Tender Mercies

Tender Mercies
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Bruce Beresford
Produced by	Philip Hobel
Written by	Horton Foote
Starring	Robert Duvall Tess Harper Betty Buckley Wilford Brimley Ellen Barkin Allan Hubbard
Cinematography	Russell Boyd
Editing by	William M. Anderson
Studio	EMI Films Antron Media Production
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	March 4, 1983
Running time	100 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$4.5 million
Gross revenue	$8.44 million

Tender Mercies is a 1983 American drama film directed by Bruce Beresford. The screenplay by Horton Foote focuses on Mac Sledge, a recovering alcoholic country music singer who seeks to turn his life around through his relationship with a young widow and her son in rural Texas. Robert Duvall plays the role of Mac; the supporting cast includes Tess Harper, Betty Buckley, Wilford Brimley, Ellen Barkin and Allan Hubbard.

Produced by EMI Films, Tender Mercies was largely shot in Waxahachie, Texas. The script was rejected by several American directors before the Australian Beresford accepted it. Duvall, who sang his own songs in the film, drove more than 600 miles throughout the state, tape recording local accents and playing in country music bands to prepare for the role. He and Beresford repeatedly clashed during production, at one point prompting the director to walk off the set and reportedly consider quitting the film.

The film encompasses several different themes, including the importance of love and family, the possibility of spiritual resurrection amid death, and the concept of redemption through Mac Sledge's conversion to Christianity. Following poor test screening results, distributor Universal Pictures made little effort to publicize Tender Mercies, which Duvall attributed to the studio's lack of understanding of country music.

The film was released on March 4, 1983, in a limited number of theaters. Although unsuccessful at the box office, it was critically acclaimed and earned five Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Picture. Tender Mercies won Oscars for Best Original Screenplay for Foote and Best Actor for Duvall, his first and, to date, only win.

Plot

Mac Sledge (Robert Duvall), a washed up, alcoholic country singer, awakens at a run-down Texas roadside motel and gas station after a night of heavy drinking. He meets the owner, a young widow named Rosa Lee (Tess Harper), and offers to work in exchange for a room. Rosa Lee, whose husband was killed in the Vietnam War, is raising her young son, Sonny (Allan Hubbard), on her own. She agrees to let Mac stay under the condition that he doesn't drink while working. The two slowly begin to develop feelings for one another, mostly during quiet evenings sitting alone and sharing bits of their life stories.

Mac quietly resolves to give up alcohol and start his life anew. After some time passes, he asks Rosa Lee to marry him, and the two wed. They start attending a Protestant church together on a regular basis. One day, a newspaper reporter visits the hotel and asks Mac whether he has stopped recording music and chosen an anonymous life. When Mac refuses to answer, the reporter explains he is writing a story about Mac and has interviewed his ex-wife, Dixie Scott (Betty Buckley), a country music star who is performing nearby.

After the story is printed, the neighborhood learns of Mac's past, and members of a local country-western band visit him to show their respect. Although he greets them politely, Mac remains reluctant to open up about his past. Later, he secretly attends Dixie's concert. She passionately sings several songs her ex-husband wrote years earlier, and he leaves in the middle of the performance. Backstage, he talks to Dixie's manager, his old friend Harry (Wilford Brimley). Mac gives him a copy of a new song he has written and asks him to show it to Dixie. He tries to talk to Dixie, but she becomes hysterically angry upon seeing him and warns him to stay away from their 18-year-old daughter, Sue Anne (Ellen Barkin).

Mac returns home to a jealous Rosa Lee and assures her he no longer has feelings for Dixie, who he describes as "poison" to him. Later, Harry visits Mac to tell him, seemingly at Dixie's urging, that the country music business has changed and his new song is no good. Hurt and angry, Mac drives away and nearly crashes the car. He buys a bottle of whiskey but, upon returning home to a worried Rosa Lee and Sonny, he tells them he poured it out. He admits he tried several times to leave Rosa Lee, but found he could not. Some time later, Mac and Sonny are baptized together in Rosa Lee's church.

Eventually, Sue Anne visits Mac, their first encounter since she was a baby. Mac asks whether she got any of his letters, and she says her mother kept them from her. Sue Anne also reports that Dixie tried to keep her from visiting Mac and that she plans to elope with her boyfriend despite her mother's objections. Mac admits he used to hit Dixie and that she divorced him after he tried to kill her in a drunken rage. Sue Anne asks whether Mac remembers a song about a dove he sang to her when she was a baby. He claims he does not, but after she leaves he sings to himself the hymn "On the Wings of a Dove."

Mac and Sonny grow closer, even as boys at school bully him about his deceased father. The members of the local country band ask Mac permission to perform one of his songs, and he agrees. Mac begins performing with them and they make plans to record together. His newfound happiness is interrupted when he learns Sue Anne has been killed in a car accident. Mac attends his daughter's funeral at Dixie's lavish home in Nashville and comforts her when she breaks down.

Back home, Mac keeps quiet about his emotional pain, although he wonders aloud to Rosa Lee why he didn't die instead of his daughter. Mac tells her, "I don't trust happiness. I never did, I never will." Throughout his mourning, Mac continues his new life with Rosa Lee and Sonny. In the final scene, Sonny finds a football Mac has left him as a gift. Mac watches the hotel from a field across the road and sings "On the Wings of a Dove" to himself. Sonny thanks him for the football and the two play catch together in the field.

