
Ross McElwee travels through the North Carolina tobacco belt in search of the ancient southern traditions associated with tobacco growing and use, while comparing his filmmaking to commercial cinema, represented by Bright Leaf, a melodrama directed by Michael Curtiz in 1950, starring Gary Cooper, apparently based on the life of his great-grandfather.
Genres:

Ross McElwee as Himself - Narrator (voice)

Brian Baucom as

Susan Bennett as

Ed Bivens as

R. Bullock as

Jack Clayton as

Mary Clayton as

Marian Fitz-Simmons as

Alan Gurganus as

Steve Herman as

Robbie Lane Jackson as

Elizabeth King as

Mack Lackey as

Paula Larke as

Jim Lewis as

James MacDougal as

Emily Madison as

Matti McClain as

Adrian McElwee as

John McElwee as

Tom McElwee as

Jamie McPhail as

Howard McPherson as

Kathleen Money as

Patricia Neal as

Jamie Newnam as

Vlada Petrić as

Jack Rhodes as

William E. Smith as

Sherwood Stewart as

Dooley Strange as

Charleen Swansea as

Kerry Walter as

Ashzi Welborn as

David Williamson as

Kitty Fisher as

Gary Cooper as (archive footage)

Marilyn Levine as

Ross McElwee Jr. as
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