The Color Purple (1985)

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PG-13

Peter Guber & Jon Peters (Executive Producers)

Carole Isenberg (Associate Producer)

Quincy Jones, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall & Steven Spielberg (Producers)

Alice Walker (novel)

Menno Meyjes (screenplay)

Quincy Jones

Allen Daviau

Michael Kahn

Amblin Entertainment

USA

English

Anson County, North Carolina, USA

Ansonville, North Carolina, USA

Charlotte, North Carolina, USA (near)

Kenya

Lilesville, North Carolina, USA

Marshville, North Carolina, USA

Newhall, California, USA

North Carolina, USA

Union County, North Carolina, USA

Wadesboro Courthouse - 114 North Greene Street, Wadesboro, North Carolina, USA

Wadesboro, North Carolina, USA

ASCAP Awards

1987 Won ASCAP Award Top Box Office Films
Quincy Jones, Chris Boardman, Jorge Calandrelli, Andraé Crouch, Jack Hayes, Joel Rosenbaum, Fred Steiner & Rod Temperton

The Academy Awards

1986 Nominated Oscar Best Actress in a Leading Role Whoopi Goldberg

1986 Nominated Oscar Best Actress in a Supporting Role Margaret Avery

1986 Nominated Oscar Best Actress in a Supporting Role Oprah Winfrey

1986 Nominated Oscar Best Art Direction-Set Decoration J. Michael Riva, Bo Welch & Linda DeScenna

1986 Nominated Oscar Best Cinematography Allen Daviau

1986 Nominated Oscar Best Costume Design Aggie Guerard Rodgers

1986 Nominated Oscar Best Makeup Ken Chase

1986 Nominated Oscar Best Music, Original Score Quincy Jones, Jeremy Lubbock ,Rod Temperton, Caiphus Semenya, Andraé Crouch, Chris Boardman, Jorge Calandrelli, Joel Rosenbaum, Fred Steiner, Jack Hayes. Jerry Hey & Randy Kerber

1986 Nominated Oscar Best Music, Original Song Quincy Jones & Rod Temperton (music/lyrics); Lionel Richie (lyrics) for: the song "Miss Celie's Blues (Sister)"

1986 Nominated Oscar Best Picture Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy ,Frank Marshall & Quincy Jones

1986 Nominated Oscar Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium Menno Meyjes

Awards of the Japanese Academy

1987 Nominated Award of the Japanese Academy Best Foreign Language Film

BAFTA Awards

1987 Nominated BAFTA Film Award Best Screenplay - Adapted Menno Meyjes

Black Movie Awards

2005 Won Classic Cinema Hall of Fame

Blue Ribbon Awards

1987 Won Blue Ribbon Award Best Foreign Language Film Steven Spielberg

British Society of Cinematographers

1986 Nominated Best Cinematography Award Allen Daviau

Casting Society of America

1986 Won Artios Best Casting for Feature Film, Drama Reuben Cannon

Directors Guild of America

1986 Won DGA Award Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures Steven Spielberg, Gerald R. Molen (unit production manager) plaque), Pat Kehoe & Richard A. Wells (first assistant directors) (plaque), Victoria E. Rhodes (second assistant director) (plaque)

Golden Globe Awards

1986 Won Golden Globe Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama Whoopi Goldberg

1986 Nominated Golden Globe Best Director - Motion Picture Steven Spielberg

1986 Nominated Golden Globe Best Motion Picture - Drama

1986 Nominated Golden Globe Best Original Score - Motion Picture Quincy Jones

1986 Nominated Golden Globe Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture Oprah Winfrey

Image Awards

1988 Won Image Award Outstanding Lead Actress in a Motion Picture Whoopi Goldberg

1988 Won Image Award Outstanding Motion Picture

Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards

1986 Won KCFCC Award Best Director Steven Spielberg

National Board of Review, USA

1985 Won NBR Award Best Actress Whoopi Goldberg

1985 Won NBR Award Best Film

Writers Guild of America, USA

1986 Nominated WGA Award (Screen) Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium Menno Meyjes

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Danny Glover

Whoopi Goldberg

Oprah Winfrey

Margaret Avery

Willard E. Pugh

Akosua Busia

Desreta Jackson

Adolph Caesar

Rae Dawn Chong

Dana Ivey

Leonard Jackson

Bennet Guillory

John Patton Jr.

