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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
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Western Lover
A very enjoyable off beat modern western style movie, Robert Duval gives a great perforformance as a fallen Country and Western singer with an obvious chip on his shoulder who has no desire to claim the spotlight again. He meets and falls in love with a hard working widower (Tess Harper)who has a young son (Wilford Brimley), unfortunately he has a lot of past baggage that he's finding it very hard to deal with. The movie has a good story line that really absorbs the viewer showing that life can be a sad leveler at times. The soundtrack is quite interesting if you're a country music fan. Definitely worth a prominent spot in your Dvd collection.
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Another Beautiful American Western
I'm not a County & Western fan, have never been to Texas (ok, drove through it a few times) and usually keep away from "Westerns." But this is sheer poetry---bound to touch the heart and soul of anyone who has them. Robert DuVall and Horton Foote meet in the land of deep humanity and this classic is the result. The rest of the cast is just as good; there's not a false note anywhere. The director, although Australian, did this very well. There's a nice extra feature that adds a lot to the appreciation of the film. As DuVall says, this is about basic human values...."corny?" maybe to some, but fortunately there are enough people around who still can appreciate them. Go see--you'll be glad you did!
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A Drama With Realism, Heart & Dignity
This is a movie with a lot of "dignity." It has such realistic people, it kept me fascinated because it seemed so different from most films I've watched.
There aren't a lot of dramatic things that happen in the story yet, as a whole, it's a wonderful tale that stays with you. It's a lot more than just seeing an Oscar-winning performance by Robert Duvall as Texan and former C&W singer and writer, "Mac Sledge." It's simply good storytelling I can't say I am a fan of Duvall's country singing, but that is the only thing I didn't like. Well, maybe "Dixie" (Betty Buckley), who played a bitter ex-wife of Duvall's in here. She was not pleasant, but others were really nice, likable people. Yet, this is not some sappy movie just because most of the people are good folks.
As in film noirs in which the viewer has a sense of dread, knowing something bad is around the corner, I felt the same thing in this film, even though it didn't necessarily happen. I mean with the main characters: Mac, Rosa Lee and Sonny. There was underlying tension, probably because of Sledge's alcoholic and violent past, that made me fear that any minute he was going to ruin the nice setup he had with a good woman and nice stepson.
Duvall, as usual, makes his role a fascinating and unpredictable one. With many of the people he has played over the years, you never am sure what his characters are going to do next. Tess Harper, as Mac's new wife, and Alan Hubbard, as her son, are two of the most realistic characters I've ever seen on film. It helped they were from the area so their accents were real.
This is a just straight drama, with a solid screenplay by Horton Foote and direction by Bruce Beresford ("Driving Miss Daisy"). In addition, actors Buckley (who can sing, too), Wilford Brimley and Ellen Barkin all give memorable supporting performances. It was an interesting tale of something I have rarely seen on film in the past 50 years: a good Christian woman lifting up a man to her level. She never had to do it verbally, never nagged or preached to the man, just set example of how to act and be a loving, supportive spouse. There is a lesson for people here with how well "Rosa Lee" handled situations. Nice.....very nice.
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Tender Mercies
Didn't care much for the plot. I think Duvall was sort of mis-cast in that kind of movie but obviously I am far from being an authority on the subject
Rating: -
Deep in the heart of Texas. . .
Robert Duvall just breaks your heart in this wonderful, low-keyed film about a recovering alcoholic who was once a country-western star. The gentleness of Horton Foote's story, set in Texas in the aftermath of Vietnam, makes it seem like it came from some other Hollywood than the one that turns out the noisy, special-effects belabored product that fills today's movie screens. The opening scenes of the film, which set the film's tone and pace, are elliptical and spare, and while much of the story concerns writing and performing music, the soundtrack is typically quiet - like the night-time crickets we hear as the film starts. When Duvall finally fronts a local band to sing one of his songs at a bar, you hang onto the words like they come from the heart - which they do.
Make no mistake, I loved this film when I first saw it in 1983, and it brought tears to my eyes when I saw it again in 2007. It's all the family values you hear in country and western songs about simple people and rural roots, yet it's no rose-colored portrayal of lives lived without mistakes made, disappointments, or trials by fire. The film is made up of small moments that carry the weight of all that the heart bears, and they stay with you, like Duvall standing at a window and softly singing "On the Wings of a Snow White Dove." Director Bruce Beresford brings a sensibility to Horton Foote's story that makes these characters spring to life (including brief appearances by Ellen Barkin and Wilford Brimley) while placing them in a Texas prairie that is both welcoming and lonesome. I'd trade everything currently showing at the local multiplex for another film like this.
