of a dubbed Italian print. I'd pass it off as an early work by De Sica; and I bet I'd be able to land a score of rave reviews for the asking.
A picaresque tale of life among squalid California paisanos, "Tortilla Flat" had rather an odd history: John Steinbeck wrote the novel in 1935 and found his first public. Dramatist Jack Kirkland (Tobacco Road) made it into a dirty, dismal, unsuccessful play in 1938, and socked friendly drama critic, Richard Watts Jr, for saying so. It went to Paramount for peanuts ($4,000) and after some customary Hollywood sleight-of-hand, wound up at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for $60,000.
After Steinbeck had come by success and a bank account (then swollen by the astronomical $300,000 Fox had paid for his novel-play, "The Moon Is Down"), he brooded over his wayward "Flat", and offered Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer $10,000 to buy it back. This virtually unheard- of maneuver produced its almost inevitable result: "Tortilla Flat" became a movie.
Of all the big and little books Steinbeck has written, "Tortilla Flat" still rates with me as his most satisfying job. It wrestles with no big problems like The Grapes of Wrath or The Moon Is Down or Of Mice and Men. For though Steinbeck writes like a realist, he thinks like a sentimentalist. And in the frankly sentimental "Tortilla Flat", he writes about his lazy, simple-hearted Mexicans with a warming glow and an indulgent sympathy.
It is the outstanding virtue of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's movie that — due mainly to Fleming's masterful control of atmosphere and acting — it preserves Steinbeck's sympathies.
For the first time in her Hollywood career, Hedy Lamarr depends on no glamorous clothes or background to enhance her charms. She wears no fake eye-lashes, no make-up except a ten-cent lipstick and grease to darken her skin. Her costume cost less than four dollars and took less than four minutes to slip into. Commenting on the joys of working with her, John Garfield confessed: "I tried to steal scenes from Hedy, Hedy tried to steal them from Spencer Tracy, Tracy tried to steal from Frank Morgan, Morgan tried to steal from me, and the dogs stole the show."
Garfield's witticism, of course, is somewhat inaccurate. Tracy's performance is by far the best. Morgan's ingrained tendency to over- act is always evident — especially in his later scenes. As for the dogs: their vision strikes a somewhat jarring note, and the scene would be better deleted, if only in the interests of good taste.
Fleming's great achievement in "Tortilla Flat" was that he created a leisurely atmosphere, without causing us to lose interest in the proceedings. It is true that he was helped considerably by Karl Freund's photographic expertise and the John Lee Mahin-Benjamin Glazer script itself. After all, we don't meet characters like these paisanos every night. Their story is as fascinating as it is original and off-beat. But even so, we could still get bored with them, if they were not handled with a polished touch and a sure sense of timing.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
