Sometimes reality is an ugly state of life, and this family is certainly one that needs counseling or a good cleansing. You may end up very depressed within the first hour of this movie, and filled with hope that at least two of the girls get a good smackdown from their mama Louise Stubbs or Grandma Claudia McNeil for their sinister treatment of a surrogate daughter who was coming home for Mother's Day. I'd actually suggest having aspirin handy because the dialogue of the three sisters treating the visiting Leslie Uggams with contempt really made me feel ill because of the poison coming out of their mouths. Gloria Edwards is the perpetrator of all the poison, having already manipulated middle sister Loretta Greene and now working on the youngest sister, Peggy Pettitt whom she already hates and just needs on her team to create tension when Uggams arrives.
Pettit surprises Edwards by revealing that she's already had a bunch of letters from Uggams to mama, and now she learns that her sisters have kept a college application for her from Uggams simply to keep her under their control and down in the depths of despair along with them. Uggams, taken in by Stubbs because her own mother (Ruby Dee in a cameo late in the film) is mentally ill, is constantly reminded that she's not blood family. It's unfortunate that Stubbs is working and McNeil out when Uggams comes home so they are not there to witness the treachery going on. Stubbs is already dealing with the visit of her first husband, Brock Peters, a big talking phony who brought back memories of the past that ultimately filled her with disappointment. The smug smile on Edwards' face as they gang up on Uggams made me curious and wish Uggams was smack her or have the urge myself to reach through the screen and do the same. She obvious has severe mental issues and is the poster child of why many families end up falling apart for the problems she deliberately causes, especially when she pulls a knife taunts Uggams into coming at her.
This psychological study of the worst kind of envy is a harsh wake up call for any family of any race where one person wants to make it and do well in life and one person tries to wreck their self-esteem to keep them down. The performances are excellent, probably too real, and I have to remind myself that this is just a film, a strong one based upon a play that opened up the can of serpents to see what the real problem in this family is. Obviously nothing is going to be resolved at the conclusion other than the fact that one person will finally have the courage to say that they're going to do what is best for their future, and not be kept back just because someone doesn't want to see them succeed.
It's directed by Ossie Davis who also makes a cameo, and the cameo of his real-life wife, Ruby Dee, is touching and shows the strength of the Uggams character especially as she influences Pettitt who is obviously as much of a victim of her older half-sister Edwards as Uggams was. It's laughably hypocritical to see Edwards in church singing a religious hymn, especially when she has been so dastardly evil. But that's where the satisfaction comes in because you get the hand that people are waking up to her toxicity as what usually happens in circumstances like this, slowly but eventually.
Pettit surprises Edwards by revealing that she's already had a bunch of letters from Uggams to mama, and now she learns that her sisters have kept a college application for her from Uggams simply to keep her under their control and down in the depths of despair along with them. Uggams, taken in by Stubbs because her own mother (Ruby Dee in a cameo late in the film) is mentally ill, is constantly reminded that she's not blood family. It's unfortunate that Stubbs is working and McNeil out when Uggams comes home so they are not there to witness the treachery going on. Stubbs is already dealing with the visit of her first husband, Brock Peters, a big talking phony who brought back memories of the past that ultimately filled her with disappointment. The smug smile on Edwards' face as they gang up on Uggams made me curious and wish Uggams was smack her or have the urge myself to reach through the screen and do the same. She obvious has severe mental issues and is the poster child of why many families end up falling apart for the problems she deliberately causes, especially when she pulls a knife taunts Uggams into coming at her.
This psychological study of the worst kind of envy is a harsh wake up call for any family of any race where one person wants to make it and do well in life and one person tries to wreck their self-esteem to keep them down. The performances are excellent, probably too real, and I have to remind myself that this is just a film, a strong one based upon a play that opened up the can of serpents to see what the real problem in this family is. Obviously nothing is going to be resolved at the conclusion other than the fact that one person will finally have the courage to say that they're going to do what is best for their future, and not be kept back just because someone doesn't want to see them succeed.
It's directed by Ossie Davis who also makes a cameo, and the cameo of his real-life wife, Ruby Dee, is touching and shows the strength of the Uggams character especially as she influences Pettitt who is obviously as much of a victim of her older half-sister Edwards as Uggams was. It's laughably hypocritical to see Edwards in church singing a religious hymn, especially when she has been so dastardly evil. But that's where the satisfaction comes in because you get the hand that people are waking up to her toxicity as what usually happens in circumstances like this, slowly but eventually.