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Tender Mercies

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Tender Mercies (1983)

March. 04,1983
|
7.3
|
PG
| Drama Music Romance
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Alchoholic former country singer Mac Sledge makes friends with a young widow and her son. The friendship enables him to find inspiration to resume his career.

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Onlinewsma
1983/03/04

Absolutely Brilliant!

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TrueHello
1983/03/05

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

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Brenda
1983/03/06

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

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Haven Kaycee
1983/03/07

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

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SnoopyStyle
1983/03/08

Mac Sledge (Robert Duvall) is an alcoholic washed up country singer. He can't pay his motel bill and starts working for the widowed owner Rosa Lee (Tess Harper) who is raising her son Sonny. He turns his life around and they get marry. His new life is interrupted when a reporter drops by. His ex-wife Dixie Scott is a country music star and she's performing nearby. His story is printed in the newspaper. He goes to her concert and sees her manager Harry (Wilford Brimley). She angrily warns him not to see their daughter Sue Anne (Ellen Barkin).It's a powerful performance from Robert Duvall. That's the heart of the movie. He puts all of his skills to work. He's great when he's quiet. He's explosive when he needs to be. The camera work and the style could do more to add more substance to the material. It's a great showcase for Duvall and Tess Harper also gives a good performance.

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Syl
1983/03/09

Robert Duvall was awarded an Oscar for his performance in this quiet film about a down and out country music singer who rebuilds his life in the Texas flatlands. Mac Sledge was a songwriter and singer but alcoholism and the success nearly destroyed him. Suddenly, he wakes up and changes his life at a gas station and motel in the middle of Texas highways. He falls in love with the young Vietnam widow, Rosa Lee, who lost her first husband in Vietnam and is a single mother to Sonny. Mac slowly gets off the sauce as they say. Rosa Lee doesn't know much about his past. They have a quiet relationship. They work the business and live quietly. When Mac's past comes back, he admits it to her. He has a bitter ex-wife Dixie Scott (played well by Betty Buckley) and an 18 year old daughter, Sue Ann Sledge (played by a young Ellen Barkin). Wilford Brimley plays Harry as Dixie's manager. Mac fights to keep his new life from being destroyed by his past. I would have given a 10 but I wasn't happy with what happened to Sue Ann in the film.

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Steve Skafte
1983/03/10

There's an scene in "Tender Mercies" that captures a small hotel, home, and gas station isolated in a desolate field. This image brings to light the underlying melancholy sense that carries along beneath the surface of the film. Bruce Beresford, who directed another of my favorite films, "Driving Miss Daisy", brings together just the sort of humanity that comes to the surface if only you'll let it. There are two great actors that I've been familiar with for most of my life at the center of this story. Robert Duvall and Tess Harper feel and act like real human beings. Imperfect, but not in a movie script way.The down-and-out country music star plot line has been done several times before and since. Most recently, in "Crazy Heart" (which also features Duvall, in a small role). But this is usually on a large scale, and music the larger focus. In other films, the singer goes from rags to riches (and often repeats the cycle a second time). In "Tender Mercies", the character of Mac Sledge has had a moderate level of success, some radio play, but will never play stadiums. He is merely seeking some minor return to form, to recapture what he loved doing. This provides some relief for those who, like myself, are not really country music fans. You don't get anything too far from the basic honesty of a man and his guitar. This isn't, after all, a glorified music video vehicle for an established country star - it's a quiet film about real people.The look and feel of "Tender Mercies" falls in close to what the title promises. Love, anger, joy, peace, even hate are represented in the understated way that a certain kind of people not commonly depicted on film express themselves. There's a humanity here in Horton Foote's writing. It's the exact kind of words that sound so natural from the mouths of the right actors. And this film has all the right ones. Wilford Brimley, one of my favorite character actors (also excellent in "Country" and "The Stone Boy") shows up briefly, as well as many others you might recognize from similar midwest dramas. "Tender Mercies is such a pure experience.

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Michael_Elliott
1983/03/11

Tender Mercies (1983)*** (out of 4) Robert Duvall picked up the Best Actor Oscar for his performance as Mac Sledge, a country music singer who finds himself broke due to alcohol. He ends up working at a small Texas gas station owned by a widow (Tess Harper) and her young son. Soon Max and the woman are married and he tries to get his life back in order and that includes trying to start a relationship with his own daughter (Ellen Barkin) who he had left years earlier. It's well known that this films original studio (Universal) were pretty much dead-set against this film and didn't bother to promote it, try to push it in theaters or anything else because they felt the film was a lost cause. I guess you could understand that because the movie is about as low-key as they come so I'm sure many people in 1983 would have been turned off by it but at the same time it's rather shocking that the studio didn't see how great Duvall was in it. The picture eventually got some Oscar nominations and became better known but I guess we should be thankful that the studio didn't completely give up on it. The main reason to see the movie is due to the performances with Duvall easily leading the way. Like Spencer Tracy before him, Duvall never gets the credit he deserves because I think he makes acting seem so easy. It rather amazing to watch someone like Duvall because of how easy they make acting seem and because of how terrific he is acting without words. There's a lot of range going on here but just watch the way Duvall doesn't use words to explain how he's feeling but instead he simply uses his eyes. The supporting cast is also very impressive with Harper standing terrific against Duvall as she too is very quiet in the film but we also know what she's feeling. The young Barkin doesn't have too many scenes here but she's impressive when on screen. Betty Buckley is wonderful as Duvall's ex-wife and Wilford Brimley is good as usual. The film's strong performances are certainly the main reason to check it out but I do think the film falls well short of being a great movie. I think the low-key nature works to a point but in the end there are a couple major turns in the story that I felt should have more of an impact but they didn't. I think the emotional range isn't quite there and at times it seems as if the movie is just too simple for its own good. I'm going to guess that the simple nature of country music is what they were trying to give us but I think it's just a tad bit too laid back. With that said, it's easy to see why Duvall won all the acclaim he did as he's certainly one of the greatest actors of all time and this is a perfect example for anyone needing to see proof of that.

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