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Hilary Swank, Frances O'Connor, Julia Ormond, Anjelica Huston, Molly Parker ... see more see more... , Patrick Dempsey , Laura Fraser , Brooke Smith , Vera Farmiga , Lois Smith , Margo Martindale , Joseph Adams , Adilah Barnes , Carrie Snodgress , Bob Gunton , Trevor Gagnon

German filmmaker Katja von Garnier directs the HBO original movie Iron Jawed Angels, inspired by a pivotal chapter in American history. Hilary Swank plays Alice Paul, an American feminist who risked h... read more read more...er life to fight for women's citizenship and the right to vote. She founded the separatist National Woman's Party and wrote the first equal rights amendment to be presented before Congress. Together with social reformer Lucy Burns (Frances O'Connor), Paul struggled against conservative forces in order to pass the 19th amendment to the Constitution of the United States. One of their first actions was a parade on President Woodrow Wilson's (Bob Gunton) inauguration day. The suffragettes also encountered opposition from the old guard of the National American Women's Suffrage Association, Carrie Chapman Catt (Anjelica Huston). The activists get arrested and go on a well-publicized hunger strike, where their refusal to eat earns them the title of "the iron-jawed angels." Iron Jawed Angels was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004 before its television premiere on HBO. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

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89% liked it

5,993 ratings

Unrated, 2 hr. 3 min.

Directed by: Katja von Garnier

Release Date: January 1, 2003

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DVD Release Date: September 7, 2004

Stats: 567 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (567)

  • FilmFanatik
    December 20, 2009
    FilmFanatik
    Interesting, but its style is too muddy.
  • purplemegan
    April 26, 2009
    purplemegan
    Strong, powerful story, it blew me away. I think it's a must see for everyone. I already know the answer to this question but why don't we learn about THIS in history class? I feel like I had no idea the depths of the struggles of the woman's suffrage movement until I saw this mo... read morevie.
  • cosmo313
    July 31, 2008
    cosmo313
    This is a really well-made film about the fight for suffrage in the U.S. with fine acting by a great cast, and nice direction to boot. The soundtrack iis anachronistic, but it works well, so I have no problem with it, even though it adds historical innacuracy. This was an HBO pro... read moreduction, and it helps that it was too. I sadly have to admit that this film would have tanked had it been a big budget Hollywood affair. If you can track it down, watch it. This film captures important events that ALL Americans need to see and know about.
  • gator681
    February 3, 2006
    gator681
    [font=Century Gothic]"Iron Jawed Angels" starts out in 1912, as two suffragists return to America from England - Alice Paul(Hilary Swank) and Lucy Burns(Frances O'Connor) - and petition the women's central committee to organize and fundraise in Washington, DC. Even though the ol... read moreder generation is wary of the methods of the English suffragists(which included brick throwing), the committee grants permission. Once in the capital, Alice and Lucy organize a march which seemingly goes badly but also gets the activists lots of sympathetic press and an audience with President Wilson(Bob Gunton).[/font]

    [font=Century Gothic]"Iron Jawed Angels" serves as a valuable history lesson about the suffrage movement.(It is still timely. And even ninety years later, the Democrats are still useless.) I was surprised to realise how little I knew. The movie is not without its faults, though. The film's flashy style clashes with the period in which it is set.(It is best not to speed things up in a time when movement was remarkably slower.) It gets off to an awkward start but ends strongly.(Considering the large amount of ground to be covered, it might have been best to concentrate on the second half of the story.) And a misbegotten romantic subplot does not help.[/font]

    [font=Century Gothic]The cast including Anjelica Huston, Julia Ormond, Molly Parker, Brooke Smith and Vera Farmiga is excellent with O'Connor and Parker being standouts.[/font]

