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Tender Mercies
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Additional DVD options | Edition | Discs | Price | New from | Used from |
DVD
June 3, 2013 "Please retry" | — | 1 | $12.17 | — |
DVD
January 1, 1982 "Please retry" | — | 1 | $13.67 | $3.94 |
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Tender Mercies | — | — |
Purchase options and add-ons
Genre | Drama |
Format | Multiple Formats, Dolby, Dubbed, Color, NTSC |
Contributor | Betty Buckley, Philip Hobel, Robert Duvall, Wilford Brimley, Tess Harper, Bruce Beresford |
Language | English |
Runtime | 1 hour and 32 minutes |
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Combining the STARZ premium global subscription platform with world-class motion picture and television studio operations, Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF.A, LGF.B) brings a unique and varied portfolio of entertainment to consumers around the world. Its film, television, subscription, location-based entertainment and interactive games businesses are backed by a 17,000-title library and one of the largest collections of film and television franchises. A digital age company driven by its entrepreneurial culture and commitment to innovation, the Lionsgate brand is synonymous with bold, original, relatable entertainment for the audiences it serves worldwide.
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Product Description
An alcoholic drifter comes into the life of a lonelywidow and her young son in the barren flatlands ofTexas. But when he is revealed to be a once-famouscountry singer, he must face a painful past and anuncertain future.
Product details
- Aspect Ratio : 1.77:1
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- MPAA rating : PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
- Product Dimensions : 0.5 x 5.3 x 7.5 inches; 2.4 ounces
- Item model number : 25630
- Director : Bruce Beresford
- Media Format : Multiple Formats, Dolby, Dubbed, Color, NTSC
- Run time : 1 hour and 32 minutes
- Release date : June 2, 2009
- Actors : Betty Buckley, Robert Duvall, Wilford Brimley, Tess Harper
- Dubbed: : French
- Producers : Philip Hobel
- Studio : Lionsgate
- ASIN : B001VC99HQ
- Number of discs : 1
- Best Sellers Rank: #9,203 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #299 in Romance (Movies & TV)
- #1,398 in Drama DVDs
- Customer Reviews:
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Duvall, Beresford at their best
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2025Love this movie.
- Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2025First saw this movie about 20 years
ago.
Really enjoyed the storyline and music
- Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2010"Tender Mercies" (1983, color, 92 minutes) is one of Roger Ebert's "Great Films." It won Oscars for leading male actor (Duvall) and screenplay (Foote). It had several other Oscar nominations and many film awards. We chose this for our December movie in our "Great Films at the Cathedral" series.
Horton Foote wrote this screenplay specifically for Robert Duvall. He'd previously won an Oscar for "To Kill a Mockingbird." IMDb.com's bio of Foote said his "....success can be attributed to his honest examination of the human condition, and why some people survive tragedies while others are destroyed. His central themes of the sense of belonging and longing for home have resonated with audiences for 60 years." And "Tender Mercies" is such a movie. It's definitely not an action film; it's character studies of Duvall and those close to him.
Duvall plays the role of Mac Sledge -- a former C&W star, now middle aged, broke, alcoholic. He wakes up one morning in a marginal small motel on the empty Texas plains run by a young widow, Rosa Lee (Tess Harper), who has a pre-teen son. Mac has no money to pay for his lodging so he offers to work it off; she accepts on the condition he not drink.
Mac has problems with his anger which alcohol sometimes pacified, sometimes enflamed. Alcohol and anger led to the divorce from his previous wife, Dixie (Betty Buckley), still a famous C&W star, and her prohibiting Mac from having any contact with their daughter (Ellen Barkin).
"TM" deals with themes of broken parent-child relations (the widow's son and his deceased father; Mac and his daughter), longing for their restoration, and the building of others. And the gradual development over time and trials of the five central characters.
It's a quiet, perceptive movie in which tensions are generated by Mac's desire to see his daughter, his anger, his battle to stay sober, questions about his handling his previous fame and will he sing again.
