{"id":16434,"date":"2022-07-22T16:17:43","date_gmt":"2022-07-22T20:17:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=16434"},"modified":"2026-05-05T10:13:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T14:13:35","slug":"tender-mercies-1983","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=16434","title":{"rendered":"Tender Mercies-1983"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tender Mercies-1983<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director Bruce Beresford<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring Robert Duvall<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #1,279<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewed July 22, 2022<\/p>\n

Grade: B+<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tender Mercies (1983) is a quiet, down-home film about a country musician struggling with alcohol addiction, god, and a tepid musical career.<\/p>\n

Anyone who starts a yawn will have the same reaction I did when reading the premise.<\/p>\n

It’s not the most original idea, but the film works surprisingly better than I initially expected. The 1983 film is largely forgotten now, but it has a Cinderella story as its legacy.<\/p>\n

Funding and a marketing push were limited, resulting in low box-office returns, but the Academy sure took notice, heaving five nominations its way.<\/p>\n

It’s quite a departure for those expecting actor Robert Duvall to mirror his characters in The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather: Part II (1974).<\/p>\n

Tender Mercies is an actor’s film, and it belongs squarely to Duvall, who delivers a wonderful performance perfectly carved out for an Oscar nomination. He instills himself into the role of a drunken, washed-up country star vowing to stay straight.<\/p>\n

Duvall does more than act in it, crafting and performing his songs in a role standing side by side with his role in The Apostle (1998) as his very best.<\/p>\n

He won the coveted Academy Award for Tender Mercies.<\/p>\n

Though the tone is low-key, filming was anything but, and reports of disagreements and blow-ups between Duvall and director Bruce Beresford surfaced.<\/p>\n

The Australian director was later made famous for Driving Miss Daisy (1989) and, at one point, even considered quitting the production.<\/p>\n

The story tells of alcoholic drifter Mac Sledge (Duvall), who awakens one day in the middle of rural Texas after a night of heavy drinking.<\/p>\n

His surroundings are a run-down roadside motel and gas station.<\/p>\n

He meets the owner, a young widow named Rosa Lee (Tess Harper), and offers to perform maintenance work at the motel in exchange for a room. Rosa, whose husband was killed in the Vietnam War, is raising her young son, Sonny (Allan Hubbard), on her own.<\/p>\n

Mac and Rosa become smitten with one another, attending church and forging a life of solitude together. Demons surface when it is revealed that Mac is a once-famous country singer with a currently famous ex-wife, Dixie Scott (Betty Buckley).<\/p>\n

When the opportunity for a career comeback surfaces, Mac must choose between his new life and the life he let slip through his hands.<\/p>\n

The story is very good for several reasons. At the forefront, Mac is a likable guy whom the audience pulls for. Instead of the tried-and-true story of a man battling his demons and being ‘saved’ by a woman, Mac is already on the road to recovery and has the desire to stay sober.<\/p>\n

Rosa Lee and Sonny merely serve as steady influences versus the bright lights and broken hearts of the country music world.<\/p>\n

Mac also has a chance to be a father figure to someone. The bad stuff has already transpired in the past, so the audience is spared having to endure a pile of shit in exchange for a big payoff at the end of the film.<\/p>\n

There are a couple of negatives that keep the film from being a masterpiece.<\/p>\n

On the wagon, Mac is tempted to down a bottle of whiskey after a tragedy, but he resists the urge, choosing to pour the devil’s juice out onto the ground. Is that a big surprise?<\/p>\n

Buckley does her best with a one-note character, clearly in existence as an obstacle to Mac’s happiness.<\/p>\n

But, at its core, Tender Mercies is about relationships, and though a slow under texture, delicious are the low-key scenes between Mac and Rosa Lee, and Mac and Sonny.<\/p>\n

The scenes prove that good crisp dialogue with grace and heart trumps car chases any day.<\/p>\n

They discuss life!<\/p>\n

The cinematography of remote Texas is magical in its vastness and its loneliness. Key expressions on Duvall’s face perfectly match the Western landscape.<\/p>\n

I’m not a religious guy, and I’m not a country & western guy, but I enjoyed the story I was served up by Tender Mercies (1983) quite a bit.<\/p>\n

The combination of superb acting, an emotionally charged, character-driven story, and a fabulous glimpse into the dry state of Texas made for a compelling ninety-minute viewing experience.<\/p>\n

Oscar Nominations:<\/strong> 2 wins-<\/strong>Best Picture, Best Director-Bruce Beresford, Best Actor-Robert Duvall (won)<\/strong>, Best Screenplay-Written Directly for the Screen (won)<\/strong>, Best Original Song-“Over You”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tender Mercies-1983 Director Bruce Beresford Starring Robert Duvall Scott’s Review #1,279 Reviewed July 22, 2022 Grade: B+ Tender Mercies (1983) is a quiet, down-home film about a country musician struggling with alcohol addiction, god, and a tepid musical career. Anyone who starts a yawn will have the same reaction I did when reading the premise. … Continue reading Tender Mercies-1983<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[181,10711,1089,10705,192,10707,1359,696,222,10706,10559],"tags":[184,10712,1096,10708,193,10710,1363,697,221,10709,10560],"class_list":["post-16434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1983films","category-allan-hubbard","category-betty-buckley","category-bruce-beresford","category-dramas","category-ellen-barkin","category-paul-gleason","category-robert-duvall","category-romantic-dramas","category-tess-harper","category-wilford-brimley","tag-1983-movie-reviews","tag-allan-hubbard","tag-betty-buckley","tag-bruce-beresford","tag-dramas-2","tag-ellen-barkin","tag-paul-gleason","tag-robert-duvall","tag-romantic-dramas","tag-tess-harper","tag-wilford-brimley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16434"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23063,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16434\/revisions\/23063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}