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The Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio: How My Mother Raised 20 Kids on 25 Words or Less

The book The Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio: How My Mother Raised 20 Kids on 25 Words or Less was made into the movie The Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio.

Which one did you like better, the book or the movie?  There are 4 votes for the book, and 6 votes for the movie.

Book details for The Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio: How My Mother Raised 20 Kids on 25 Words or Less

The Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio: How My Mother Raised 20 Kids on 25 Words or Less was written by Terry Ryan. The book was published in 2001 by Simon & Schuster. More information on the book is available on Amazon.com.

 

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The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio introduces Evelyn Ryan, an enterprising woman who kept poverty at bay with wit, poetry, and perfect prose during the "contest era" of the 1950s and 1960s. Evelyn's winning ways defied the church, her alcoholic husband, a... Read More
The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio introduces Evelyn Ryan, an enterprising woman who kept poverty at bay with wit, poetry, and perfect prose during the "contest era" of the 1950s and 1960s. Evelyn's winning ways defied the church, her alcoholic husband, and antiquated views of housewives. To her, flouting convention was a small price to pay when it came to raising her six sons and four daughters.

Graced with a rare appreciation for life's inherent hilarity, Evelyn turned every financial challenge into an opportunity for fun and profit. The story of this irrepressible woman, whose clever entries are worthy of Erma Bombeck, Dorothy Parker, and Ogden Nash, is told by her daughter Terry with an infectious joy that shows how a winning spirit will always triumph over poverty.

Movie details for The Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio

The movie was released in 2005 and directed by Jane Anderson (II). The Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio was produced by Dreamworks Video. More information on the movie is available on Amazon.com.

Actors on this movie include Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson, Laura Dern, Trevor Morgan, Ellary Porterfield, Simon Reynolds, Monté Gagné, Robert Clark (II), Michael Seater, Erik Knudsen, Jake Scott, Jordan Todosey, Ryan Price, Shae Norris, Abigail Falle, Luca Barbaro, Brando Barbaro, Jack Murray (XII), Evan Rose and Jessica Pollock.

 

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Based on the true story of Evelyn Ryan, The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio is one of those overlooked gems that deserves a long life on DVD. Splendidly adapted by writer-director Jane Anderson from the memoir by Terry Ryan (one of Evelyn's daughters), the... Read More
Based on the true story of Evelyn Ryan, The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio is one of those overlooked gems that deserves a long life on DVD. Splendidly adapted by writer-director Jane Anderson from the memoir by Terry Ryan (one of Evelyn's daughters), the film operates on several endearing levels: as a revealing study of the housewife's plight during the Eisenhower era, an inspiring tale of tenacity and survival against formidable odds, and a charming family drama that tempers sentimental nostalgia with the emotional toll of harsh reality. As always, Julianne Moore brings subtle perfection to her role as Evelyn, the cheerfully strong-willed mother of ten who compensates for the failings of her alcoholic husband (Woody Harrelson) by becoming the most successful "contester" in the country, entering cleverly-worded poems, jingles, and slogans in corporate sponsored contests throughout the mid-1950s and early '60s. Winning everything from palm trees and pogo-sticks to sports cars and cash, she holds the financially desperate family together with happy smiles and a rock-solid defiance of her husband's volatile temper. Directing her first feature after a respected career in television, Anderson employs some delightful visual effects to liven up the period kitsch (in some cases allowing Moore, as narrator and actor, to appear with herself in the same scene), but she never compromises the emotional core of the drama, which yields an unexpectedly powerful payoff when surviving members of the real-life Ryan family appear, as themselves, in the film's touching final scene. Like Evelyn, this movie's a winner. --Jeff Shannon