I rediscovered this movie after listening to Betty Buckley sing Memory... I had recollected that I had really liked Tender Mercies b/c it was well acted and gut-wrenchingly sad. Upon watching it once again 40 years later, it reinforces my impressions of Robert Duvall and Tess Harper as superb actors... and makes me wonder why modern movies cannot touch these earlier masterpieces.
When I mention this movie to people, I categorize it as the fastest slow movie ever made. I'm forever intrigued by the fast pace of the storytelling while still magically keeping the tone thoughtful, meditative. It gets out of scenes that are very calm nearly abruptly, but always perfectly. It's a favorite movie from as far back as my 20s, but it really clicked after my dad died in my 30s and I rediscovered his music - that brand of country music from the 70s captured so lovingly here but rejected by me because it was HIS music. I now see such hurt, regret, and genuine creativity in it, and the movie is all the richer for it. I caught up to how great it already was.
It is a wonderful film that works on many levels. One of my favorites. As for the Country Music, yes, it is not everybody's choice but some of it is really beautiful to me.
Robert Duvall has made so many great movies, even so, as Mack Sledge, no other movie is even close. I have never seen him better than in Tender Mercies. He is completely unbelievable, the scene when he meet up with his daughter, for the first time, since his drinking days, that scene, when he sings the song, after she has left, that scene is unreal. The voice, you can almost feel his deep pain, sadness from the past and how he has lived his life. Through the whole movie, from the heavily drinking scene in the beginning at the Motel to the scene when he meet his daughter, that´s magic, pure magic. You can read through his eyes, in his voice, even in his manors, how he suffers. That´s high class acting, from Mr. Robert Duvall. The story, how the movie is narrated, is really something else. He won an Academy Award for his role as Mack Sledge and that´s fair, he deserved it, really.
I was 11 years old when this movie first came out. My parents watched this movie several times and I remember it from my childhood. Later as an adult I have watched it again several times, most recently a week ago with my husband. I have gotten something new out of it each time and at different ages and life experiences. One of my all time favorite movies for it's simplicity yet very complicated characters and touching storyline.
I can't help but chuckle when someone says how much they hate 70's and 80's twang because it's my absolute favorite era. I love the way the presenter describes it as tolerance. Duvall's background music of Lefty Frizzell (It hurts so much to face reality) puts chills on my spine. I do appreciate this production and commentary as this is my favorite movie for so many reasons that are much too numerous to list here. I grew up partly in rural North Texas and I am the exact same age as the young boy actor who plays Sonny, so it's like being 11 again whenever I watch the movie. But my absolute favorite, gut twisting, soul destroying but uplifting at the same time, part of this movie, is the character named Rosalee performed so magnificently by Tess Harper. I can barely write about it without tearing up. There is something so genuinely beautiful and angelic about her that it soars through my mind randomly and routinely as I go about my daily activities. I know that her character represents a time, place, and a feminine persona that is as gone with the wind as what you hear blowing throughout this fabulous movie.
I adore this movie ❤ I used to do theater work in Maryland, and I worked with a lady who knew Robert when he had a ranch out in Virginia. Good guy, excellent film.
The dialogue and great acting. I don’t trust happiness I never have I never will. It’s about the questions everyone asks and it’s full of questions, and how people who lose pull themselves together and live knowing they don’t know the answers! Oh and a great director that knew what he wanted and made them give it to him, and the young actors were great because they didn’t know anything and just followed his instructions.
You really do not need to downcast country music, people who live in rural areas or have religious beliefs that are different from your way of thinking. All of those items are what make this simple movie work. Duvall has stated that it was his favorite on many occasions.
A brilliant review of a criminally-forgotten film. Duvall's performance is probably one of the ten best in cinematic history. At no point in the film are you watching Robert Duvall... you're watching Mack Sledge. Beresford's contrasting style, shifting from the cosy kitchen of the motel to the empty, bleak Texas plains echoed his equally-brilliant Breaker Morant, which shifted between the stark, cold courtroom and the vast South African Highveld. Foote's screenplay is flawless. The lack of a prominent, structured story line was crucial to maintaining the film's theme of bleakness and disconnect. Tess Harper's rigid, robot-like performance perfectly expressed Rosa Lee's drawn-out stupor following her young husband's death.
