The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman [Blu-ray]

Director: John Korty John Korty

Overview

Cicely Tyson ages from 19 to 110 in the role of Jane Pittman, a fictional African-American woman whose life began in slavery and ended at the inception of the Civil Rights Movement. Northern journalist Quentin Lerner (Michael Murphy) travels to the racially polarized south of 1962 to interview Ms. Pittman for a potential book. Her life unfolds in flashbacks, many painful and unpleasant, but just as many are uplifting and hopeful. Based on the novel by Ernest J. Gaines and filmed on location in Baton Rouge, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman won nine Emmy Awards, including Best Actress (Tyson), Director (John Korty), and Screenplay (Tracy Keenan Wynn). The film premiered January 31, 1974, on CBS.

Product Details

Release Date:	02/02/2021
UPC:	0191329159507
Original Release:	1974
Rating:	NR
Source:	Universal
Language:	English
Time:	1:50:00
Sales rank:	25,705

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Cicely Tyson	Jane Pittman
Rod Perry	Joe Pittman
Odetta	Big Laura
Beatrice Winde	Lena
Richard Dysart	Master Bryant
Michael Murphy	Quentin Lerner
Thalmus Rasulala	Ned
Teddy Airhart	Sheriff Guidry
Ted Arroyo	Tee-Bob
Roy Poole	Mr. Robert
Josephine Premice	Madame Gautier
Katherine Helmond	Southern Lady
Colin Wilcox-Horne	Mistress Bryant
Eric Brown	Jimmy at 7
Joel Fluellen	Unc Isom
David Hooks	Colonel Dye
Elnora B. Jonson	Mary
Will Hare	Albert Cluveau
Valeria Odell	Ticey
Jerry Green	Etienne
Derrick Mills	Little Ned
Warren Kenner	Job
Dudley Knight	Trooper Brown
Al Scott	Ferry Captain
Dean Smith	Ned at 18
Carol Sutton	Vivian
Arnold Wilkerson	Jimmy
Bill Walker	Elder Banks
Woody Chambliss	Freedom Investigator
Barbara Chaney	Amma Dean
Odette	Actor
Joseph Tremice	Actor
Fred Karlin	Composer

Technical Credits

Tracy Keenan Wynn

John Korty	Director
Philip Barry Jr.	Producer
Robert W. Christiansen	Producer
Terry Frazee	Special Effects
Jack G. Roberts	Casting
Rick Rosenberg	Producer
Tracy Keenan Wynn	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

This superb historical drama tells the fictional story of 110-year-old former slave Jane Pittman. Or more accurately, the movie allows the fictional Miss Jane to tell her own story as both eyewitness and participant in 110 years of painfully real American history. Cicely Tyson gives a powerhouse performance as the plainspoken and spirited Jane, tracing her turbulent life journey from the skittish young slave girl freed at the end of the Civil War to the withered but indomitable old woman who finds herself at the center of a local civil rights struggle. Tyson’s portrayal is made all the more vivid by the thoroughly believable "aging" make-up created by Stan Winston and a young Ric (Star Wars) Baker. Tracy Keenan Wynn’s brilliant screenplay, adopted from Ernest J. Gaines’s novel, manages to convey the complexity of the black experience in this country with a subtlety and intelligence rarely achieved in film or television. The movie is also full of excellent supporting performances, including iconic folk singer Odetta as fellow slave Big Laura, Katherine Helmond as a Confederate widow, and Thalmus Rasulala as Jane’s adopted son, Ned. But the movie belongs to Tyson, whose tour-de-force performance earned her one of the production’s nine Emmy awards and universal acclaim as one of the greatest actresses of her generation. It’s a testament to both Tyson’s and the movie’s transcendent power that, in the years since its 1973 TV debut, Jane Pittman has stuck in the country’s collective conscious as a real, live, flesh-and-blood person, not a fictional creation. The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman is, simply put, a masterpiece. --Paul Leo

Barnes & Noble

It's hard to overstate the impact that The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman had when it was first broadcast in 1974. It was a landmark event, both in terms of social consciousness and quality television drama. While the passage of time has inevitably softened that impact somewhat, Pittman remains an outstanding production, anchored by one of the most acclaimed -- and deservedly so -- lead performances in the history of television. The title role requires an actress who can convincingly span numerous decades in age, but while this kind of thing gets the most attention, it's just about the least demanding aspect of the part. Pittman requires an actress who can grow and change in both subtle and dramatic ways, who can "showboat" during the big dramatic moments yet do so in such a way that she never stops being the character to become an actress. She must also be engaging, defiant, vulnerable, headstrong, and quietly powerful. Cicely Tyson, in a truly amazing performance, is all that is required and more. She's surrounded by an exceptional supporting cast, buttressed by sterling direction by John Korty and blessed with an outstanding screenplay from Tracy Keenan Wynn. She doesn't let any of them down -- and vice versa. From all angles, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman is a stunning achievement.

All Movie Guide - Craig Butler