Sounder poster

1972·105 min·Released

Sounder

Drama

The oldest son of a loving and strong family of black sharecroppers comes of age in the Depression-era South after his father is imprisoned for stealing food.

7.5(57 votes)

Popularity3

Videos

Word of Mouth: Cinematographers William Fraker and John Alonzo discuss SOUNDER ('72)

Cast & Crew

Cicely Tyson

Cicely Tyson

Rebecca Morgan

Paul Winfield

Paul Winfield

Nathan Lee Morgan

Kevin Hooks

Kevin Hooks

David Lee Morgan

Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal

Ike

Janet MacLachlan

Janet MacLachlan

Camille Johnson

Carmen Mathews

Carmen Mathews

Mrs. Boatwright

James Best

James Best

Sheriff Charlie Young

Eric Hooks

Eric Hooks

Earl Morgan

Yvonne Jarrell

Yvonne Jarrell

Josie Mae Morgan

Sylvia Kuumba Williams

Sylvia Kuumba Williams

Harriet

Teddy Airhart

Teddy Airhart

Mr. Perkins

Richard Durham

Richard Durham

Perkins' Foreman

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CinemaSerf

Written on 7/5/2025

After an energetic but fruitless coon hunt, “Nathan” (Paul Winfield) returns home to a family with his young son “David” (Kevin Hooks) and some empty bellies. They are a close and loving bunch and “Nathan” knows that nothing is likely to improve until the cropping season starts - but that is still some months away. Then he goes and gets himself imprisoned for stealing food and that leaves his wife “Rebecca” (Cicely Tyson) and the children to eke what they can and deal with the planting whilst he does twelve months hard labour. It doesn’t help their morale that they don’t even know where he has been detained, and so “David” with the help of their kindly neighbour “Miss Boatwright” (Carmen Matthews) sets about trying to track him down and make a contact that can reassure both that they are in each other’s thoughts and prayers. This film sees two strong performances. One from Tyson as a woman who will move heaven and earth to keep her family together and from starvation and the other from the enthusiastic and charismatic young Hooks who delivers quite poignantly as the young man who just wants to be with his dad. It shines the usual light on racism and iniquity, but it also extols some positivity as the young kids are determined to go to school, and they have parents who are equally determined that this opportunity should not be wasted. It’s touching but not sentimental and there is a degree of optimism for these children and, thanks to the somewhat risky intervention of “Miss Boatwright”, there might even be some roots of decency sprouting from the white folks too. The production is really quite effective at illustrating just how tough their lives was, and at the double-standards that prevailed amongst a community where hard work earned little but money for someone else.

Media

Word of Mouth: Cinematographers William Fraker and John Alonzo discuss SOUNDER ('72)

Word of Mouth: Cinematographers William Fraker and John Alonzo discuss SOUNDER ('72)

SOUNDER- Trailer

SOUNDER- Trailer