    [font=Century Gothic]I realize how brave the suffragists were especially with the misogyny they faced but...I still have to ask: did they go far enough? This was a time when Mother Jones and Emma Goldman were organizing and agitating even without the right to vote. [/font] Basically, the right to vote should be seen as a step, not the end of a movement.
  • SunilJawahir
    March 18, 2009
    SunilJawahir
    A movie about women's right's that makes women look dumb.
  • trisarahtops22
    June 14, 2008
    trisarahtops22
    The movie itself starts out a little slow and mediocre, but when the story gets intense, the actresses to too and by the end, it has stepped up into an amazing film and story. All women should thank Alice Paul and do not take for granted your right to vote!
  • ileo
    December 29, 2007
    ileo
    Brilliant!
  • PinkMinkPrincess
    July 19, 2011
    PinkMinkPrincess
    Man can Hilary Swank Pick em & What an Actress! All Women should see this Movie, its the story of the Feminist who fought for our Right to Vote,Thank You Alice Paul. I think of her often when I fly our Flag or when I'm in the Voting Booth
  • Zibbs
    February 17, 2011
    Zibbs
    "A stunning true story unfortunately tarted up for modern audiences, 'Iron Jawed Angels' is a disappointing but still powerful HBO movie about the strife and downright horrors faced by the bravest of American suffragettes in their battle for women's voting rights in the 1910s.

    I... read morenfused with modern informalities and fictional romances, forestalled by a wildly incongruous soundtrack of post-feminist empowerment pop (Lauryn Hill, Sarah McLachlan, etc.), and cast with B-list Hollywood beauties (Hilary Swank, Frances O'Connor, etc.) who are sometimes hard to take seriously, the film is mostly a gross oversimplification depicting a gaggle of forward-thinking gal pals taking on sexist politicians and fuddy-duddy Susan B. Anthony types who don't like their radical methods of generating publicity (like picketing the White House during World War I).

    However, director Katja Von Garnier takes a step back from her amped-up, sometimes stylish, sometimes tacky filmmaking as the women face extreme (and factual) consequences for their actions -- including political imprisonment and torture. This is when "Angels" hits an emotionally potent stride that resonates beyond the picture's shortcomings.

    Unfortunately, the script is full of transparent contrivances (the meek wife of a fictional anti-suffrage senator learns to assert herself) and dubious choices (who green-lit the bathtub masturbation scene?). It provides little historical or political detail (some of these women were socialists and anti-war activists too), and barely (just barely) pays lip service to unflattering facts like the exclusion of black women from the movement.

    Swank is more pretty than pugnacious as Alice Paul, the rabble-rousing founder of the Women's National Party, who gets further short-changed in the film's coda, which merely says she fought for women's rights her whole life without offering any details -- even relevant ones, like the fact that it took three tries to get the 19th Amendment through Congress. Still, despite its many, many flaws, "Iron Jawed Angels" gives an ardent cinematic voice to a shamefully neglected story of progressive American courage."

    - Rob Blackwelder (SPLICEDWire)



    COULDN'T HAVE SAID IT BETTER MYSELF
  • timonthemeerkat
    January 21, 2011
    timonthemeerkat
    I expected more from an HBO film. It was like something you might see on Lifetime minus the nudity of course. I didn't like the modern soundtrack either.

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Critic Reviews

Richard Roeper
February 17, 2004
Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper

Iron Jawed Angels is an important history lesson told in a fresh, and blazing fashion. Full Review

Rob Blackwelder
September 7, 2004
Rob Blackwelder, SPLICEDWire

A stunning true story unfortunately tarted up for modern audiences, infused with modern informalities, fictional romances and wildly incongruous post-feminist empowerment pop. Full Review

Scott Foundas
August 13, 2008
Scott Foundas, Variety

Click to read the article Full Review

February 17, 2004
Hollywood Reporter

No review available.

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Iron Jawed Angels Trivia

  • Which actor/actress has starred in the following? -Iron Jawed Angels -Freedom Writers -Sweet Home Alabama -Loverboy  Answer »
  • What movie stars both Hillary Swank and Patrick Dempsy and adresses the issue of women's suffage?  Answer »
  • In the HBO film "Iron Jawed Angels," during the end scene where the senate is voting on the suffrage bill, there is one senator who planned on voting against the bill but received a last-minute telegraph from somebody that changed his mind, thus giving women the vote. Who was the telegraph from?  Answer »
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