Production

Writing

Playwright Horton Foote reportedly considered giving up on film writing altogether due to what he regarded as a poor adaption of his 1952 play The Chase into a 1966 film of the same name. Following what Foote saw as a far more successful adaption of his 1968 play Tomorrow in 1972, his interest in filmmaking was rekindled, under the condition that he maintain some degree of control over the final product. Foote said of this stage in his career, "I learned that film really should be like theatre in the sense that in theatre, the writer is, of course, very dominant ... If we don't like something, we can speak our minds. ... It is always a collaborative effort. ... But in Hollywood it wasn't so. A writer there has in his contract that you are a writer for hire, which means that you write a script, then it belongs to them."^[1] This renewed interest in cinema prompted Foote to write Tender Mercies, his first work written specifically for the screen.^[2] In the view of biographer George Terry Barr, the script reflected "Foote's determination to battle a Hollywood system that generally refuses to make such personal films."^[1]

The story was inspired partially by Foote's nephew, who struggled to succeed in the country music business. Foote was initially interested in writing a film based on his nephew's efforts to organize a band, which he saw as paralleling his own youthful attempts to find work as an actor. During his research, however, he met an experienced musician who had offered to help his nephew's band, and Foote found himself growing more interested in a story about him, rather than the band itself.^[3] Foote said, "This older man had been through it all. As I thought about a storyline, I got very interested in that type of character."^[2] The moment in the film where a woman asks, "Were you really Mac Sledge?" and he responds, "Yes ma'am, I guess, I was," was based on an actual exchange between a washed-up star and a fan that Foote overheard. He has said the entire film pivots on that statement, which he believes spoke volumes about both Mac's personality and former status.^[4]

Foote based Sledge's victory over alcoholism on his observations of various theater people struggling with the problem. He sought to avoid a melodramatic slant in telling that aspect of the story.^[2][3] Foote described his protagonist as "a very hurt, damaged man ... silence was his weapon".^[5] He chose the title Tender Mercies, from the Book of Psalms, for its relation to the Rosa Lee character, who he said seeks only "certain moments of gentleness or respite, [not] grandness or largeness".^[2] Foote sought to portray each character as realistic and flawed, while avoiding having any come across as unsympathetic.^[3] Although the script conveyed a strong spiritual message with religious undertones, Foote felt it was important to balance those religious elements with a focus on the practical challenges of everyday life.^[6]

Film historian Gary Edgerton would later say the Tender Mercies script "catapulted Horton Foote into the most active professional period in his life."^[1] Film director and producer Alan J. Pakula credited the script with helping define the American independent film movement in the last 1980s by initiating a trend of personal filmmaking that often looks beyond Hollywood conventions.^[7]

Development

Robert Duvall, who had appeared in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), which Foote adapted from the Harper Lee novel, was involved in Tender Mercies as an actor and co-producer from its earliest stages. He said the script appealed to him because of the basic values it underlined and because the themes were universal even though the story is local. Duvall also felt it portrayed people from the central region of the United States without parodying them, as he said many Hollywood films tend to do.^[8] Duvall's involvement in the film from its early stages led to rumors that he had requested Foote write the script for him, something that both men have denied.^[3]

Foote took the script to Philip and Mary Ann Hobel, a married couple who ran the company Antron Media Production and had produced more than 200 documentaries between them. Foote felt their background in documentaries would lend Tender Mercies the authenticity both he and Duvall were seeking for the film. The Hobels agreed to produce it after reading and liking the script; it would become their feature film debut as producers. The Hobels approached EMI Films, a British film and television production company, which agreed to provide financing for Tender Mercies as long as Duvall continued his participation with the film, and under the condition the Hobels find a good director.^[9] The script was rejected by many American directors, creating concerns among Foote and producers that the movie would never be made. Foote later said, "This film was turned down by every American director on the face of the globe".^[5] The Hobels eventually mailed the script to Australian director Bruce Beresford because they were impressed by his 1980 film Breaker Morant. Philip Hobel said, "What we saw in Breaker Morant is what we like as filmmakers ourselves—an attention to the environment, a straightforward presentation; it's almost a documentary approach."^[10]

Beresford was attracted to the idea of making a Hollywood film with a big budget and powerful distribution. Following his success with Breaker Morant, Beresford received about 150 Hollywood scripts as potential projects; although he went weeks before reading many of them, Beresford read Tender Mercies right away. It immediately appealed to him, in part because it dealt with aspects of American rural life he had seldom encountered in film scripts.^[10] Several of those involved with Tender Mercies had reservations about an Australian directing a movie about a country music star; Beresford found the decision strange as well, but kept his thoughts to himself because of his desire to direct the movie.^[11] He contacted EMI Films and asked for one month to visit Texas and familiarize himself with the state before committing to direct the film, to which the company agreed.^[12] Beresford said of the trip, "I want to come over and see if this is all true, because if it's not really a true picture of what it's all like, it wouldn't be right to make it."^[10] During his visit to Texas, he saw parallels between the state and his native country: the terrain reminded him of the Australian bush country, and the Texans in the isolated areas to which he went reminded him of residents of the Australian Outback. He met Foote and discussed the script with him. The screenwriter, who gave Beresford tours of small Texas towns, felt the director's Australian background made him sensitive to the story's rural characters and would help him achieve the sought-for authenticity.^[12] Beresford agreed to direct the movie and was hired after receiving final approval from Duvall (the actor had a clause in his contract allowing him such approval, the first time he had this power on a film).^[13]

