Movie Review: Tender Mercies Starring Robert Duvall

Mac Sledge (Robert Duvall) drifted into town a slobbering drunk looking for work. Rosa Lee (Tess Harper, a widowed business owner with a young son to care for, takes Mac in and gives him work to do on the condition that he does not drink as long as he's working for her. As time goes by Mac sobers up and he and Rosa Lee get married. Rosa Lee's son takes well to Mac and they continue living an out-of-the-way existence. That is, until Mac's previous life catches up with him.

One day a pushy reporter shows up on Mac's doorstep looking for an interview with the famous country singer Mac Sledge...and to let him know that his ex-wife Dixie (Betty Buckley) is in town for a performance along with his 18-year-old daughter Sue Anne (Ellen Barkin) whom he has not seen since he walked out on his family some ten years before.

Mac finally comes clean to his wife Rosa Lee, even as a song he wrote is brutally rejected when he asks Dixie to sing it. Amidst tragedy Mac finally has to face what his alcoholism has done to both his families and come to terms with the man he is now.

If you're thinking this sounds like a "chick flick"-type tearjerker you'd be right. I ended up watching this movie by accident - it was on one of my movie channels after one I'd intended to watch - and if I'd just read the description for it I probably never would have watched it because it'd generally not the kind of movie I like. Then again, despite the year it was made I might have given it a try for the main character (Duvall) but it's unlikely.

As is, during the beginning part of the film I kept thinking how much that actor looked like Robert Duvall...and sounded like him...but looked much younger than I'm used to seeing that particular actor. I finally broke down and checked it and was shocked to see the year on this movie�. From the acting to the filming (though I'm pretty certain it's remastered since it was playing in HD) to the plot this movie just didn't look like it was that old.

Aside from the amusement at seeing one of my all-time favorite actors in a movie so long ago (though nowhere near the beginning of his career...give me a break, I wasn't even born in 1983!) and another actress I've seen in several middle-aged woman roles (Ellen Barkin) as his 18-year-old daughter in the fifth role she ever played this is an excellent movie with a great story.

That said, this may be a little too soft-hearted of a film for some people (feel-good doesn't really apply here) as it is all about one man's struggle with alcoholism and his own feelings and interactions with the people around him. This movie reminded me of nothing so much as Pure Country and it wasn't just because of the middle-aged country singers trying to find their identity and pull their lives together (even though both had that element) but also for the general feel of the film. There are times this movie makes me think of a slightly higher-budget product of Feature Films for Families as it gets a little preachy in parts (though not directly, more implied preachiness if that makes any sense) and some scenes seem a little forced.

The script does leave a bit to be desired though luckily not a whole lot as the excellent acting does make up for it and the story it's trying to tell is a very good one. Overall this is definitely one of the best older movies I've ever seen and certainly the best of its ilk I've seen in a long time.