By Signal Staff
A historic drama on workers’ rights and gender roles comes to Santa Clarita Valley residents’ screens this weekend as Buzz Classic Movies presents a Saturday night showing of “Salt of the Earth.”
The independent 1954 film, created by blacklisted artists during the Red Scare of the 1950s, has earned a 100% “fresh” rating from the critics based on 15 reviews, and an 82% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes’ “Popcornmeter” based on more than 1,000 ratings.
“At New Mexico’s Empire Zinc mine, Mexican-American workers protest the unsafe work conditions and unequal wages compared to their Anglo counterparts,” says the Rotten Tomatoes summary of the movie. “Ramon Quintero helps organize the strike, but he is shown to be a hypocrite by treating his pregnant wife, Esperanza, with a similar unfairness. When an injunction stops the men from protesting, however, the gender roles are reversed, and women find themselves on the picket lines while the men stay at home.”
“More than a typical Miramax/Tarantino extravaganza, it’s films like this that establish the historical precedent and importance of truly independent American filmmaking,” critic Doug Cummings wrote in a 2004 review for Filmjourney.
“Salt of the Earth” streams at 8 p.m. Saturday on The Signal’s streaming channel, The Buzz, available at buzzscv.com as well as streaming platforms including Roku and Apple TV.