The central setting of Tender Mercies was chosen largely due to the lack of physical structures in the barren landscape around it. A sense of loneliness was crucial to how director Bruce Beresford wanted to tell the story.^[11]

The film was given a budget of $4.5 million, modest by Hollywood standards at the time.^[1] Philip Hobel said it took about a year to secure the financing from EMI Films, whose major 1981 release, Honky Tonk Freeway, had been a box office failure.^[14] For the primary location, Rosa Lee's home and motel/gas station business, Beresford imposed one requirement: that no other buildings or large manmade structures be visible from it.^[15] The filmmakers eventually decided on a property that had been sitting abandoned by a Waxahachie highway. Mary Ann Hobel said the owner, when approached about its availability, immediately handed over the keys: "We said, 'Don't you want a contract, something in writing?' And he said, 'We don't do things that way here.'"^[14]

Beresford, known for carefully planning every shot in his films, drew his own storyboards as well as detailed drawings of how he envisioned the sets.^[10] Jeannine Oppewall was hired as art director. Beresford praised her as "absolutely brilliant", especially for her attention to very small details, "going from the curtains to the color of the quilts on the floors."^[11] It was Oppewall who named the motel Mariposa, Spanish for "butterfly", which symbolizes the spiritual resurrection Mac Sledge would experience there.^[16] Beresford chose the Australian Russell Boyd as cinematographer and the Irish William Anderson, who had worked on all of the director's previous features, as editor.^[17] As costume designer, he selected Elizabeth McBride. It was her first time in the position on a feature film, and she would go on to build a reputation for costuming Texan and other Southern characters.^[18]

Casting

Tess Harper as Rosa Lee, Robert Duvall as Mac Sledge, and Allan Hubbard as Sonny, in costumes designed by Elizabeth McBride

Foote was rumored to have written the role of Mac Sledge specifically for Robert Duvall, who had always wanted to play a country singer. Foote denied this, claiming he found it too constraining to write roles for specific actors, although he did hope Duvall would be cast in the part. Tender Mercies became a very important personal project for Duvall, who contributed a significant number of ideas for his character.^[5][8] In preparing for the role, he spent weeks roaming around Texas, speaking to strangers in order to find the right accent and mannerisms. He also joined a small country band and continued singing with them every free weekend while the film was being shot.^[19] In total, Duvall drove about 680 miles of Texas roads in researching the part, often asking people to speak into his tape recorder so he could practice their inflections and other vocal habits.^[13] Upon finding one man with the exact accent he wanted, Duvall had him recite the entire script into the recorder.^[20]

Tess Harper was performing on stage in Texas when she attended a casting call for a minor role in the film. Beresford was so impressed with her that he cast her in the lead. He later said that the actresses he had seen before her demonstrated a sophistication and worldliness inappropriate for the part, while she brought a kind of rural quality without coming across as simple or foolish. Beresford said of Harper, "She walked into the room and even before she spoke, I thought, 'That's the girl to play the lead.'"^[11] Harper said she knew she won the role when Beresford appeared on her doorstep with a bottle of champagne in each hand.^[21] Tender Mercies was Harper's feature film debut, and she was so excited about the role she literally bit her script just to make sure it was real.^[22] When filming ended, Duvall gave her a blue cowgirl shirt as a gift with a card that read, "You really were Rosa Lee".^[23]

Beresford visited several schools and auditioned many children for the role of Sonny before he came across Allan Hubbard in Paris, Texas. Beresford said Hubbard, like Harper, was chosen based on a simple, rural quality he possessed.^[11] The boy was able to relate easily to the character because, like Sonny, his father died at an early age; later, some media reports falsely claimed that his father was killed during the Vietnam War, just as Sonny's father was in the film's backstory.^[24] None of the filmmakers knew Hubbard's father had died until after filming began.^[17] Duvall developed a strong, trusting relationship with Hubbard, which Foote felt improved the duo's on-screen chemistry.^[5] Hubbard would often play guitar with Duvall during breaks from filming.^[22]

Betty Buckley attended a casting session in New York City and was chosen largely based on the quality of her singing voice; Beresford said that few of the many actresses who auditioned for the role were able to sing.^[11] Buckley was originally from Fort Worth, Texas, near the Grapevine Opry; when her concert scenes were filmed there, her whole family came and participated as extras.^[23] Duvall said he thought Buckley perfectly conveyed the underlying frustration of a country singer and "brought a real zing to [the] part."^[8]

Ellen Barkin was cast after impressing Beresford during a New York audition. At the time, she had appeared only in television movies; Diner, her feature film debut, was not yet in theaters.^[11] When filming on Diner wrapped, Barkin joked to her agent about future roles, "No more troubled teenagers, unless the movie is with Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall or Robert Redford."^[25] Duvall said of Barkin, "She brings a real credibility for that part, plus she was young and attractive and had a certain sense of edge, a danger for her that was good for that part."^[8] Some media outlets reported that Duvall and Barkin were involved romantically for a brief time during filming.^[26]

Wilford Brimley was cast at the urging of his good friend Duvall, who was not getting along well with Beresford and wanted "somebody down here that's on my side, somebody that I can relate to".^[8] Beresford felt Brimley was too old for the part, but eventually agreed to the casting.^[11]

Filming

Much of Tender Mercies was filmed in Waxahachie (pictured), a small town in Ellis County, Texas.

