The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman

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The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman

TV-PG

1974

1h 50m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

90%

Tomatometer

10 Reviews

87%

Popcornmeter

1,000+ Ratings

Beginning during the racial turmoil of 1960s Louisiana, 110-year-old ex-slave Jane Pittman (Cicely Tyson) grants an interview to a persistent journalist and relates the remarkable story of her life. Orphaned early, she toils on a plantation until a chance meeting with a white Union soldier named Brown changes her outlook. Jane's emancipation marks only the beginning of an arduous and heartbreaking odyssey, framed by the horrors of slavery and the justice of the civil rights movement.

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Pauline Kael

The New Yorker

Sep 21, 2023

John Korty tells the story at a satisfyingly leisurely pace, befitting a woman who accumulates a hundred and ten years.

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John J. O'Connor

New York Times

Feb 5, 2021

[Tyson's] performance, though, goes far beyond the make-up. She absorbs herself completely into Miss Jane, in the process creating a marvelous blend of sly humor, shrew perceptions and innate dignity.

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Time Out Staff

Time Out

Feb 5, 2021

Aiming for the stars, the film hits a magazine spread by Norman Rockwell, and obstinately stays there: a respectable enough achievement in its way, but one that ultimately dims the mind as it stirs up the emotions.

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David Parkinson

Radio Times

Feb 5, 2021

5/5

Cicely Tyson gives a towering performance.

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Mike W

@MikeW269 Mar 28, 2025

This would be a good though very incomplete history lesson for younger people say under 45, and for some older folks as well. Ours is not a pretty picture. To make America great again you must know the past that it comes from.

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CodyZamboni Z

@CodyZamboni Jun 12, 2024

Compelling TV movie. Pushes all the right emotional buttons, Supported by an understated, but powerful performance by Cicely Tyson, who so deservedly won the Emmy,

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Sep 28, 2012

Tremenda actriz Cicely Tyson, como de aquellas que ya casi no se ven.

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Jun 25, 2012

i think it's a cool movie

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Jun 24, 2012

it wuz kinda boring, lol

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Apr 3, 2012

This a story of a woman's life from slavery to the human rights movement in the 60's. Cicely Tyson portrays Mrs Jane Pittman, who becomes the first African-American to drink from the "White's Only" fountain in front of the courthouse in a small southern town at the age of 104. It tells of her struggles after the emancipation of the slaves...the griefs she has to bear as an African-American woman and her triumphs.

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Synopsis

Beginning during the racial turmoil of 1960s Louisiana, 110-year-old ex-slave Jane Pittman (Cicely Tyson) grants an interview to a persistent journalist and relates the remarkable story of her life. Orphaned early, she toils on a plantation until a chance meeting with a white Union soldier named Brown changes her outlook. Jane's emancipation marks only the beginning of an arduous and heartbreaking odyssey, framed by the horrors of slavery and the justice of the civil rights movement.

Director: John Korty
Producer: Rick Rosenberg, Robert W. Christiansen
Production Co: Tomorrow Entertainment
Rating: TV-PG
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): May 23, 2017
Runtime: 1h 50m

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