Bitter Harvest

Most movies I see I forget after a while. Others, like Pearl Harbor, or Star Wars, stay with a person. I saw Bitter Harvest as a TV movie in 1981. It left an emotional stamp on my soul that I carry to this day. I don't even know why. Maybe I just believed Ron Howard really cared about the subject of the movie, beyond the playing of a character, and it showed. Tried to buy but was almost seventy dollars on one site. Good job. The story is about a farm family, faced with the ruin of their way of life because of the poisoning of their dairy herd. Faced with a decision no farmer should have to make, the lead, played by Ron Howard, makes the most financially ruinous, but the most ethical one. He shows everyone what an honest man does; tells the truth, and does the right thing. Try to see if possible.

This movie was about a dairy farmer who bought some new feed to increase the production of milk from the cows. Cows were getting sick and producing less milk. This mysterious disease started to effect the humans. The farmer got extremely worried because these cows were his life, so he did all he could to save them. At first no one would help him, but then he came upon a Doctor who agreed to help. Numerous tests were run and at first they thought it was "malnutrition." Later it ended up being the chemical PBB. This was causing the cows to have bald-spots of cows, pink-eye, defects in birth, and eventually death. Humans had some of the same symptoms including a rash. This disease was spreading everywhere. The only way in order to get rid of the chemical, all the infected cows had to be terminated.

This was one of Ron Howard's last acting jobs before devoting himself full-time to directing. Based on a true story, he plays a farmer who discovers that his herd of cows had been contaminated somewhat and that his baby had been quite sickly. So he decides to find out why but he keeps running into obstacles until he meets someone (Richard Dysart) who tells him what's been going on. Mr. Howard brings passion in his role as a farmer who feels at his wits end of not being told of why his farm as well as those of his neighbors like his friend played by Art Carney are being affected. Had he continued acting, he probably could have broached quite a list of accomplishments in the profession he had started at since his toddler days from before his big break in "The Andy Griffith Show". But he had accomplished quite well at the job he really wanted to this very day...

I lived 20 miles from the town the mix up occurred. I was told the chemical that was mixed with feed would not harm me or my family and that it stayed in the body of humans in fat cells. I have 2 daughters that I believe suffer the effects of this chemical and can not get much help from government concerning what happened on those farms and the true effects it has on the body. Michigan did a great job of a cover-up and still does for that matter. My daughters have tried to get information concerning what happened to no avail. This movie is the only one made on the matter and I am going to try to get a copy to show to my daughters. I remember watching it and at the time did not know my daughters had reproductive problems that are extremely unusual and not something my ex husband and I ever had a family history of. Thank you Mr. Howard for making a movie that tells what really happened and not what the state of Michigan is covering up.

I was amazed at this film. The story takes place in a fictional area, but I know for a fact that it was in Michigan during the mid-late 60's My relatives were on farms affected by the poison in this movie and the events actually occurred. Some of my relatives died as a result of the tainted food supply and others came down with horrible cancer growths. To this day, the farmers are not to speak of this event and the government covered up this story very well. I have to give Ron Howard a lot of credit to bring this information to the public, even though most will not know the true story. I do not want to give away the plot, but you must see this for yourself and then see if you can actually believe that it really happened. By the way, do some more research on the foundry sands of Detroit and see what they did there! There is not a movie about that part yet.