The play is much better.

Worth a watch if only for Sidney Poitier's hyperkinetic performance. It makes me appreciate the play a bit more, but I wouldn't consider it a brilliant film.

Seems a little over the top at times, but a good portrayal of racial and economic struggles in the mid-20th century.

The weak link in the cast is Claudia McNeil as the mother. My larger problem, however, is that this is one of those movies clearly adapted from the stage. While I do not demand "realistic" performances in every film, I do have a strong distaste for "stagey" performances. And while a lot of the dialogue is excellent, some of it is a bit overwritten, and not in a good way. Still, it's a compelling story with strong characters and thoughtful messages... and of course, the wonderful Ruby Dee.

Damn. This is some intense stuff, just magnificently executed. Yeah, it comes across as a play on screen but that doesn't hurt it one bit with the excellent dialogue and fantastic performances and a magnificent exploration of dreams both personal and social. It takes real skill to take something so broad and condense it into a film like this without losing the depth and nuance of the subject.

Eat yo eggs!

It is just a filmed play, and makes no attempt to hide that, but it's not like Sydney Poitier could be everywhere at once. It is laden with speeches, possibly because it very much wants to be important, but the cast makes it work.

Unfortunately, All the characters are caricatures. The husband is the discontent worker who feels everyone is out to get him, the wife is the fretter who just doesn't get it, the mother is the old school religioso who is incapable of seeing modern realities, the sister is the head-in-the-clouds academic. All the characters are written to be myopic, unable to empathize outside their viewpoint, and that makes makes this a frustrating movie to watch.

Poitier is pretty amped up in this one (and sometimes he's juiced up). Perhaps inevitably comes across as a filmed play.

As the old Motown song goes, "Ain't nothin' like the real thing!" There are now TWO movie adaptations of Hansberry's play...this version, and some bullshit with P-Diddy and Claire Huxtable. This version betters the made-for-tv version by FAR.