I saw this film last night. Good analysis! About the music, though: Robert Duvall wrote all of his own songs in this movie. Think about that: the premier actor of the last generation also wrote and sang (very well) a handful of songs that could not only pass muster for early ‘80s country, but that are still memorable and beautiful. Listen again to “On the Wings of a Dove.”
It is a testament to great film making and why it is an art form. No explosions, no sex scenes, no gun fights, no one cheating on someone else. Yet truly a riveting big screen film. Great acting by a distinguished cast. Great writing and great directing as well. 5 Oscar nominations. One of my favorite films.
I just watched this movie and I loved it so much I had to find analysis and reviews. It’s so understated. The scene where Mac’s now adult daughter comes to see him for the first time in 8 years and asks about a song he used to singer that is foggy in her mind, Mac says he doesn’t remember it. Then after she leaves we get to see him singing it as he looks out a window. At first I found it strange and withholding that he pretended not to remember but then I pictured how maudlin it would have been for his character to have sung it to her and I liked the choice. It’s such a beautiful film.
This is a top ten movie for me. I’ve watched it at least five times. But I find that moment the weakest in the film. If you need to avoid a maudlin moment, why even bring “Now White Dove” into the story at all. Mac loves his daughter. He sees she is in emotional need and yet he denies her this. Mac cannot so wounded that he should deny both her *and himself* this small intimacy. Or am I just too soft? Is there something heroic here? I don’t see it, but I am open to suggestions.
@@JimMelcher they could have left it out altogether but it would need to be replaced with some memory because their time together in the film is so short. I think it was added to show even if he had been drinking back then she had sweet memories of him when she was little.
I have not seen this film in decades. Robert Duvall is at once one of the greatest American actors of the 20th century and one of the most underrated. He famously began his film career as Boo Radley (without a single spoken word) in "To Kill a Mockingbird." Certainly, his most famous films are the Godfather trilogy, "Network" and "Apocalypse Now," but the roles that I most enjoyed him in were in "Tender Mercies" and "The Great Santini." His understated performance seems almost to not be acting at all. One has to ask, how much of what we witness is Duvall just playing himself. I also have to give a shoutout to his television performance in "Lonesome Dove."
@@LearningaboutMovies Speaking of Duvall's first role, tip the cap to Texas gentleman Horton Foote who adapted TKAM and wrote Tender Mercies. Based on Foote and Duvall, the supporting casts, and the slower heartbeat of the South, Tender Mercies also shares a bloodline with Sling Blade and The Apostle. Tender Mercies happens to be my favorite film ever. My 2nd favorite is Cannibal Holocaust. Just kidding. And you can't shoot a movie on the Texas Llano Estacado without the wind. Just try. The wind was unavoidable, but still an apt metaphor in your review. And that ain't country music from Duvall. That's just good singing-songwriting.
I watched again (saw it when it came out in '83!) to hear Betty Buckley singing "Over You". Now the entire film is probably my favorite. Robert Duvall is a treasure, as is Horton Foote, as is Bruce Beresford.
God how I love this movie. Saw this after watching Duval in The Great Santini and was awestruck by his range. Playig an antagonistic "macho" and domineering father in the first movie and then the low-key figure in this one. He is a master actor of the first class.
I grew up in rural Texas at the time this movie was set and let me tell you, it was spot on. Duval's accent is pure central Texas (by way of Tennessee). Yes, I can often designate a regional Texas accent. These people from this area are so stoic that too many people they came off as cold, but they are far from cold to me.
After I saw this film I went back and sought out every film Duvall has been in. Any man who has wrestled with booze will absolutely recognize his crazy drive around scene with the bottle beside him. But the film is full of memorable scenes like that. Great review.
ITS A GEM OF A FILM TO ME, BECAUSE IN A SMALL TOWN WHICH I LOVE AND THEYRE SIMPLE PEOPLE, SAD MACS DAUIGHTER DIED.BESIDES THATS WHEN WE CAN LISTEN TO OIBERT SING AND HE DOES REALLY WELL.
