The Learning Tree

"Learning Tree" redirects here. For other uses, see Learning Tree (disambiguation).
The Learning Tree
Directed byGordon Parks
Screenplay byGordon Parks
Based onThe Learning Tree
by Gordon Parks
Produced byGordon Parks
StarringKyle Johnson
Alex Clarke
Estelle Evans
Dana Elcar
Mira Waters
Joel Fluellen
Malcolm Atterbury
Richard Ward
CinematographyBurnett Guffey
Edited byGeorge R. Rohrs
Music byGordon Parks
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros.-Seven Arts
Release date
  • August 6, 1969 (1969-08-06)
Running time
107 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1.5 million (rentals)[1]

The Learning Tree is a 1969 American coming-of-age film written, produced and directed by Gordon Parks, who also scored the film. It depicts the life of Newt Winger, a teenager growing up in Cherokee Flats, Kansas, in the 1920s and chronicles his journey into manhood marked with tragic events. Based on Parks' 1963 semi-autobiographical novel of the same name, The Learning Tree was the first film directed by a black filmmaker for a major American film studio, Warner Bros.-Seven Arts.[2]

In 1989, The Learning Tree was among the first group of 25 films selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[3]

  1. ^ "Big Rental Films of 1969", Variety, 7 January 1970, pg 15.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference mitchellinterview was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "ENTERTAINMENT: Film Registry Picks First 25 Movies". Los Angeles Times. Washington, D.C. September 19, 1989. Retrieved April 22, 2020.