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05-20-2019 12:37 PM - edited 05-20-2019 04:18 PM
Jeff Daniels is having a well-deserved moment, and so I paused on one of his early films encountered near its denouement, Arachnophoibia, and became so terrified that I flipped to TCM. I happened upon a jewel that was winding to its conclusion, too.
The Trip to Bountiful , which was being broadcast, grabbed me immediately because I so admire Geraldine Page. As I became acquainted with her character and the present drama of her life unfolded, I was fully sucked in.
Was it the hymn-singing, the quiet turmoil within a solitary being facing an enormous life challenge or the desolate Texas setting during a bleak era -- I don't know. But all of a sudden I sensed shades of Tender Mercies, which is one of my all-time favorite films.
When Bountiful ended, there was a discussion with Ben Mankiewicz and -- of all people -- Jeff Daniels. Jeff mentioned the name of Horton Foote with great reverence, as he was the screenwriter for the film. I Wiki-ed the name and, yes, Tender Mercies was his, too. I'd never heard of Horton Foote before, that I can recall.
"Softly and Tenderly," sung beautifully by Cynthia Clawson in the film, touched me deeply:
05-20-2019 12:55 PM
@golding76 I saw that interview with Ben and Jeff. Horton Foote wrote the screenplay for the Gregory Peck version of To Kill a Mockingbird. Jeff also talked about Aaron Sorkin who wrote the script for the Broadway version. Made some astute observations IMO.
05-20-2019 01:02 PM
I happened to tune in to the Trip to the Bountiful when Geraldine Page was at the station being told she had to wait for the sheriff and her son. I know I have seen this movie before but although it was near the end, I kept it on and watched. You are right, Geraldine Page is excellent and I was drawn in by her performance. She isn't mentioned often but is one of the greats in the acting field. I also saw some of the Jeff Daniels discussion, a playwright also which I didn't know
Trip to the Bountiful and Tender Mercies , two superb films and if they only defined Foote he would be an excellent playwright.
05-20-2019 02:52 PM
Many years ago I saw a Horton Foote play, "Habitation of Dragons." I have loved his work ever since.
05-20-2019 03:24 PM
I love that movie, Trip to Bountiful, and I have always loved Geraldine Page. I think I first noticed her as an actress in the movie "Summer and Smoke", a Tennessee Williams play that was made into a movie with Geraldine and Laurence Harvey, when I was really young, maybe 13 or 14. It was a movie I fully didn't understand, very mysterious, but very interesting to me at the time.
I haven't seen the movie Trip to Bountiful for a long time, so I don't recall the hymn "Softly and Tenderly" in that movie, but I'm familiar with it, and it is a lovely song.
05-20-2019 03:36 PM
Absolutely, @golding76, Horton Foote and Geraldine Page, exemplars of excellence!
05-20-2019 05:06 PM
Page won a Best Actress Oscar for this film, BTW it was first a Broadway play in the early 1950's with Lillian Gish in the lead.
05-20-2019 05:15 PM - edited 05-20-2019 05:17 PM
Shelbelle,
I never even checked to see if Geraldine Page received an Oscar nomination, at the very least, for this role.
Thank you drawing our attention to the fact that she did, indeed, win the Oscar for this part in 1985. . Heaven knows, I was completely torn up emotionally by the less than half (or maybe half) of the film that I had the privilege of viewing last night. No wonder I felt so many deep feelings when the movie wrapped up.
Page is an undeniable talent. She stirred much emotion in me when I was young and unconcerned with age with her performance in Sweet Bird of Youth. Paul Newman starred opposite her in that flick.
05-20-2019 05:20 PM
I started watching it from the beginning, fell asleep in the middle and woke up to see the end, not my favorite way to watch a good film for the first time. I only saw Rebecca DeMornay for just a few minutes at the bus station, did she have more of a role than this? The DIL was totally unfamiliar to me, have we seen her in anything else, she was very good. I know John Heard passsed away a few years ago.
05-20-2019 05:31 PM
That is where I came in, when Rebecca was in the bus station with Geraldine. R was solicitous of G's well-being, and G said that she would have liked if her daughter had grown up exactly like R. So, did G lose a daughter? That was my understanding.
They sang a hymn together and were emotionally compatible. In not too long, her bus arrived and off she went. I wondered if they had both come from Houston to the station on the same bus. It seemed that way.
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