Great review! This is one of my top ten favorite movies. Your introduction of the inside/outdoors distinction used in the film is great. Your mentioning the wind is crucial. To those could be added the distinction between classic country, as in Mac, vs. The Nashville Sound, as in Dixie. As used in the movie, that distinction is also parallel to the inside/outside one, and socially breaks down to elite/masses. I’ve also kept this film in a tiny subset of movies that almost entirely consist of disjointed vignettes. As if we only see the most crucial episodes in their lives-a very unusual narrative technique.
I was invited to attend a preview of Tender Mercies before it was released. We were given a survey afterwards and I gave the film high rankings all around. The theme was different enough from the standard message of the time that It seemed the distributor wanted to test the waters with some select audiences before asking for peoples money.
Robert plays a composition of several country stars. This picture is on This tv next Monday at 8pm. Country music was adult entertainment like scotch and you have to acquire a taste for it, the bubble gum country today is not what I’m talking about, it’s a watered down side element that misses on almost everything except being called country.
Thank you for this recommendation. I just watched this today and loved it. I really enjoy a film that puts you as a fly on the wall. Almost feels like a documentary of a Texas family in the 70s or 80s
Great review. I consider Robert Duvall the greatest American actor and this film shows how he just becomes the character he plays. I felt like I was there watching Mac and his new family.
Yes, I think you are referencing an American TV interview where siskel and ebert defend Return of the Jedi against the objections to it from another critic, who suggests that children instead watch Tender Mercies (this was in 1983). Is that the one?
Your observations about the wind are more astute than you might realize. Horton Foote wrote this screenplay. (In fact, it's really important to understand that this is a Horton Foote film -- that's primary!) Foote wrote an adaption of Faulkner story, starring Robert Duvall. The whole film is currently on TH-cam. Check out this scene where the woman talks about the wind (and I hope that I am correctly pasting the link at the timestamp ... otherwise the key scene is at 22:45): th-cam.com/video/Vh2hRX6dGmI/w-d-xo.html. It will blow your mind.
You really are very underrated movie TH-camr out there. Iam too interested in movie learning. Pls can you make video on to how to study films. I want to learn filmmaking from few directors like Akira Kurosawa, Stanley Kubrick, Paul Thomas Anderson, Alfred Hitchcock, David Fincher, Martin Scorsese. If you could make videos on these directors about their filmmaking style, structure & others. It would be really great. Thank You
@@LearningaboutMovies Norm had an interview with Robert Duvall that I absolutely loved. So I had to check out this movie I'd not heard of and my search turned up your great review of the movie. Thank you.
So as a screenwriter some 60 pages into this script I’m disappointed it’s not awful, but the Characters lack any sort of depth they all seem one dimensional. we never get the feeling that the main character has any obstacles to overcome, he’s supposed to be this alcoholic yet I haven’t seen him struggling at all. The writing should have made it to where he’s struggling to give up alcohol but instead that’s not what we get. Maybe he has different side to his personality while drinking that the wife hasn’t seen before.. but no we don’t get that.
are you only reading it, or did you watch the movie? As you know, screenplays live when fully realized via sight and sound, which can do more, a lot more, than the printed page. I wasn't sure what you meant though -- whether you are critiquing the movie or the script.
I rediscovered this movie after listening to Betty Buckley sing Memory... I had recollected that I had really liked Tender Mercies b/c it was well acted and gut-wrenchingly sad. Upon watching it once again 40 years later, it reinforces my impressions of Robert Duvall and Tess Harper as superb actors... and makes me wonder why modern movies cannot touch these earlier masterpieces.
When I mention this movie to people, I categorize it as the fastest slow movie ever made. I'm forever intrigued by the fast pace of the storytelling while still magically keeping the tone thoughtful, meditative. It gets out of scenes that are very calm nearly abruptly, but always perfectly. It's a favorite movie from as far back as my 20s, but it really clicked after my dad died in my 30s and I rediscovered his music - that brand of country music from the 70s captured so lovingly here but rejected by me because it was HIS music. I now see such hurt, regret, and genuine creativity in it, and the movie is all the richer for it. I caught up to how great it already was.
great comment -- thank you very much.
What stays with me is how vulnerable they seemed the whole time at the side of the road. It was a great film that is hard to describe.
Realistic and heartfelt.
It is a wonderful film that works on many levels. One of my favorites. As for the Country Music, yes, it is not everybody's choice but some of it is really beautiful to me.
