MOVIEmeter
SEE RANK
Up 3,635 this week

Cradle Will Rock (1999)

R  |   |  Drama  |  21 January 2000 (USA)
6.9
Your rating:
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -/10 X  
Ratings: 6.9/10 from 7,893 users   Metascore: 64/100
Reviews: 160 user | 70 critic | 31 from Metacritic.com

A true story of politics and art in the 1930s U.S., focusing on a leftist musical drama and attempts to stop its production.

Director:

Writer:

Watch Trailer
0Check in
0Share...

Watch Now

From $2.99 on Amazon Video

ON TV
ON DISC
ALL

Celebrate IMDb's 25th Anniversary with Photos We Love

IMDb turns 25 on October 17! To celebrate, we put together a gallery of some of our favorite movie, TV, and event photos from the last 25 years.

See the Photos We Love

User Lists

Related lists from IMDb users

a list of 45 titles
created 22 Sep 2011
 
a list of 45 titles
created 13 Jan 2013
 
list image
a list of 43 titles
created 15 Jul 2014
 
a list of 45 titles
created 2 months ago
 
a list of 23 images
created 2 weeks ago
 

Related Items

Search for "Cradle Will Rock" on Amazon.com

Connect with IMDb


Share this Rating

Title: Cradle Will Rock (1999)

Cradle Will Rock (1999) on IMDb 6.9/10

Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.

Take The Quiz!

Test your knowledge of Cradle Will Rock.
5 wins & 7 nominations. See more awards »

Videos

Photos

Learn more

People who liked this also liked... 

Bob Roberts (1992)
Comedy
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7/10 X  

A right-wing folk singer becomes a corrupt politician and runs a crooked election campaign. Only one independent muck-raking reporter is trying to stop him.

Director: Tim Robbins
Stars: Tim Robbins, Giancarlo Esposito, Alan Rickman
Eight Men Out (1988)
Drama | History | Sport
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.3/10 X  

A dramatization of the Black Sox scandal when the underpaid Chicago White Sox accepted bribes to deliberately lose the 1919 World Series.

Director: John Sayles
Stars: John Cusack, Clifton James, Michael Lerner
Biography | Drama | History
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.5/10 X  

This film reenacts the Manhattan Project, the secret wartime project in New Mexico where the first atomic bombs were designed and built.

Director: Roland Joffé
Stars: Paul Newman, Dwight Schultz, Bonnie Bedelia
Comedy | Crime | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5.7/10 X  

When unemployed dockworker Joey Coyle finds $1.2 million that fell off of an armored car, he decides to do the logical thing: take the money and run. After all, he says, finders keepers. He... See full summary »

Director: Ramón Menéndez
Stars: John Cusack, Debi Mazar, Michael Madsen
Quick Change (1990)
Comedy | Crime
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.8/10 X  

Three thieves successfully rob a New York City bank, but making the escape from the city proves to be almost impossible.

Directors: Howard Franklin, Bill Murray
Stars: Bill Murray, Geena Davis, Randy Quaid
True Colors (1991)
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.3/10 X  

Best friends from law school to election night, their friendship is sorely tested when one learns of another's betrayal.

Director: Herbert Ross
Stars: John Cusack, James Spader, Imogen Stubbs
Comedy
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5.9/10 X  

Four small-time two-bit character actors, all close friends, are competing for same important part in the next Martin Scorsese mob film.

Director: Philip Frank Messina
Stars: Adam Arkin, David Strathairn, Jon Tenney
Pushing Tin (1999)
Comedy | Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6/10 X  

A feud develops between two air traffic controllers: one cocky and determined while the other is restrained and laidback, which inevitably affects their lives.

Director: Mike Newell
Stars: John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, Cate Blanchett
The Grifters (1990)
Crime | Drama | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7/10 X  

A small-time conman has torn loyalties between his estranged mother and new girlfriend--both of whom are high-stakes grifters with their own angles to play.

Director: Stephen Frears
Stars: Anjelica Huston, John Cusack, Annette Bening
Comedy | Crime | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.2/10 X  

After his life is saved by a lonely cop, a mobster who moonlights as a stand-up comedian provides the cop with a beautiful young companion.

Director: John McNaughton
Stars: Robert De Niro, Uma Thurman, Bill Murray
Tapeheads (1988)
Comedy | Music
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5.8/10 X  

A couple of creative losers accidently become big shots in the video music industry.