Carl Anderson

Susan Beaubian

James Tillis

Phillip Strong

Laurence Fishburne

Peto Kinsaka

Lelo Masamba

The movie is based on Alice Walker’s diary-style, Pulitzer Prize—winning novel about the metamorphosis of a young black woman who grows up in the rural Southern United States during the slave era.

Though the movie was nominated for an Oscar the director Steven Spielberg was not. Word of Spielberg's snubbing generated an audible response throughout the Hollywood film community the day after the Academy Awards were announced. Spielberg could not be reached for comment, but Warner Bros. wasted no time in buying an ad in the trades proclaiming that "the company is shocked and dismayed that the movie's primary creative force Steven Spielberg—was not recognized."

A film adaptation of Alice Walker's novel was so highly anticipated, auditions for the film had to be held under the code "Moon Song".

Alice Walker (author of the novel) attended the rushes at the end of filming each day, yet she was horrified with the final cut of the film, especially what she referred to as the "Oklahoma"-type opening scene. However, at the premiere, when she watched the movie with an enthusiastic audience, she changed her mind. She now says she likes the film very much, but thinks of it as being very different from her book.

Whoopi Goldberg's first feature film.

Oprah Winfrey's first movie.

Shooting for town scenes frequently had to be put on hold due to freight trains passing by the edge of the set.

Steven Spielberg admits that his greatest mistake in directing this film was his lack of courage portraying the lesbian relationship between Celie and Shug. At the time of filming, Spielberg feared that overt sexuality between the two characters would alienate audiences, a decision he now regrets.

Oprah Winfrey was at a "fat farm" to lose weight when she learned she got the part of Sofia. She had to leave immediately, as the role required her to be heavy.

Patti LaBelle auditioned for the role of Shug Avery.

Steven Spielberg's baby was born during the filming of this movie, and in the scene where young Celie gives birth to the baby, the sound of the baby crying is the actual sound of the Spielbergs' baby crying.

Lola Falana and Diana Ross turned down the role of Shug Avery.

Submit Interesting Facts

No, not vain, just wanting to share a good thing. I think it pisses God off when you walk by the colour purple in a field and don't notice it.

Who you think you is? You can curse nobody. Look at you. Your black, you're poor, you're ugly, you're a woman, you're nothing at all!

Submit Quotes

After Celie looks out of the door of her pants shop and sees Mister, a person walks by. When the person walks by, you can see the reflection of a camera and a crew member in the glass.

In the scene in which Celie has on Shug's dress in Shug's bedroom, Shug makes Celie look in the dresser mirror. There is another mirror on the dresser in which a crew members head is visible.

When Sophia is in the field telling Celie "If you want a dead son in-law, Miss Celie, you keep on advising him like you're doing." Actually, Harpo is Celie's step-son, not her son in-law.

When she is returning from Memphis on the train, Celie is sipping wine in the dining car. An African-American person could not eat in the dining car in the late 1930s, especially on a Southern run.

Submit Goofs & Blunders

The affirmation at the end of the film is so joyous that this is one of the few movies in a long time that inspires tears of happiness, and earns them. "The Color Purple" is the year's best film. Reviewed by: Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times.

It does not much matter that the film lacks fidelity to Miss Walker's tone; a lot of her book is too blunt to have been successfully translated to the screen anyhow. What's more crucial is the film's peculiar unevenness, and its way of combining such wild extremes. Some parts of it are rapturous and stirring, others hugely improbable, and the film moves unpredictably from one mode to another. From another director, this might be fatally confusing, but Mr. Spielberg's showmanship is still with him. Although the combination of his sensibilities and Miss Walker's amounts to a colossal mismatch, Mr. Spielberg's ''Color Purple'' manages to have momentum, warmth and staying power all the same. Reviewed by: Janet Maslin of The New York Times.

Parents need to know that this intense drama is the adaptation of award-wining author Alice Walker's novel 'The Color Purple' and deals with serious themes -- incest, marital abuse, overt racism and sexism -- that are not appropriate for young children. On the other hand, mature teenagers will benefit from seeing the movie, as it will open their eyes about the difficulties women -- especially black women -- experienced in the early 20th century. Many scenes include glimpses of violence and abuse, all against women, but here are also positive messages about the importance of women's relationships with other women, the power of the sisterly bond, and the human capacity to overcome oppression. Reviewed by: Common Sense Media.

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