Robert Duvall has made so many great movies, even so, as Mack Sledge, no other movie is even close. I have never seen him better than in Tender Mercies. He is completely unbelievable, the scene when he meet up with his daughter, for the first time, since his drinking days, that scene, when he sings the song, after she has left, that scene is unreal. The voice, you can almost feel his deep pain, sadness from the past and how he has lived his life. Through the whole movie, from the heavily drinking scene in the beginning at the Motel to the scene when he meet his daughter, that´s magic, pure magic. You can read through his eyes, in his voice, even in his manors, how he suffers. That´s high class acting, from Mr. Robert Duvall. The story, how the movie is narrated, is really something else. He won an Academy Award for his role as Mack Sledge and that´s fair, he deserved it, really.
To sum it up: Tender Mercies is a tremendous work.
great summation!
I was 11 years old when this movie first came out. My parents watched this movie several times and I remember it from my childhood. Later as an adult I have watched it again several times, most recently a week ago with my husband. I have gotten something new out of it each time and at different ages and life experiences. One of my all time favorite movies for it's simplicity yet very complicated characters and touching storyline.
thank you.
I can't help but chuckle when someone says how much they hate 70's and 80's twang because it's my absolute favorite era. I love the way the presenter describes it as tolerance. Duvall's background music of Lefty Frizzell (It hurts so much to face reality) puts chills on my spine. I do appreciate this production and commentary as this is my favorite movie for so many reasons that are much too numerous to list here. I grew up partly in rural North Texas and I am the exact same age as the young boy actor who plays Sonny, so it's like being 11 again whenever I watch the movie. But my absolute favorite, gut twisting, soul destroying but uplifting at the same time, part of this movie, is the character named Rosalee performed so magnificently by Tess Harper. I can barely write about it without tearing up. There is something so genuinely beautiful and angelic about her that it soars through my mind randomly and routinely as I go about my daily activities. I know that her character represents a time, place, and a feminine persona that is as gone with the wind as what you hear blowing throughout this fabulous movie.
thanks
I adore this movie ❤ I used to do theater work in Maryland, and I worked with a lady who knew Robert when he had a ranch out in Virginia. Good guy, excellent film.
The dialogue and great acting. I don’t trust happiness I never have I never will. It’s about the questions everyone asks and it’s full of questions, and how people who lose pull themselves together and live knowing they don’t know the answers! Oh and a great director that knew what he wanted and made them give it to him, and the young actors were great because they didn’t know anything and just followed his instructions.
You really do not need to downcast country music, people who live in rural areas or have religious beliefs that are different from your way of thinking. All of those items are what make this simple movie work. Duvall has stated that it was his favorite on many occasions.
what are you talking about? You don't even know what I believe.
A brilliant review of a criminally-forgotten film. Duvall's performance is probably one of the ten best in cinematic history. At no point in the film are you watching Robert Duvall... you're watching Mack Sledge. Beresford's contrasting style, shifting from the cosy kitchen of the motel to the empty, bleak Texas plains echoed his equally-brilliant Breaker Morant, which shifted between the stark, cold courtroom and the vast South African Highveld. Foote's screenplay is flawless. The lack of a prominent, structured story line was crucial to maintaining the film's theme of bleakness and disconnect. Tess Harper's rigid, robot-like performance perfectly expressed Rosa Lee's drawn-out stupor following her young husband's death.
I have wondered about the connections between Beresford's films, as they seem quite different on the surface. You are onto something. THank you.
I saw this film last night. Good analysis! About the music, though: Robert Duvall wrote all of his own songs in this movie. Think about that: the premier actor of the last generation also wrote and sang (very well) a handful of songs that could not only pass muster for early ‘80s country, but that are still memorable and beautiful. Listen again to “On the Wings of a Dove.”
thank you.
Wasn't "On The Wings Of A Dove" a cover song?
It is a testament to great film making and why it is an art form. No explosions, no sex scenes, no gun fights, no one cheating on someone else. Yet truly a riveting big screen film. Great acting by a distinguished cast. Great writing and great directing as well. 5 Oscar nominations. One of my favorite films.
