The use of the n-word is so common today that it's almost mundane. Blacks use it, whites, Asians, Latinos, etc. Have we forgotten that it is one of the most heinous words in the English language? Watch this great movie in order to see how the word is so hurtful and scathing. Both Whoopi Goldberg and Sissy Spacek are beautiful in this film. They are outstanding actors! The bond between their characters predates the bond between Minny Jackson and Celia Foote in "The Help". Everyone should see this. Stop using the n-word, no matter what colour your skin is. The circumstances of this film happened not that long ago; but so many of us don't realize what it's like to not be able to sit where you want on the bus, or to drink from whatever fountain you please (fountains are dirty anyway! I once saw a man in the park let his dog drink from it lol). Please watch this movie so that you can have more compassion for people, no matter what their background!

I first saw this movie in the early 1990s right after it came out on video. My then wife worked in a video store and brought new releases home for my second opinion. This movie is riveting...it is a classic docudrama (fiction mixed with fact) and, as I titled my commentary, "we are there." First there are two Oscar-winning actresses (Sissy Spacek and Whoopi Goldberg) and a versatile actor (Dwight Schultz of "The A-Team" proving there's life after that cult series). The gradual mixture of fact (Rosa Parks, Dr. Martin Luther King, the boycott, etc.) mixed with fiction (the bonding between the two women, the way the wife stands up to the husband, etc.) makes this the quintessential docudrama...recommended (required?) viewing for anyone who went through that era!! In some ways it's not just the birth of the civil rights movement, it's the birth of Southern feminism (the daughter could have very well grown up to be any of the women on "Designing Women")!! Again, this movie packs a big wallop to anyone who views it...we, the audience are given a "fly on the wall" viewpoint...we are there!!!

Blacks in the South during the 1950s start a strife-riddled boycott against the transit system after Rosa Parks is disciplined for not giving up her seat to a white person on the bus. Subject matter is well worth exploring, but director Richard Pearce approaches this story too dutifully, as if he were teaching a course in towing the line. The white folk are all nasty bigots, except maid Whoopi Goldberg's proprietress--a saintly Sissy Spacek--who takes up the black community's cause. It's Convenient Script-Writing 101, and without much of an edge it never has a chance to accumulate any heart--or any vitality. ** from ****

I watched the movie "The Long Walk Home" in a class of mine. At first I thought how boring this movie was going to be, but as I watched I found myself getting quite disgusted with how people acted. After watching this movie I give more respect to African Americans then I had before. I knew that they had gone through some hard times but I never actually knew just how bad it was. I believe that everyone should see this movie, you'll be surprised how deeply it touches you. I hope that this movie can teach some of us to respect everyone in the world, no matter what religion they are or by the color of their skin ... I don't understand how some people are still racist ... but I guess its the way they were raised.