Tortilla Flat

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.