Cinema: A Palpable, Homespun Integrity

Henry Fonda: 1905-1982

Tom Joad, that quintessential Okie, has just told his mother that as long as he stands falsely accused of murder and has to run, he intends to turn his time on the road to good use, as some sort of farm-labor organizer. She cries out in anguish, "How'm I gonna know 'bout you? They might kill you an' I wouldn't know. How'm I gonna know?"

The camera moves in on her son's face, his honest, decent, heartbreakingly beautiful face, and he replies, "I'll be ever'where—wherever you look. Wherever there's a fight so...

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