Most of Tender Mercies was filmed in Waxahachie and Palmer, two small towns in Ellis County, located in north central Texas.^[27] Beresford largely avoided the Victorian architecture and other picturesque elements of Waxahachie and instead focused on relatively barren locations more characteristic of West Texas. The town portrayed in the film is never identified by name. Foote said when he wrote the script he did not have the same isolated and lonely vision for the setting Beresford did, but he felt the atmosphere the director captured served the story well.^[5][11]

Principal photography took place between November 2 and December 23, 1981.^[28] The plants used in the gardening scenes were brought inside at night to keep them from freezing.^[29] Due to the tight schedule, the cast and crew worked seven days a week with very long hours each day. Although the Australian filmmakers and the crew, who were mostly from Dallas, got along very well both on and off the set,^[28] Beresford and Duvall were at odds during the production. Beresford, in his usual approach, meticulously planned each scene, and Duvall, who preferred a free-form give-and-take on set, felt restricted by the director's methods. Although Duvall regularly acknowledged his talent as a director, he said of Beresford, "He has this dictatorial way of doing things with me that just doesn't cut it. Man, I have to have my freedom."^[28] Although he had no problem with Duvall's acting methodology, the actor's temperament infuriated Beresford. While filming one scene with Harper and Barkin, he became so frustrated during a phone conversation with Duvall that he said, "Well if you want to direct the film, go right ahead," and walked off the set.^[11] Beresford flew to New York and reportedly was ready to quit, until Duvall flew out to speak with him. After further arguments, the two made amends and returned to work on the film.^[28]

Beresford also clashed on set with Brimley. On the very first day of filming, he asked the actor to "pick up the pace", prompting Brimley to reply, "Hey, I didn't know anybody dropped it."^[28] On another occasion, when Beresford tried to advise Brimley on how Harry would behave, Duvall recalled Brimley responding, "Now look, let me tell you something, I'm Harry. Harry's not over there, Harry's not over here. Until you fire me or get another actor, I'm Harry, and whatever I do is fine 'cause I'm Harry."^[8] Duvall said he believed the on-set wrangling resulted in a combination of the director's and actors' visions and ultimately improved the picture. Likewise, Beresford said he did not feel the fights negatively affected the film because he and Duvall never disagreed on the interpretation of the Mac Sledge character.^[11]

Harper said Duvall inhabited his character so fully that, "Someone once said to me, 'Well, how's Robert Duvall?' and I said, 'I don't know Robert Duvall. I know Mac Sledge very well.'"^[22] Beresford, too, said the transformation was so believable that he could feel his skin crawling up the back of his neck the first day of filming.^[11] Duvall made an effort to help Harper, who was making her film debut. While preparing to shoot a scene in which Mac and Rosa Lee fight, he yelled at a make-up artist in front of Harper specifically to make her angry and fuel her performance; he apologized to the make-up artist after the scene was shot.^[22]

Cinematographer Russell Boyd largely utilized available light to give the movie a natural feel, which Beresford said was crucial to its sense of authenticity.^[11] Harper said Boyd was so quiet during filming that he mostly used just three words: "Yeah, right and sure".^[22] Beresford, Foote and Duvall all considered the climatic scene to be the one in which Mac, tending the family garden, discusses with Rosa Lee his pain over his daughter's death. Beresford and Boyd filmed the scene in a long take and long shot so it could flow uninterrupted, with the lonely Texas landscape captured in the background. When studio executives received the footage, they contacted Beresford and requested close-up shots be intercut, but he insisted on keeping the long take intact. Duvall said he felt the scene underscored Mac's stoicism in the face of tragedy and loss.^[8][11]

Music

Tender Mercies includes no original film score, and the musical soundtrack is limited to the performances of country songs and the domestic guitar playing that occur as part of the story. A score was composed for the movie, but Beresford had it removed because he felt it was "too sweet" and sounded phony in the context of the film, although he acknowledged it as "very skillful".^[11] Duvall sang his own songs, a right he insisted be part of his contract. He commented, "What's the point if you're not going to do your own [singing]? They're just going to dub somebody else? I mean, there's no point to that."^[8] The film's financial backers were initially concerned about whether he could sing well enough for the role. Those concerns were allayed after Duvall produced a tape of himself singing a cappella "On the Wings of a Dove", a Bob Ferguson country song featured in the film.^[14] Duvall collaborated with Beresford in deciding on the unusual staging of the emotional scene in which Mac sings it after reflecting on the reunion with his daughter. The song is performed with Mac looking out a window with his back to the camera, his face unseen. Horton Foote thought the choice made the scene more moving and called it "an extraordinary moment" in the film.^[5][8] Duvall wrote two of Mac's other songs, "Fool's Waltz" and "I've Decided to Leave Here Forever."^[30] Several leading country singers, including Willie Nelson, George Jones and Merle Haggard, were believed to have inspired Mac and Duvall's portrayal of him, but Duvall insisted the character was not based on anyone in particular.^[8][31] Another country star, Waylon Jennings, complimented Duvall's performance, saying he had "done the impossible."^[32]