I just watched this movie and I loved it so much I had to find analysis and reviews. It’s so understated. The scene where Mac’s now adult daughter comes to see him for the first time in 8 years and asks about a song he used to singer that is foggy in her mind, Mac says he doesn’t remember it. Then after she leaves we get to see him singing it as he looks out a window. At first I found it strange and withholding that he pretended not to remember but then I pictured how maudlin it would have been for his character to have sung it to her and I liked the choice. It’s such a beautiful film.
This is a top ten movie for me. I’ve watched it at least five times. But I find that moment the weakest in the film. If you need to avoid a maudlin moment, why even bring “Now White Dove” into the story at all. Mac loves his daughter. He sees she is in emotional need and yet he denies her this. Mac cannot so wounded that he should deny both her *and himself* this small intimacy. Or am I just too soft? Is there something heroic here? I don’t see it, but I am open to suggestions.
@@JimMelcher they could have left it out altogether but it would need to be replaced with some memory because their time together in the film is so short.
I think it was added to show even if he had been drinking back then she had sweet memories of him when she was little.
I have not seen this film in decades. Robert Duvall is at once one of the greatest American actors of the 20th century and one of the most underrated. He famously began his film career as Boo Radley (without a single spoken word) in "To Kill a Mockingbird." Certainly, his most famous films are the Godfather trilogy, "Network" and "Apocalypse Now," but the roles that I most enjoyed him in were in "Tender Mercies" and "The Great Santini." His understated performance seems almost to not be acting at all. One has to ask, how much of what we witness is Duvall just playing himself.
I also have to give a shoutout to his television performance in "Lonesome Dove."
He does seem to be playing himself to an extent. I do not know if that is an illusion.
@@LearningaboutMovies Speaking of Duvall's first role, tip the cap to Texas gentleman Horton Foote who adapted TKAM and wrote Tender Mercies. Based on Foote and Duvall, the supporting casts, and the slower heartbeat of the South, Tender Mercies also shares a bloodline with Sling Blade and The Apostle. Tender Mercies happens to be my favorite film ever. My 2nd favorite is Cannibal Holocaust. Just kidding. And you can't shoot a movie on the Texas Llano Estacado without the wind. Just try. The wind was unavoidable, but still an apt metaphor in your review. And that ain't country music from Duvall. That's just good singing-songwriting.
@@LearningaboutMovies Pacino plays himself.
@@LearningaboutMovies Robert Duvall is on the same level of Marlon Brando as an actor.
I watched again (saw it when it came out in '83!) to hear Betty Buckley singing "Over You". Now the entire film is probably my favorite. Robert Duvall is a treasure, as is Horton Foote, as is Bruce Beresford.
God how I love this movie. Saw this after watching Duval in The Great Santini and was awestruck by his range. Playig an antagonistic "macho" and domineering father in the first movie and then the low-key figure in this one. He is a master actor of the first class.
I grew up in rural Texas at the time this movie was set and let me tell you, it was spot on. Duval's accent is pure central Texas (by way of Tennessee). Yes, I can often designate a regional Texas accent. These people from this area are so stoic that too many people they came off as cold, but they are far from cold to me.
After I saw this film I went back and sought out every film Duvall has been in. Any man who has wrestled with booze will absolutely recognize his crazy drive around scene with the bottle beside him. But the film is full of memorable scenes like that. Great review.
Great analysis. Check out another wonderful Robert Duvall redemption film, The Apostle, which Duvall himself wrote.
thank you. yes, I intend to cover that one eventually.
Excellent choice
Still my all time favorite movie!
The wind can be pretty much non-stop in Texas. I know that from experience.
ITS A GEM OF A FILM TO ME, BECAUSE IN A SMALL TOWN WHICH I LOVE AND THEYRE SIMPLE PEOPLE, SAD MACS DAUIGHTER DIED.BESIDES THATS WHEN WE CAN LISTEN TO OIBERT SING AND HE DOES REALLY WELL.
You touched on a lot in a short time. Great vid. I saw this movie when it came out and I was just a kid but it seemed heavy to me even then.
Thank you for your great analysis of the movie...I agree with you totally.
you're welcome. much appreciated.
