Taglines: The true story of how a mother raised ten kids on twenty-five words or less.
Evelyn Ryan is a devoted housewife and mother of ten in the 1950s. Her husband can’t seem to make ends meet, but that doesn’t stop the car from breaking down, the mortgage coming due and the bills from piling up. It falls to Evelyn to defy the conventions of the day and find a way to keep her family together with the odds stacked against them. Applying her remarkable resourcefulness and an uncommon wit, Evelyn finds her own way in the profitable jingle contests popular in the 1950s and ‘60s.
Four-time Academy Award nominee Julianne Moore (“Far From Heaven,” “The Hours,” “The End of the Affair,” “Boogie Nights”), Oscar nominee Woody Harrelson (“The People vs. Larry Flynt”) and Oscar nominee Laura Dern (“Rambling Rose”) star in “The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio,” the true story of a woman who defied the odds to keep a roof over her family’s heads.
“The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio,” is based on the book of the same name about Evelyn Ryan (Julianne Moore), a devoted mother and housewife who used her self-described “knack for words” to keep her struggling family afloat.
In the 1950s and ‘60s, housewives across the country used their wits to win thousands of dollars in cash and prizes in jingle contests staged by corporations to promote their products. But of all the “jingle-belles” vying for supremacy, none out-rhymed Evelyn Ryan, whose creative resources usually corresponded directly to her family’s needs — and with ten kids and an alcoholic husband (Woody Harrelson), those needs were numerous and unending.
Her husband can’t seem to make ends meet, but that doesn’t stop the car from breaking down, the mortgage coming due and the bills from piling up. Applying her remarkable ingenuity and an uncommon wit, Evelyn found the way to keep her family together, despite the odds stacked against them.
The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio (2005)
Directed by: Jane Anderson
Starring: Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson, Laura Dern, Shae Norris, Frank Chiesurin, Trevor Morgan, Ellary Porterfield, Jordan Todosey, Abigail Falle, Ryan Price
Screenplay by: Jane Anderson
Production Design by: Edward T. McAvoy
Cinematography by: Jonathan Freeman
Film Editing by: Robert Dalva
Costume Design by: Hala Bahmet
Set Decoration by: Clive Thomasson
Art Direction by: Andrew M. Stearn
Music by: John Frizzell
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for thematic elements, some disturbing images and language.
Distributed by: DreamWorks Pictures
Release Date: September 30, 2005
Visits: 42