Betty Buckley also sang her own songs, one of which, "Over You", written by Austin Roberts and Bobby Hart, was nominated for an Academy Award.^[11] Although Buckley performed it in the film, country singer Lane Brody was chosen to record it for radio release,^[33] and Mac Davis later sang it at the 1984 Academy Awards ceremony.^[34] Other songs in the film include "It Hurts to Face Reality" by Lefty Frizzell, "If You'll Hold the Ladder (I'll Climb to the Top)" by Buzz Rabin and Sara Busby, "The Best Bedroom in Town" and "Champagne Ladies & Barroom Babies" by Charlie Craig, "I'm Drinkin' Canada Dry" by Johnny Cymbal and Austin Roberts, and "You Are What Love Means To Me" by Craig Bickhardt.^[35]

Themes and interpretations

Love and family

Mac Sledge finds redemption largely through his relationship and eventual marriage with Rosa Lee.^[36][37] This is in keeping with a motif of fidelity common in the works of Horton Foote, which the writer has said comes from his real-life marriage to Lillian Vallish Foote. Foote told The New York Times, "(Lillian has) kept me goin'. She never lost faith, and that's a rare thing. I don't know now how we got through it, but we got through it."^[36] The lyrics of "If You'll Hold the Ladder", which Mac Sledge sings with his new country band in later scenes, represent the new direction love has taken in his life. Sledge sings of someone holding the ladder for him as he climbs to the top; this is symbolic of the love and guidance Rosa Lee has given him, which has allowed Sledge to improve himself and find a new life.^[36][38] In contrast, the more promiscuous lyrics of Dixie Scott's songs represent the life of meaningless romance he left behind, and Mac Sledge storming out of her concert is symbolic for his rejection of that past life. In her song "The Best Bedroom in Town", those lyrics include, "(the) best part of all...the room at the end of the hall, where everything's made all right. ... (We can) celebrate the heaven that we've found (in) best bedroom in town".^[36] Rosa Lee herself is shown to be in contrast with the Dixie Scott character; while Dixie sings the promiscuous "The Bed Bedroom in Town", Rosa Lee sings the humble and pious church hymn, "Jesus, Saviour, Pilot Me".^[39] Tender Mercies emphasizes the importance of the woman's role in an American family because, although Mac Sledge takes on the role of patriarch in his new life with Rosa Lee and Sonny, it is only through the support and care of Rosa Lee that he is able to settle into this role.^[40] Sociologist Norman K. Denzin points out Tender Mercies also embodies many of the ideas of recovery from alcoholism that are advocated in the twelve-step program used by Alcoholics Anonymous. Both the film and the support group's program advocate the idea of hitting rock-bottom, making a decision to stop drinking, dealing with the past and adopting a spiritual way of life.^[41]

Tender Mercies also emphasizes a father-child theme common in the works of Horton Foote, both on a spiritual and earthly level. Mac Sledge is reunited not only with his spiritual father through his conversion to Christianity, but also with his daughter Sue Anne in a more literal sense when she pays him a surprise visit. English scholar Rebecca Luttrell Briley suggests although Sledge begins to replant new roots with Rosa Lee and Sonny in earlier scenes, they are not enough to fully satisfy Sledge's desire for redemption, as he is nearly driven to leave the family and return to his prior alcoholic ways. Upon being visited by Sue Anne, according to Briley, Sledge realizes a reconciliation with her and a reformation of their father-daughter relationship is the ingredient that had been lacking in his own quest for redemption. This is further demonstrated by Sledge singing "On the Wings of a Dove" to himself after their meeting;^[42] the lyrics of the song tells of God baptizing his son Jesus, which connects Sledge's spiritual reconciliation with his holy Father and the earthly reconciliation with his own actual child.^[43] However, the death of Sue Anne also demonstrates that, according to Briley, "all relationships cannot be mended, some by choice and some by chance, and the poignancy of missed opportunities between fathers and their children on this earth is underlined in this scene."^[44]

The father-child theme is also prominent in the relationship between Sledge and Sonny, whose name is derived from the word "son". Having lost his biological father before he had a chance to know him, Sonny tries to conjure an image of his father through old photographs, his mother's memories of the man and visits to his father's grave. Sonny finds a father figure in Sledge and, when another young boy asks Sonny if he likes Sledge more than his real father, Sonny answers yes because he said he never knew his real father; Briley says this, "emphasizes the distinction between companionship and blood relationship Foote has pointed out before."^[45] The final scene of the film involves Sledge and Sonny playing catch with a football Sledge bought him as a gift; this symbolizes the fact that although Sledge loses the chance to reconcile with his real daughter following his death, he now has a second chance at establishing a father-son relationship with Sonny in his new life.^[46][47] The father-child theme is also demonstrated in the film through Sledge's relationship with the young band members, who say that he has been an inspiration to them, demonstrating a father-like role Sledge played in their lives even before meeting them. Sledge eventually teams up with the musicians, offering them fatherly counsel in a much more direct way.^[6]

