The struggle of a poor black family against the forces of bigotry and hate in 1950s Chicago is augmented by the turmoil within the family itself. A riveting, made-for-TV interpretation of Lorraine Hansberry's powerful play.
This television adaptation of Lorraine Hansberry's award-winning play explores black family life on the eve of the Civil Rights Movement and showcases her work in its entirety.
After her husband dies, sturdy matriarch Lena Younger collects $10,000 from her insurance company. She yearns to move her family from its rough neighborhood on Chicago's South Side to a safer, more prosperous life in the suburbs.
Each family member, though, has a wish of his or her own. Eldest daughter Beneatha longs to attend medical school, and short-sighted son Walter Lee, on the other hand, hopes to invest the cash in a liquor store.
As the Younger family prepares to realize the American Dream, it risks falling apart in an urban nightmare of opportunism and bigotry.
Lorraine Hansberry's play "A Raisin in the Sun" premiered on Broadway in 1959. This new production, with Esther Rolle and Danny Glover, commenced the eighth season of Public Television's program "American Playhouse."
The 1989 small-screen version includes the entirety of Hansberry's original work; several sections were trimmed from the 1961 film adaptation because censors found some material too provocative.
A host of black American actors have appeared in the various play and film updates of Hansberry's three-act tale. The original stage and motion picture productions included Sidney Poitier, Claudia McNeil, Ruby Dee, Diana Sands, Ivan Dixon and Louis Gossett Jr.
Supporting player John Fielder, who plays the role of a subtly bigoted community leader, portrayed the same part in the original theatrical version as well as in the 1961 screen incarnation.
DVD Features:
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Full Frame - 1.33
Source Writer
Lorraine Hansberry: African-American playwright
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