Citizen Ruth

Citizen Ruth
Citizen Ruth

original film poster for Citizen Ruth
Directed by Alexander Payne
Produced by Cary Woods
Cathy Konrad
Andrew Stone
Michael Zimbrich
Written by Alexander Payne
Jim Taylor
Starring Laura Dern
Burt Reynolds
Mary Kay Place
Swoosie Kurtz
Kurtwood Smith
Tippi Hedren
Music by Rolfe Kent
Cinematography James Glennon
Editing by Kevin Tent
Distributed by Miramax Films
Release date(s) United States January 1996 (Sundance Film Festival)
December 13, 1996
Canada August 24
Running time 102 min.
Country United States
Language English
Budget $3,000,000 (estimated)
Box office $285,112

Citizen Ruth is a 1996 film that tells a story of a poor, irresponsible and pregnant woman who unexpectedly attracts attention from those involved in the debate about the morality and legality of abortion. The film stars Laura Dern, Swoosie Kurtz, Mary Kay Place, Kurtwood Smith and Kelly Preston, and features a memorable extended cameo by Burt Reynolds. It was directed by Alexander Payne and written by Payne and Jim Taylor. The original music score was composed by Rolfe Kent. The film was a drama film nominee for the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize.

Story

The film opens with Ruth Stoops and a man (apparently an ex-boyfriend) having intercourse on a bed in a flophouse, after which he disrespectfully throws her out of the apartment. She later goes to a hardware store to buy patio sealant and huffs it in a paper bag in an alley to get high. Ruth is portrayed as a dumb, inebriated addict, capable of doing nearly anything to get money or drugs.

Ruth has four children, all of whom have been taken from her custody by the state because of her inability to care for them (or even for herself). Her children are scattered among three different homes. Ruth goes to the home of her brother and sister-in-law to sneak a look at two of her children and to beg her brother for money.

After Ruth is arrested for her continuing drug use, she learns that she is pregnant again. The judge, who knows of the situation with Ruth's other offspring, suggests that he will deal with her less harshly if she has an abortion. Through a chance encounter with a group of jailed abortion protesters, Ruth soon finds herself at the center of an escalating battle between people on both sides of the abortion issue. Both sides engage in deceitful tactics to influence Ruth's decision. The pro-life people run a fake abortion clinic, where they actually seek to dissuade patients from receiving the proffered service. The pro-choice people have 'spies' in the pro-life group who spirit Ruth away.

Both sides offer incentives into the thousands of dollars to the hapless and exhilarated woman to secure her promise that she keep or abort the child. Wise for the dollar, Ruth rampantly encourages the bidding. She becomes the object of a local news and political obsession — a figure of the media whom all want to know: will she or won't she have an abortion?

On the day Ruth is to receive her abortion, she suffers a miscarriage. Going along with the pretense of having the abortion, she proceeds to the clinic to collect $15,000 that has been left there for her by one of the security guards of the clinic who believes in personal freedom. He has personally given her the money, free of organizational sponsorship, to match the bid given by the Pro-Life group, so that she can make her decision without the influence of money. She then breaks out of the clinic by dropping a toilet tank cover on a guard's head and walks by oblivious protesters on both sides. Though she had been on the television news for weeks, none of the picketers on either side pay any attention to her actual presence. Finally standing up, she runs away down the street.

A running joke in the film is a "Success in Finance" type tape produced by an Amway type company. Ruth takes the tape and studies it to determine what to do with her newfound money.

Main cast

Actor Role
Laura Dern Ruth Stoops
Swoosie Kurtz Diane Siegler
Kurtwood Smith Norm Stoney
Mary Kay Place Gail Stoney
Kelly Preston Rachel
M. C. Gainey Harlan
Kenneth Mars Dr. Charles Rollins
David Graf Judge Richter
Kathleen Noone Nurse Pat
Tippi Hedren Jessica Weiss
Burt Reynolds Blaine Gibbons
Alicia Witt Cheryl Stoney
Diane Ladd Ruth's mother

External links


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