The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman

This film is very rare to find. I saw it with a friend at her house. The picture looks very old, looks like it was made a thousand years ago, but I just found out it was made in 1974. This is a very good film. It tells the tale about an ex-slave woman named Jane Pittman who is 110 years old; at the time it was 1962 Louisiana, so she must have been born around the 1850s. She is as black as night and coal, and her skin is mighty wrinkled. It's hard to believe they put make up on her, I assumed the woman who played her would be long dead by now, but she isn't. The woman playing her is Cicely Tyson, (who was about 30-something at the time) who also played "Harriet Tubman" four years later. She tells a New York reporter about her life as a slave and when she turned eleven in 1865, all the slaves were set free. Whoever played young Jane did an excellent job as the bold, sad looking waif girl. Jane Pittman narrates this story sitting down in a chair. It has flashbacks, such as if she'd be telling one incident in her life that happened long ago and then they'd go back to that incident, then the screen would black and and go back to her sitting on the chair with her black, coal self. Good script, acting, everyone did well, underrated, it should show on TV and have people know of this movie, but oh well.

This was an incredible film. Kudos to all involved. Incredible performances and the story is very touching.

Particularly powerful to me as I am a white male, 35 years old, adopted by African Americans when just month's old, who were my babysitters when my real parent's decided to skip out on me. They were already of age at the time and my mom is still kicking at 80. She has had plenty of stories to share with me from her own experiences as well as her parents and family. The details from family events and stories with those portrayed in the film show incredible similarity.

See this film, you will not regret it.

A landmark in American television film; perhaps a landmark in American film, period. Cicely Tyson heartily deserved both Emmys she won for this role, and deserved some more awards as well. This is the story of a hundred and ten year old woman, who was a former slave, and who recounts her life to a young white journalist in the year 1962. This film authentically recounts U.S. history from the the end of the Civil War, Reconstruction, the turn of the century, and up to the Civil Rights period of the 1960s. Miss Pittman's walk to the fountain is a great scene, and welled up some tears in my eyes. Fascinating throughout,a must see for all.

Cicely Tyson has always been talented, but when I saw this movie, I had a renewed respect for her talent. Filmed during the early 70s, she was made to look like a 110 year old woman and really made it believable. This is a story of a girl, born a slave than freed and her adult life in the south during reconstruction. The end of the movie left me feeling like I was right there with her in her rocking chair on the porch or sitting under the great old oak tree. If you have the slightest interest in the history of the struggle for freedom from slavery and segregation, watch this film. My hat goes off to Mrs. Tyson for bringing this story to life, thank you for giving this story heart :)

The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman is a powerful story. Miss Jane's story of the 110 years of her life is incredible. How anyone could survive the horrors that she endured from slavery to freedom to carpetbaggers to even seeing the Civil Rights movement is almost unfathomable. The sad thing is that much never really changes for blacks over the 110 years even though they are free. Discrimination, lynching and the Ku Klux Klan are part of daily life.

Miss Jane never realizes her dream of reaching Ohio (the North). She loses everyone precious to her, her foster mother, Big Laura, her son, her husband, her godson. The only time she was really truly happy was during her brief marriage to Joe Pittman, a cowboy who's killed by an albino 'devil' horse. Yet, one wonders if her actions didn't cause Joe's death. She sharecrops and does what she needs to do to survive. Miss Jane remains a feisty admirable old woman to the end.

The scene at the water fountain where Miss Jane dares the rednecks to try and stop her from drinking from the 'White's Only' fountain is so powerful. The expressions on the actors' faces white and black are so real.

Cicely Tyson does an excellent job playing a 110 year old woman. In fact it's hard to believe that she is not an old woman. This film is far shorter than Roots and in my opinion should be required viewing for all American High School students.