After several months of working for/with the widow, while they're both weeding the garden, Mac says, (IIRC) 'I guess there's no secret how I feel about you. Would you consider marryin' me?' and she says, 'I reckon I would' Typical scenes of the wedding and nuptial bed aren't in the movie -- Foote's got more important issues to present and the story deals with those.
IMO, the casting was perfect -- not a single one would be better if replaced by someone else. One professional reviewer said Tess Harper's role as Rosa Lee was weak; I disagree. I thought she was perfect as the young widow, trying to hang on -- insecure and inexperienced in dealing with all that life dealt her -- but trying to use her faith to sustain her.
Psychologically, everything was true to life -- no false, implausible notes, and it even includes the realistic, seldom-seen way that problems can cascade through the generations despite efforts to prevent that happening.
While some disappointments, tragedies, minor triumphs are experienced, by the movie's end one is uplifted. A perfect movie.
- Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2024love it
- Reviewed in the United States on June 17, 2022It paints the lives and struggles of the characters, their failures and their victories, in a realistic way. The ending caught me unprepared. At first it left me hanging, wishing there was a "and everyone lived happily after all" conclusion with Mac recouping both his soul and his stardom. As I contemplated it, however, I realized it was in keeping with the tenor of the film as a whole. The one criticism of have is that the marriage of Mac to the young widow, Rosa Lee, was very abrupt with no real courtship. That one element seemed unrealistic and needed more development. To me, the message of the film seemed to be the transforming power of redeeming love. Rosa Lee's patient love for Mac slowly transformed him. I was reminded of how God's love does the same.
- Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2007This 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.
Top reviews from other countries
-
EReviewed in Spain on August 13, 2023
3.0 out of 5 stars El color
El color no se ve igual que cuando lo transmiten en la tele
- M. SalmonReviewed in the United Kingdom on February 14, 2016
5.0 out of 5 stars They don't make films like this any more...
I only recently came across this gem of a film. It's quite short, only about 75 minutes, and essentially a simple story about how a woman with a Christian faith experiences the "tender mercies" of God, how a man who'd reached rock bottom finds a future and a hope and the woman's son acquires a father. The expression "tender mercies" occurs a number of times in the Bible's book of Psalms and I seem to keep coming across it - it is often associated with God's loving kindness. I've heard it said of Horton Foote who wrote the screenplay that he is as eloquent in what he doesn't say as in what he does.That is certainly true in "Tender Mercies". I also liked the honesty of Bruce Beresford's direction. I'm sure it's a film I shall watch time and again.
- phhowReviewed in Canada on January 1, 2014
5.0 out of 5 stars Honest and very Human Film
This is one of those small gems of acting and human drama. One of the great American films in its simplicity and the straight honest believability of its characters. In its own quiet way, the film deals with substance abuse, pressures of the day-to-day, tragedy and the aftermath of a difficult divorce. A great film! Peter Howden
- Ronald WalshReviewed in Canada on October 22, 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars Good enjoyable movie.
Great movie, great acting on the whole cast.
- pipnutsReviewed in the United Kingdom on December 2, 2012
5.0 out of 5 stars Healing and evocative
Mack Sledge is a former country music star, now living in a bottle, who rocks up at a Texas Motel, owned by Tess Harper. When he emerges from his cabin two days later, fresh from a drunken stupor, he realises that the friend who came with him has left him there with no money, and with a bill to pay. This is the story of how earning his keep at the Motel gives him the chance to earn some self respect, and to receive acceptance. His relationship with Harper's son, Sonny (Allan J. Hubbard) is an allegory for him being forgiven past mistakes, as it seems that he is the judge of this man's worthiness. Wonderfully evocative of an old country world. Robert Duvall is a revelation as a singer, and Betty Buckley is a vocal powerhouse as Mack's ex-wife.
Take the time to relax with this film.