The Color Purple is a 1985 American period drama movie directed by Steven Spielberg with a screenplay by Menno Meyjes, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1982 novel of the same name by Alice Walker. It was Spielberg's eighth movie as a director, and marked a change from the summer blockbusters for which he had become known. It was also the first movie directed by Spielberg for which John Williams did not compose the music. It stars Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, Desreta Jackson, Margaret Avery, Oprah Winfrey, Rae Dawn Chong, Willard Pugh, and Adolph Caesar in his final roles.