N0RMA RAE. 0pelika - Before Bed, Bath & Beyond.

JCSM's Southern 0utsiders Film Series continues tonite with Norma Rae, the gritty, moving drama of a factory worker in a southern textile mill town who, concerned with the heavy toll the mills take on their workers, decides to take the union stand. And we do mean stand. Sally Fields (in her pre-Boniva days) gives an amazing performance which rightfully earned her an Academy Award for Best Actress. The film was also nominated for Best Picture and Best Writing, as well as for the Palme d'Or at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival. Fields was awarded Best Actress at Cannes for her performance.

Norma Rae was filmed on location in our very own Opelika, Alabama, with the mill scenes shot at Opelika Manufacturing. The scenes betray a certain 'gritty' quality that may or may not still be associated modern day 0pelika - this being before the blessed, cotton-y-soft days of Bed, Bath & Beyond, Kohl's, and Longhorn Steakhouse.

The mills are all gone now: to China, Viet Nam, the Phillipine's; the girls, boys and women sewing products for Wal-Mart and Bed/Bath may or may not have stood up yet for their health, or the health of those around them. And you won't be finding any 'Made In Alabama' tags on anything you might buy at any of our lovely local purveyors.

BUT: come see what all the fuss was about.
When one woman stood up with a piece of paper in her hand - with one word written on it, and that word brought an entire factory floor to silence. And for a time, that made a difference in the lives of local textile workers, large and small.

When there were local textile workers.
We don't make clothing much in AL any more.

Norma Rae shows at 6pm.
Thanks JCSM.