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Overview

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Tender Mercies, 1983

Starring: Robert Duvall, Tess Harper

Directed by: Bruce Beresford

Written by: Horton Foote

Language: English

Country: USA

Runtime: 100 min

MPAA Rating:

Rating:7.4

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Profile of Tender Mercies

The mood of Tender Mercies is emotional, captivating, and touching. The plot centers around starting over, redemption, and self discovery. It is a drama movie. Stylistically, Tender Mercies is a melodrama. In approach, it is serious and realistic. The setting is Texas. Tender Mercies happens in the 1980s. The movie is known for being an Oscar winner. Note that it includes profanity.

Summary of Tender Mercies

While director Bruce Beresford has often dwelled on the amusing peccadilloes of southerners, in this film he has adapted his style to characters whose manners are as plain and unadorned as the landscape they inhabit. The film stars Robert Duvall as Mac Sledge, formerly an icon of country & western music, now down-and-out, a penniless alcoholic. Rosa Lee (Tess Harper), the young widow who owns the rural Texas motel where he has ended up, allows him to work off his board. As the months pass, the singer develops a bond with Rosa and her young son, experiencing the healing effects of this deeply religious woman's compassion. They become a family when she accepts Mac's offer of marriage, and he continues to rebuild his life. He attempts to see his daughter, Sue Ann (Ellen Barkin), whom he hasn't seen in years, and despite a nasty dust-up with Dixie (Betty Buckley), his ex-wife, is finally able to do so. However, the last tragedy he must confront is one that will truly test his recovery. Less a traditional story than a chain of epiphanies on faith and love, this masterpiece of low-key naturalism is arguably the finest work in the distinguished careers of both Duvall and Beresford.

Details

Language:	English
Country:	USA
Release date:	4 March 1983
Runtime:	100 min
Awards:	Academy Awards

Awards

Robert Duvall for Best Actor at the 1983 Academy Awards

Horton Foote for Best Original Screenplay at the 1983 Academy Awards

Cast and Crew See all

Robert Duvall

as Mac Sledge

Tess Harper

as Rosa Lee

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Tender Mercies (1983)

Users Reviews See all

05.September.2010
|
by: ColumboFan
ColumboFan rated this movie0/10

To me, this is a perfect movie. It's why they invented movie cameras. From the great Horton Foote, it's about a drunk named Mac Sledge (Robert Duvall) who wakes up broke one morning at a remote motel in Texas unable to pay his bill. He offers to work it off for the owner, a war widow played by Tess Harper, and he eventually stays on with her and her young son. At first we're not sure whether we can trust this guy or not - he doesn't say very much - and as an alcoholic I suspect he's not sure he can be trusted either. The story unfolds with economy as Mac Sledge attempts to rebuild his life with this honest pretty woman and we eventually learn more about him and his past. That's the story but it's impossible for me to convey how emotionally affecting this movie is. It feels like life, with a soft pulse. It's very well written. Toward the end there is a quiet scene where Duvall haltingly talks about a recent personal tragedy and his feelings about it. It's the single saddest thing I've ever seen in a movie, and so true to his character that it makes me tear up just thinking about it. This movie earns the emotions it wrings out of you and it does so without histrionics. There is nothing "Hollywood" about it. Complex things like love, loss and faith are deal with simply, but also with subtlety. These people are scarred up but they carry on. It's about emotions, not neuroses. It deals with addiction and the tender mercies we all need, and what it's like to get through this life. Horton Foote wrote something sublime here and Robert Duvall's performance is the best I've ever seen. He should have received a special double-headed Oscar for it. I first seen this when I was 19 years old and I loved it despite being an immature knucklehead. I love it more now at 44 and I imagine when I'm 80, spitting up all over myself, wearing a diaper, I'll love it even more. I'll just play it in a loop. This is my favorite movie and I can't recommend it more highly.

05.September.2010
|
by: ColumboFan

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