Religion

Mac Sledge's personal redemption and self-improvement runs parallel with his conversion to Christianity.^[43][48] Briley said, "The emphasis on the Christian family is stronger in this script than in any other Foote piece to this point."^[48] At the urging of Rosa Lee, he begins to attend church regularly and is eventually baptized for the first time, along with Sonny. During a church scene, he also sings the hymn "Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me", which serves as a symbol for his new direction in life.^[49] After Sledge and Sonny are baptized, Sonny asks whether Sledge feels any different, to which he responds, "Not yet." Scholars have described this response as indicative that Sledge feels confident his reunion with God will lead to meaningful changes in his life.^[50][51] Briley point out it is after this moment, where Sledge has placed his spiritual life in order, that Sledge is able to reestablish other relationships in his life, such as those with his young bandmates, and is able to "develop his own potential for success as a man."^[50] Briley also suggests Sledge's response, "Yes, ma'am, I guess I was," to a fan asking if he was really Mac Sledge suggests that he has washed away his old self through baptism, thus drastically changing his lifestyle.^[6]

During one scene, Rosa Lee tells Mac, "I say my prayers for you and when I thank the Lord for his tender mercies, you're at the head of the list." Robert Jewett, author of Saint Paul at the Movies: The Apostle's Dialogue with American Culture, compares this line to the first verse of the 12th chapter of Romans, in which Paul the Apostle appeals to Christians to live out their lives in service to others "through the mercies of God".^[52] Many of the elements of Mac Sledge's redemption, conversion to Christianity and budding relationship with Rosa Lee occur off-camera, including his wedding, which is discussed but not shown. Jewett writes, "This is perfectly congruent with the theme of faith in the hidden mercies of God, the secret plot of the life of faith in Romans. ... It is a matter of faith, elusive and intangible."^[48] Jewett compares Sledge's story to that of Abraham, because "just like Sledge's story, (it) centers on the provision of a future through the tender mercies of God".^[52] As told in Romans 4, Abraham and his wife Sarah are too old to produce a son, but Abraham developed a faith that God would provide them an heir, which is exactly what occurs, even though Paul explicitly states that there was nothing Abraham did to guarantee, nor deserve such a miracle. Jewett describes Mac Sledge as similarly undeserving of redemption, based on his selfish and abusive past, and having first appeared before Rosa Lee in a drunken stupor following a motel room fight. Sledge is taken in and earns the love of Rosa Lee, despite having done nothing to deserve her care or his redemption: "It is an undeserved grace, a gift of providence from a simple woman who continues to pray for him and to be grateful for him."^[53]

However, in the face of the loss of his daughter, Mac Sledge learns, in Briley's words, "his life as a Christian is no more sheltered from this world's tragedies than it was before."^[44] Before finding redemption, Sledge overtly questions why God has allowed his life to take the path it has and, in particular, why his daughter was killed instead of him. Commentators have described this as a prime example of theodicy, the question of why evil exists that is common for Christians to face.^[54][55] Richard Leonard, author of Movies That Matter: Reading Film Through the Lens of Faith, said, "For all believers, the meaning of suffering is the universal question. ... No answer is completely satisfying, least of all the idea that God sends bad events to teach us something."^[54] The film ends with Mac Sledge moving into his future with uncertainty following the death of his daughter. Jewett said this ending, "The message of this film is that we have no final assurances, any more than Abraham did. But we can respond in faith to the tender mercies we have received."^[56]

Death and resurrection

Mac Sledge experiences his spiritual resurrection even as he is faced with the deaths of those around him, including the death of Sonny's father in the Vietnam War and the death of his own daughter in a car accident.^[54] The latter threatens to derail Sledge's new life; this is symbolized when he turns off the radio playing his new country song upon learning of her death.^[51] Leonard said of this resurrection, "Depression hangs like a pall over Tender Mercies (but) what makes this film inspiring is that it is also about the joy of being found. ... Mac finds the way, the truth, and the life he wants."^[54] During one climactic scene, Sledge tells Rosa Lee that he was once nearly killed in a car crash himself, which forces him to address the question of why he was allowed to live while others died around him. Jewett said of this scene, "Mac Sledge can't trust happiness because it remains inexplicable. But he does trust the tender mercies that mysteriously particularly him from death to life."^[57]

Sledge is portrayed as near death at the beginning of the film, having woken up in a drunken stupor in a huge, empty setting with nothing in his possession, a shot which Roy M. Anker, author of Catching Light: Looking for God in the Movies, said "pointedly reflects the condition of his own soul".^[58] The dialogue in several other scenes suggest the threat of death, including a moment when Mac Sledge has trouble singing due to his bad voice and says, "Don't feel sorry for me, Rosa Lee, I'm not dead yet." In another scene, a fan asks, "Hey mister, were you really Mac Sledge?", to which he replies, "I guess I was."^[57] The large, vast sky dwarfs Sledge, Rosa Lee and Sonny in several scenes, which serves as a symbol for the stark isolation and solitariness of the characters, as well as the fragility of life.^[15] But the fact that Mac continues his newly found life with Rosa Lee and Sonny, rather than reverting to his alcoholic and abusive ways following his daughter's death, is consistent with a recurring theme in Foote's works of characters overcoming such life-altering obstacles as the deaths of loved ones and using those experiences for further growth and maturity.^[59]