Great review! This is one of my top ten favorite movies. Your introduction of the inside/outdoors distinction used in the film is great. Your mentioning the wind is crucial. To those could be added the distinction between classic country, as in Mac, vs. The Nashville Sound, as in Dixie. As used in the movie, that distinction is also parallel to the inside/outside one, and socially breaks down to elite/masses. I’ve also kept this film in a tiny subset of movies that almost entirely consist of disjointed vignettes. As if we only see the most crucial episodes in their lives-a very unusual narrative technique.
Thank you
I was invited to attend a preview of Tender Mercies before it was released. We were given a survey afterwards and I gave the film high rankings all around. The theme was different enough from the standard message of the time that It seemed the distributor wanted to test the waters with some select audiences before asking for peoples money.
Robert plays a composition of several country stars. This picture is on This tv next Monday at 8pm. Country music was adult entertainment like scotch and you have to acquire a taste for it, the bubble gum country today is not what I’m talking about, it’s a watered down side element that misses on almost everything except being called country.
Thank you for this recommendation. I just watched this today and loved it. I really enjoy a film that puts you as a fly on the wall. Almost feels like a documentary of a Texas family in the 70s or 80s
you're welcome.
@@LearningaboutMovies you do marvelous work , still waiting on a coffee cup with your face logo on it
Great review. I consider Robert Duvall the greatest American actor and this film shows how he just becomes the character he plays. I felt like I was there watching Mac and his new family.
thankyou
Did you know there is a debate on TH-cam “tender mercies” versus Star Wars featuring siskel ebert?
Yes, I think you are referencing an American TV interview where siskel and ebert defend Return of the Jedi against the objections to it from another critic, who suggests that children instead watch Tender Mercies (this was in 1983). Is that the one?
@@LearningaboutMovies 👍
Saw it years ago. Gem of a flick. It captured the Zeitgeist of the setting.
On the contrary, thank you for sharing your insightful analysis.
You're welcome.
One of my favorites
Excellent, thanks.
Sing it the way you feel it
Great review of one of my top 10 films of all time.
thank you very much.
Your observations about the wind are more astute than you might realize. Horton Foote wrote this screenplay. (In fact, it's really important to understand that this is a Horton Foote film -- that's primary!) Foote wrote an adaption of Faulkner story, starring Robert Duvall. The whole film is currently on TH-cam. Check out this scene where the woman talks about the wind (and I hope that I am correctly pasting the link at the timestamp ... otherwise the key scene is at 22:45): th-cam.com/video/Vh2hRX6dGmI/w-d-xo.html. It will blow your mind.
great great stuff. Thank you very much.
Thank you
Another one to add to the list thanks!
I hope you enjoy it.
You really are very underrated movie TH-camr out there. Iam too interested in movie learning. Pls can you make video on to how to study films. I want to learn filmmaking from few directors like Akira Kurosawa, Stanley Kubrick, Paul Thomas Anderson, Alfred Hitchcock, David Fincher, Martin Scorsese. If you could make videos on these directors about their filmmaking style, structure & others. It would be really great. Thank You
Thank you. I will be working on those and a lot more!
Love this movie!
Enjoyed your analysis!
thank you.
Robert Duvall makes it great !!!
Norm MacDonald sent me
Tell Norm I love him.
@@LearningaboutMovies Norm had an interview with Robert Duvall that I absolutely loved. So I had to check out this movie I'd not heard of and my search turned up your great review of the movie. Thank you.
I have to see that! Thank you. Norm is one of my favorites.
Sir, where did I can watch this movie? This flim is not available on any OTT platform
Check letterboxd. In their listing, they tell you where the movie is streaming.
This is why there is acting. Takes you to another place. Great movie.
i thought he had two awards
So as a screenwriter some 60 pages into this script I’m disappointed it’s not awful, but the Characters lack any sort of depth they all seem one dimensional. we never get the feeling that the main character has any obstacles to overcome, he’s supposed to be this alcoholic yet I haven’t seen him struggling at all. The writing should have made it to where he’s struggling to give up alcohol but instead that’s not what we get. Maybe he has different side to his personality while drinking that the wife hasn’t seen before.. but no we don’t get that.
are you only reading it, or did you watch the movie? As you know, screenplays live when fully realized via sight and sound, which can do more, a lot more, than the printed page. I wasn't sure what you meant though -- whether you are critiquing the movie or the script.
What makes this movie great???? ROBERT DUVALL!!!! ♥️♥️♥️ Duh!!!!