Norma Rae (1979 Film)

Sally Field won an Academy Award for her portrayal of the title character in Norma Rae, a 1979 film about labor unions and the activism needed to effect social change.

Norma Rae, played by Sally Field, is a minimum wage cotton mill worker who, having seen the ill effects of decades of mill work on her family, decides to spearhead the unionization efforts in her mill. Inspired and later helped by New York City organizer Reuben, played by Ron Leibman, Norma Rae has to fight not only mill management, but her terrified and apathetic co-workers and a jealous boyfriend, who is convinced that Norma Rae and Reuben are having an affair. Norma Rae manages to bring together an organized shut-down of the mill, and successfully manages to get management to meet the union's demands.http://allmovie.com/work/norma-rae-35621

• Sally Field as Norma Rae

• Beau Bridges as Sonny

• Ron Leibman as Reuben

• Pat Hingle as Vernon

• Barbara Baxley as Leona

• Gail Strickland as Bonnie Mae

• Morgan Paull as Wayne Billings

"In short, swift, effective scenes "Norma Rae" dramatizes the limits imposed on imaginations by both poverty and tradition."—The New York Times'http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=980DE3D81139E732A25751C0A9659C946890D6CF&partner=Rotten%20Tomatoes

"Norma Rae is that rare entity, an intelligent film with heart."—Varietyhttp://www.variety.com/review/VE1117793579.html?categoryid=31&cs=1