The Learning Tree

The Learning Tree (1969)

  • 73% of critics liked it
    (11 reviews)

  • 87% of users liked it
    (509 ratings)

Gordon Parks' adaptation of his own novel The Learning Tree stars Kyle Johnson as Newt, a black teenager living in 1920s Kansas. He is an intelligent even-tempered young man who meets the many racial prejudices he faces with composure and pride. His best friend Marcus (Alex Clarke) is hot-headed… More

PG,
Directed By
Written By
Gordon Parks
Genres
Drama
In Theaters
Sep 1, 1969 Wide
Warner Bros. Pictures

Critic Reviews

  • Variety Staff, Variety

    The Learning Tree is a sentimental, sometimes awkward, but ultimately moving film about the growing-up of a black teenager in rural Kansas during the 1920s.

  • Roger Greenspun, New York Times

    The restraint, the composure, the sufficiency of the sentimental gesture constitute a small gift for memory and a real victory in the first stages of this filmmaker's career.

  • Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

    It's conventional and rather toothless.

  • Ryan Cracknell, Movie Views

    Falls into the path of giving a message more than it does letting things emerge organically.

  • Donald J. Levit, ReelTalk Movie Reviews

    Forty years ago, pioneer Gordon Parks had to step with extra care filming 'The Learning Tree' lest the door shut behind him.

Read all 8 critic reviews

See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • Mister C


    A Grand Classic of Black Cinema brilliantly directed by Gordon Parks!!! Being the first feature to be directed by black man for a major film studio,this film shows 1920's Kansas as a brutal,hostile racist place and the experiences four friends encounter during the era of Jim Crow… More

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