Release

Distribution

Philip and Mary Ann Hobel spent a long time seeking a distributor for Tender Mercies without any success. Duvall, who began to doubt the film would be widely released, was unable to help the Hobels because he was busy trying to find a distributor for his own film, Angelo My Love, which he had written, directed, and produced. Eventually, Universal Pictures agreed to distribute Tender Mercies.^[60] Test screenings for the film were held, which Beresford described as the most unusual he had ever experienced. The director said during the previews the audiences appeared to be very engaged with the film, to the point the theaters were so silent, "if you flicked a piece of paper on the floor, you could hear it in fall." However, the responses from the test screening audiences were, in Beresford's words, "absolutely disastrous."^[11] As a result of the poor feedback, Universal executives lost faith in the film and made little effort to promote it.^[5][61] Horton Foote said of the studio, "I don't know that they disliked the film, I just think they thought it was inconsequential and of no consequence at all. I guess they thought it would just get lost in the shuffle."^[5] Others in the film industry were equally dismissive of the film, with one Paramount Pictures representative describing it as "like watching paint dry".^[61]

Tender Mercies was released on March 4, 1983,^[62] in only three movie theaters, one in New York City, one in Los Angeles, and one in Chicago. Vincent Canby, film reviewer for The New York Times, noted the film was released during "the time of year when distributors usually get rid of all of those movies they don't think are worth releasing in the prime moviegoing times of Christmas and the midsummer months". The simultaneous release of Duvall's film Angelo My Love led to some publicity for Duvall himself, but ultimately proved unhelpful for Tender Mercies.^[60] Duvall also believed the Universal's lack of familiarity and comfort with southern culture and the country music genre further reduced their faith in the movie. When country star Willie Nelson offered to help promote the movie, a studio executive told Duvall she did not understand how Nelson could help publicize it, which Duvall said was indicative of the studio's lack of understanding about the genre and the film.^[8][63]

Tender Mercies was shown at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival,^[64] where it was described as a more optimistic alternative to darker and more violent entries like Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, One Deadly Summer, and Moon in the Gutter.^[65] The film was also shown at the 1983 International Film Festival of India in New Delhi.^[66] That year, a jury headed by director Lindsay Anderson determined that none of the films in contention, including Tender Mercies, were good enough to win the Golden Peacock, the festival's top prize. Film critic Jugu Abraham said the jury's standards were higher than those of the Academy Awards, and the lack of success Mercies experienced at the festival "is a clear example of what is good cinema for some, not being so good for others".^[67]

Box office

Tender Mercies was not considered a box office success.^[11][68][69] In its first three days, March 4–6, the film grossed $46,977 from executive engagements at the Tower East Theater in New York ($21,183), the Fine Arts Theater in Los Angeles ($18,254) and the Carnegie Theater in Chicago ($7,540).^[62] In total, Tender Mercies grossed $8,443,124.^[70] Following its brief theatrical run, Universal Studios quickly sold the film's rights to cable companies, allowing Tender Mercies to be shown on television. When the film unexpectedly received five Academy Award nominations nearly a year after its original release, the studio attempted to redistribute the films into theaters; however, the cable companies began televising the film about a week before the Oscar ceremony, which essentially halted any attempts to re-release it theatrically.^[5] When the film first played on HBO in March 1984, it surpassed the three major networks in ratings for homes with cable televisions.^[68] Tender Mercies was released on VHS some time later, and was first released on DVD on June 22, 1999.^[71]

Reception

Tender Mercies received mostly positive reviews.^[7][68] Richard Corliss of Time declared the film the "best American movie of the new year", and particularly praised the performance of Robert Duvall: "Duvall's aging face, a road map of dead ends and dry gulches, can accommodate rage or innocence or any ironic shade in between. As Mac he avoids both melodrama and condescension, finding climaxes in each small step toward rehabilitation, each new responsibility shouldered."^[72] Carol Olten, of The San Diego Union-Tribune, also declared Tender Mercies the best movie of 1983, as well as "the most poignant, but forthright, film of the year, with a brilliant performance by Robert Duvall".^[73] David Sterritt, of The Christian Science Monitor, praised the film for its values, for underscoring the good in people and for avoiding flashiness and quick-cuts in favor of a subtle and deliberately-paced story, while maintaining a PG rating and omitting sex, drugs and violence. Sterritt also said, however, that the film tended toward melodrama on a few occasions and that the soundtrack had "a bit of syrupy music (...) especially at the end".^[2]

Janet Maslin of the New York Times also praised Duvall, who she said "is so thoroughly transformed into Mac that he even walks with a Texan's rolling gait", but she also complimented supporting performances by Tess Harper, Ellen Barkin, Wilford Brimley, and Allan Hubbard, as well the direction of Beresford, which she said lent the movie a light touch. Maslin said of the film: "This is a small, lovely and somewhat overloaded film about small-town life, loneliness, country music, marriage, divorce and parental love, and it deals with all of these things in equal measure. Still, the absence of a single, sharply dramatic story line is a relatively small price to pay for the plainness and clarity with which these other issues are defined."^[74] Vincent Canby, also of the New York Times, said of the film, "In all respects Tender Mercies is so good that it has the effect of rediscovering a kind of film fiction that has been debased over the decades by hack moviemakers, working according to accepted formulas, frequently to the applause of the critics as well as the public." In a separate Times article six years after Tender Mercies was released, reporter Nan C. Robertson said in a profile on Robert Duvall that despite four previous Academy Award nominations, "It was not until he won as Best Actor in 1983 (for Tender Mercies) that moviegoers woke up in droves to this great natural resource. The reason was that they rarely recognized Mr. Duvall from one part to another, so effortlessly did he vanish into each celluloid persona."^[19]

