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The Learning Tree (1969)

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Average Rating: 6.7/10
Reviews Counted: 11
Fresh: 8 | Rotten: 3

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Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 3
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 1

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User Ratings: 475

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Movie Info

Gordon Parks' adaptation of his own novel The Learning Tree stars Kyle Johnson as Newt, a black teenager living in 1920s Kansas. He is an intelligent even-tempered young man who meets the many racial prejudices he faces with composure and pride. His best friend Marcus (Alex Clarke) is hot-headed and prone to react emotionally when confronted with life's problems. Newt gets into a difficult situation when he witnesses a murder and must decide if he should come forward to clear the man being

PG, 1 hr. 47 min.

Drama

Directed By: Gordon Parks

In Theaters: Sep 1, 1969 Wide

Warner Bros. Pictures

Cast

Kyle Johnson
Newt
Alex Clarke
Marcus
Estelle Evans
Sarah
Dana Elcar
Sheriff Kirky
Mira Waters
Arcella
Joel Fluellen
Uncle Rob
Malcolm Atterbury
Silas Newhall
Richard Ward
Booker Savage
Russell Thorson
Judge Cavanaugh
Peggy Rea
Miss McClintock
Thomas Anderson
Pastor Broadnap
Don Dubbins
Harley Davis
Kevin Hagen
Doc Cravens
Zooey Hall
Chauncey Cavanaugh
Carole Lamond
Big Mabel
Jon Lormer
McCormack
George Mitchell
Jake Kiner
Felix Nelson
Jack Winger
Stephen Perry
Jappy
Philip Roye
Pete Winger
Morgan Sterne
Mr. Hall
Hope Summers
Mrs. Kiner
Dub Taylor
Spikey
Saundra Sharp
Prissy

Critic Reviews for The Learning Tree

All Critics (11) | Top Critics (3) | Fresh (8) | Rotten (3)

The Learning Tree is a sentimental, sometimes awkward, but ultimately moving film about the growing-up of a black teenager in rural Kansas during the 1920s.

October 16, 2007 Full Review Source: Variety

| Comment

Variety Staff

Variety

Top Critic

The restraint, the composure, the sufficiency of the sentimental gesture constitute a small gift for memory and a real victory in the first stages of this filmmaker's career.

May 9, 2005 Full Review Source: New York Times

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Roger Greenspun

New York Times

Top Critic

It's conventional and rather toothless.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader

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Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

Falls into the path of giving a message more than it does letting things emerge organically.

August 25, 2011 Full Review Source: Movie Views

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Ryan Cracknell

Movie Views Source: Movie Views

Forty years ago, pioneer Gordon Parks had to step with extra care filming 'The Learning Tree' lest the door shut behind him.

August 5, 2009 Full Review Source: ReelTalk Movie Reviews

| Comment

Donald J. Levit

ReelTalk Movie Reviews

Visually beautiful and moving.

October 16, 2007 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide

| Comment

TV Guide's Movie Guide

Low key, powerful story

October 23, 2004 Comment

Steve Crum

Kansas City Kansan Source: Kansas City Kansan

Touching autobiographical story with brilliant cinematography.

August 16, 2003 Comment

Nell Minow

Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies

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Audience Reviews for The Learning Tree

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A Grand Classic of Black Cinema brilliantly directed by Gordon Parks!!! Being the first feature to be directed by black man for a major film studio,this film shows 1920's Kansas as a brutal,hostile racist place and the experiences four friends encounter during the era of Jim Crow in the Midwest. Brilliant performances

April 4, 2007

Mister Caple

Super Reviewer

before gordon parks became a director of note with shaft(1972), he was a renowned photographer. he also took reflections of his childhood in the south and wove them in to this lyrical and poetic film about growing up black during the depression.

December 13, 2008

darryl clark

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Latest News for The Learning Tree

March 8, 2006:

Gordon Parks, Influential Director And Photojournalist, Dead At 93
Gordon Parks, one of the 20th Century's greatest photojournalists and an influential filmmaker, died...

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