The Color Purple

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The Color Purple

PG-13

1985

2h 33m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

72%

Tomatometer

127 Reviews

94%

Popcornmeter

100,000+ Ratings

An epic tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie, an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry. After Celie's abusive father marries her off to the equally debasing "Mister" Albert Johnson, things go from bad to worse, leaving Celie to find companionship anywhere she can. She perseveres, holding on to her dream of one day being reunited with her sister in Africa. Based on the novel by Alice Walker.

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Critics Consensus

It might have been better served by a filmmaker with a deeper connection to the source material, but The Color Purple remains a worthy, well-acted adaptation of Alice Walker's classic novel.

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Dorothy Gilliam

Washington Post

05/31/2023

I anxiously awaited the coming of this movie. Last week I saw it, and I was not disappointed. Indeed, when it concluded, I stood up and cheered.

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

05/31/2023

4/4

It is a great, warm, hard, unforgiving, triumphant movie, and there is not a scene that does not shine with the love of the people who made it.

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Anne Marie Biondo

Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com

05/31/2023

4/4

The Color Purple is easily the best movie of the year.

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Yasser Medina

Cinefilia

Mar 20

6/10

Despite featuring committed performances from Whoopi Goldberg and Danny Glover, it's a Spielberg rural drama that tends to become redundant in exploring its themes of racism, misogyny, and systemic abuse. [Full review in Spanish]

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Sue Heal

Radio Times

04/04/2024

4/5

Whoopi Goldberg is wonderful in the lead, Danny Glover and Margaret Avery are sublime, and watch out for a pre-TV-fame Oprah Winfrey playing very out of character.

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Mike Massie

Gone With The Twins

01/01/2024

7/10

Celie’s journey, though wrought with hardships, is thought-provoking, educational, nerve-wracking and, finally, wholesome and triumphant.

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Kalissa H.

@kali_416 Jan 25

Amazing. I did not move the whole movie. The acting was amazing. The story was sad. One of the best.

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Tyler G

@tylergross121 Sep 14

If you have watched Spiel start-to-now, it is amazing he made this movie. It has all of his style and affecting moments. Some of the acting performances are top tier and unsurprising they launched stars. Still, it has glaring weaknesses. The score is so bad. The depiction of sexuality, while i get he needed to "keep it PG", reflect an author who has almost no real-life expoure to sex or queerness. I have very mixed emotions about this movie.

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Eric W.

@Jtuess Aug 13

Absolutely brilliant and heartbreaking. It’s disturbing to me that so many people protested this film. It’s also a snapshot of Oprah and Whoopie before they were losing their marbles.

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Tricia W

@RT10313264 Aug 11

This is one of the best movies ever made in my opinion. It tugs at your heart strings from beginning to end, and the acting is unbelievable. Oprah, Whoopie, and Danny absolutely kill it! There's sadness, anger, joy, and the ending is just about the best I've ever seen. I can't recommend this movie enough.

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Stephen C

@bob25009 Jul 4

Featuring 2 hours and 32 minutes of footage, including Danny Glover, Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The USA grossed over $93,400,000.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Jerrod G

@Jag1337 04/07/2025

Beautiful movie just all around with great plot and ending

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Steven Spielberg

Director

Whoopi Goldberg

Celie

Danny Glover

Albert

Margaret Avery

Shug Avery

Oprah Winfrey

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Synopsis

An epic tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie, an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry. After Celie's abusive father marries her off to the equally debasing "Mister" Albert Johnson, things go from bad to worse, leaving Celie to find companionship anywhere she can. She perseveres, holding on to her dream of one day being reunited with her sister in Africa. Based on the novel by Alice Walker.

Director: Steven Spielberg
Producer: Frank Marshall, Kathleen Kennedy
Screenwriter: Alice Walker, Menno Meyjes
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Production Co: Warner Brothers, Guber-Peters Company, Amblin Entertainment
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 18, 1985, Original
Release Date (Streaming): May 23, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $93.4M
Runtime: 2h 33m
Sound Mix: Surround

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