Themes: Custody Battles, Fathers and Sons, Breakups and Divorces
Main Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Justin Henry, Jane Alexander, Howard Duff, JoBeth Williams
Release Year: 1979
Country: US
Run Time: 105 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Robert Benton's Oscar-winning adaptation of Avery Corman's bestseller takes on contemporary problems of divorce and shifting gender roles, as a jilted husband learns how to be a nurturing father. Manhattan housewife Joanna Kramer (Meryl Streep) walks out on her workaholic ad man husband Ted (Dustin Hoffman), leaving their young son Billy (Justin Henry) in Ted's less than capable hands. Through trial and error, Ted learns how to take care of Billy, devoting more energy to his family than to his work, and finally losing his high-powered job because of his new priorities. When Joanna returns with her own lucrative job and the intent to take custody of Billy, Ted finds employment that won't interfere with his paternal duties. Even though he proves that he can do it all, Joanna still wins in court. Joanna, however, rethinks her desires when she finally grasps how close father and son have become. Addressing the male side of the self-actualization question, previously explored from the female perspective in such 1970s movies as An Unmarried Woman (1978), Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), and The Turning Point (1977), Kramer focuses on Ted's evolution from absent parent to ideal father, as he learns to balance domestic and professional lives in the shifting late-1970s social landscape. Joanna's attempt to achieve the same, however, gets buried; only Streep's sensitive performance prevents Joanna from seeming an unsympathetic harridan. Critics praised the film's realistic depiction of Ted's travails, as well as the three lead actors' work; and audiences, perhaps facing the same questions of divorce and self-realization, turned it into a box-office smash. It went on to win five Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actress. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
Review
Quite a portrait of modern family dysfunction, Robert Benton's adaptation of the Avery Corman novel hit a nerve with audiences for its frank take on a condition affecting them in increasing numbers: divorce. Nonetheless, it's an uneven film, not in terms of quality, but balance; the film truly belongs to Dustin Hoffman's Ted Kramer, whose travails take center stage as Meryl Streep's Joanna Kramer disappears for large portions of the film. Only a few instances of Ted's short temper fuel any sort of backlash against an otherwise endearing paternal figure, while the audience is given far less cause to sympathize with Joanna, whose reasons for leaving Ted (and more importantly, son Billy) are never explored. It's the strange transfigurations of Ted's life that make Kramer vs. Kramer such an interesting study, such as when a court-ordered deadline forces him into the office of an executive, in the waning hours before the Christmas holiday, to practically beg for a job for which he is overqualified. While there's no reason Ted's story alone should not be the focus, the film's title suggests a war waged with equal ammunition by two wronged parties, and Kramer vs. Kramer is not such a film. The dismissal of Streep's character makes the overly pat ending less forgivable as well. But the actors' note-perfect performances -- and the way the script lays bare the desperate machinations of an increasingly common and normalized legal process -- make this an enduring work. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
George Coe - Jim O'Connor; Bill Moor - Gressen; Howland Chamberlain - Judge Atkins; Jack Ramage - Spencer; Jess Osuna - Ackerman; Nicholas Hormann - Interviewer; Ellen Parker - Teacher; Joe Seneca - Partygoer; David Gilbert; Shelby Brammer - Ted's Secretary; David Golden - Grocer
Credit
Shirley Rich - Casting, Ruth Morley - Costume Designer, Robert Benton - Director, Jerry Greenberg - Editor, John Kander - Composer (Music Score), Allen Weisinger - Makeup, Paul Sylbert - Production Designer, Néstor Almendros - Cinematographer, David Golden - Production Manager, Stanley Jaffe - Producer, Alan Hicks - Set Designer, Robert Benton - Screenwriter, Antonio Vivaldi - Featured Music, Henry Purcell - Featured Music, Avery Corman - Book Author
Kramer vs. Kramer is a 1979 film adapted by Robert Benton from the novel by Avery Corman, and directed by Benton. The film tells the story of a married couple's divorce and its impact on everyone involved, including the couple's young son. It received the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1979. Music for the film features New York guitarist Frederic Hand.
Ted Kramer (Dustin Hoffman), a workaholicadvertising executive is just given his agency's biggest new account. After spending the evening drinking with his boss, he returns home to find his wife Joanna (Meryl Streep) in the process of leaving him.
Ted is left to raise their son Billy (Justin Henry) by himself. Ted and Billy resent each other as Ted no longer has time to carry his increased workload, and Billy misses the love and attention he received from his mother. After many months of unrest, Ted and Billy begin to cope with the situation and eventually grow to deeply love and care for one another.
Ted befriends his neighbor Margaret (Jane Alexander), who at the beginning had counseled Joanna to leave. Margaret is a fellow single parent and the two become kindred spirits. One day as the two sit in the park watching their children play, Billy falls off the jungle gym and severely cuts his face. Picking him up, Ted sprints several blocks through oncoming traffic to the hospital, truly showing his caring love for his child.
About a year and a half after she walked out, Joanna returns to New York in order to claim Billy, and a custody battle ensues. During the custody hearing, both Ted and Joanna are unprepared for the brutal character assassinations that their lawyers unleash on the other. Eventually, the court awards custody to Joanna.
On the morning that Billy is to move in with Joanna, she comes to the apartment and tells Ted that, while she loves Billy and wants him with her, she knows that he is already home and his true home is with Ted. She does not take him. As she enters the elevator, she asks her ex-husband how does she look. The movie ends with the elevator doors closing on the emotional Joanna, right after Ted answers ,"You look terrific", as she heads upstairs to talk to Billy.
Kate Jackson was then offered the role played by Meryl Streep but was forced to turn it down. At the time, Jackson was appearing in the TV series Charlie's Angels, and producer Aaron Spelling told her that they were unable to rearrange the shooting schedule to give her time off to do the film.[2]
Cultural impact
Kramer vs. Kramer reflected a cultural shift which occurred during the 1970s and the period of second-wave feminism, when ideas about motherhood and fatherhood were changing. The film was widely praised for the way in which it gave equal weight and importance to both Joanna and Ted's points of view.[3]
The film also addresses the predisposition to awarding child custody to the mother.
