Boêmios Errantes

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.

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.

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.

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............

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.