Director: Bill Fishman
Stars: John Cusack, Tim Robbins, Mary Crosby
Embedded (Video 2005)
Comedy
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.8/10 X  

A play that chronicles the war in Iraq through satire and commedia dell'arte masks., which pokes fun at neo-conservatives such as Karl Rove, Condoleezza Rice, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld.

Director: Tim Robbins
Stars: V.J. Foster, Brent Hinkley, Jay R. Martinez
Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
Edit

Storyline

In 1930s New York Orson Welles tries to stage a musical on a steel strike under the Federal Theater Program despite pressure from an establishment fearful of industrial unrest and red activity. Meanwhile Nelson Rockefeller gets the foyer of his company headquarters decorated and an Italian countess sells paintings for Mussolini. Written by Jeremy Perkins <jwp@aber.ac.uk>

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis

Plot Keywords:

1930s | theatre | depression | union | play | See All (48) »

Taglines:

On 12.10.99, make history. See more »

Genres:

Drama

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some language and sexuality | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
Edit

Details

Country:

Language:

|

Release Date:

21 January 2000 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Abajo el telón  »

Filming Locations:

 »

Box Office

Budget:

$32,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$93,998 (USA) (10 December 1999)

Gross:

$2,899,970 (USA) (21 April 2000)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

| |

Color:

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film is based on actual events, though it takes liberties with the details. Marc Blitzstein's 1937 anti-capitalist operetta 'The Cradle Will Rock', about the effort to unionize steelworkers, was originally produced as part of the Federal Theatre Project. The Federal Theatre Project (1935-1939), in turn, was part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which was created in 1935 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to employ people during the Great Depression. Directed by Orson Welles and produced by John Houseman, Cradle was shut down right before it was due to open because of "budget cuts" at the FTP. Everyone involved believed the government deliberately cut funding because the play's message offended its more conservative contingent; Actor's Equity prohibited its members from taking part, apparently oblivious to the fact that Cradle was a pro-union piece and Actor's Equity was - and is - a union. Welles, Housman and Blitzstein spontaneously rented another theater and planned to put on Cradle with Blitzstein himself singing/reading the piece; the show sold out and various actors defied Equity and performed their parts from the seats they'd bought. The secondary plot which involved Mexican painter Diego Rivera butting heads with Nelson Rockefeller when the mural the latter commissioned for a Rockefeller Center lobby on the high-minded subject of "human intelligence in control of the forces of nature" included a portrait of Lenin, is also based on fact, though it happened in 1933. The incident is also dramatized in the 2002 film Frida (2002). Tim Robbins included it because it tied into the theme of artistic integrity vs. economic practicality. See more »

Goofs

At the beginning of Hallie Flanagan's Senate testimony, the court stenograper's machines are not operating although they are pressing the keys. Later in the scene, the machines are working properly. See more »

Quotes

Marc: Well, you can't climb down and you can't sit still. That's a storm that's gonna last until the final wind blows, and when the wind blows the cradle will rock
See more »

Crazy Credits

There is a heart in the credit roll with the following initials inside; SS, EMLA, JHR & MGR (SS is likely 'Susan Sarandon,' EMLA for Sarandon's daughter Eva Amurri, JHR & MGR for Robbins' & Sarandon's sons Jack Henry & Miles Robbins). See more »

Connections

Featured in Broadway: The American Musical (2004) See more »

Soundtracks

Honolulu
Written by Marc Blitzstein
Performed by Timothy Jerome (as Tim Jerome), Victoria Clark (as Vicki Clark),
Erin Hill, Daniel Jenkins (as Dan Jenkins)
Courtesy of RCA Records
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.

User Reviews

Smart history
14 July 2000 | by (United States) – See all my reviews

This is definately Tim Robbins best (directed) film yet. He brings a number of characters together to tell the story of the 1930's. In particular, Orson Wells and his broadway production that caused a controversy and some other things. Though it take liberties in history (that sounds weird), it comes out in the end as good entertainment from an exceptional actor/writer/director/producer. All star cast includes John and Joan Cusack, Ruben Blades, Hank Azaria, Tim Robbins (uncredited), Emily Watson, Susan Sarandon, Paul Giamatti, Angus MacFaden as Orson Wells (in a breakthrough performance) and Bill Murray in a wonderful role as a puppeteer. A+


20 of 27 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Message Boards

Recent Posts
Hollywood Liberal Propaganda bobgio99
Underrated Classic. kermit_the_frog
Jack Black lilbuddha
Symbolism vjcowboys
wow balletbabi
Ventriloquism phauge
Discuss Cradle Will Rock (1999) on the IMDb message boards »

Contribute to This Page