Citizen Ruth Movie Review 1996

Glue-sniffing, pregnant Ruth Stoops (Dern) has already borne four children and been declared an unfit mother. In trouble again, Ruth's quietly told it's in her best interests to get an abortion but a couple (Smith and Place) from the pro-life community bail her out and give her a place to stay, while the group uses her as a propaganda symbol. Added to the commotion is a smarmy televangelist (Reynolds) and tough pro-choice Diane (Kurtz), who manages to get Ruth to stay with her while Ruth ineffectually tries to get some control over her wayward life. Doesn't take sides--both the pro-choice and pro-life camps are tweaked, with neither willing to compromise.

Distribution

Buena Vista Home Entertainment, 500 S. Buena Vista St., Burbank, CA 91521-1120, Toll-free: 800-723-4763, URL: http://www.bvhe.com

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 104 minutes.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Satire & Parody, Abortion, Women, Religion, Pregnant Pauses

Screenplay

Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor

Cast

Laura Dern, Swoosie Kurtz, Mary Kay Place, Kurtwood Smith, Kelly Preston, Burt Reynolds, M.C. Gainey, Kenneth Mars, Kathleen Noone, David Graf, Tippi Hedren, Alicia Witt, Diane Ladd

Cinematography

James Glennon

Director

Alexander Payne

Music

Rolfe Kent

Producer

Cary Woods, Cathy Konrad, Independent Pictures, Miramax Films

Awards

Montreal World Film Fest. 1995: Actress (Dern).