Many reviews specifically praised Duvall's performance. Newsweek reviewer David Ansen said, "Robert Duvall does another of his extraordinary disappearing acts. He vanishes totally inside the character of Mac Sledge."^[75] David Sterritt of the Christian Science Monitor called Duvall's performance, "one of the most finely wrought achievements to reach the screen in recent memory."^[76] A People review said, "Duvall gives it everything he has, which is saying a great deal. His beery singing voice is a revelation, and his unfussy, brightly burnished acting is the kind for which awards were invented." (The review also described Betty Buckley as "bitchy and brilliant".)^[77] Duvall was also praised for his first true romantic role; the actors said of the response, "This is the only film where I've heard people say I'm sexy. It's real romantic. Rural romantic. I love that part almost more than anything."^[20] Leonard Maltin also gave the film three out of four stars, praising Duvall in particular and describing it as a "winning but extremely low-key film". Maltin also said Foote's screenplay is "not so much a story as a series of vignettes".^[78] Gary Arnold of The Washington Post gave the film a negative review, criticizing its mood and tempo, and describing Betty Buckley as its only true asset: "Tender Mercies fails because of an apparent dimness of perception that frequently overcomes dramatists: they don't always know when they've got ahold of the wrong end of the story they want to tell."^[79]

Linda Beath of The Globe and Mail said Duvall's performance was "fabulous," but that the film was "very slight" compared to Beresford's Australian films.^[66] David Ansen of Newsweek said, "While one respects the filmmaker's small-is-beautiful philosophy, this story may indeed be too small for its britches. ... Beresford's nice little movie seems so afraid to make a false move that it runs the danger of not moving at all."^[75] Film critic Danny Peary said he found Duvall's restrained portrayal "extremely irritating" and criticized the entire cast, except for Betty Buckley, for their "subdued, emotions-in-check, phony 'honest' performances. You just wish the whole lot of them would start tickling each other."^[80] In his book Alternate Oscars, in which he chose his own personal choices for who should have won the Academy Awards each year, Peary excluded Tender Mercies from all the categories, choosing Michael Caine to win Best Actor for Educating Rita instead.^[80] In June 2009, film reviewer Roger Ebert included Tender Mercies in The Great Movies, his series of individual reviews celebrating what he considers the most important films of all time. Ebert praised what he called one of Robert Duvall's most understated performances, as well as Horton Foote's minimalist storytelling and the restraint and patience Bruce Beresford showed in his direction. Ebert said of Foote's screenplay, "The down-to-earth quality of his characters drew attention away from his minimalist storytelling; all the frills were stripped away. ... Rarely does a movie elaborate less and explain more than Tender Mercies."^[81]

Awards

The 56th Academy Award nominations were announced about ten months after Tender Mercies was released and little campaigning was done on its behalf. Only four Oscar campaign advertisements were purchased for the film, all of which appeared in the trade journal Variety.^[69] Duvall refused to participate in any campaigning for himself or the film.^[82] Beresford and studio executives were surprised when the film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture.^[11] Tess Harper was believed by some to be a strong contender for either Best Actress or Best Supporting Actress, but ultimately she was nominated in neither category.^[83]

Duvall was the only American actor nominated for the Best Actor Oscar; his competition were Brits Michael Caine (Duvall's co-star in The Eagle Has Landed), Tom Conti, Tom Courtenay and Albert Finney. During an interview before the Oscar ceremony, Duvall offended some British subjects by complaining about "the Limey syndrome," claiming "the attitude with a lot of people in Hollywood is that what they do in England is somehow better than what we do here."^[82] Duvall, who was presented with the Oscar by country music star Dolly Parton, said of winning the award, "It was a nice feeling, knowing I was the home-crowd favorite."^[84] Horton Foote, who was so certain he would not win the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for To Kill a Mockingbird he had not attended the 1963 ceremony, made sure he was present to collect his award for Best Original Screenplay.^[5] The critical success of the film allowed for Foote to guarantee full control over his future film projects, including final veto power over major decisions; when such power was denied in such projects, Foote would simply refuse to do the film.^[1]

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Anker, Roy M. (2004). ""The Wings of a Dove": The Search for Home in Tender Mercies". Catching Light: Looking for God in the Movies. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ISBN 0802827950. 
• Briley, Rebecca Luttrell (1993). "The Tender Mercies of Independent Film Making". You Can Go Home Again: The Focus on Family in the Works of Horton Foote. New York City: Peter Lang. ISBN 0820420042. 
• Holden, Anthony (March 1993). Behind The Oscar: The Secret History of the Academy Awards (1st ed.). New York City: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0671701290. 
• Jewett, Robert (1993). Saint Paul at the Movies: The Apostle's Dialogue with American Culture. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 0664254829. 
• Leonard, Richard (2006). Movies That Matter: Reading Film Through the Lens of Faith. Loyola Press. ISBN 0829422013. 
• Maltin, Leonard (October 2003). Anderson, Cathleen; Sader, Luke. eds. Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide (2004 Edition ed.). New York City: Plume. ISBN 0451209400. 
• Peary, Danny (February 1993). Alternate Oscars: One Critic's Defiant Choices for Best Picture, Actor, and Actress From 1927 to the Present. New York City: Dell Publishing. ISBN 0385303327. 
• Slawson, Judith (September 1985). Robert Duvall: Hollywood Maverick. New York City: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0312687087. 

External links

• Tender Mercies at the Internet Movie Database