TENDER MERCIES

US, 1983, 89 minutes, Colour.
Robert Duvall, Tess Harper, Betty Buckley, Ellen Barkin.
Directed by Bruce Beresford.

Tender Mercies is a somewhat autobiographical screenplay from Horton Foote, writer of a number of plays and movies about Texas: 1918, On Valentine's Day, The Trip to Bountiful and the adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird. There is a blend of toughness and gentleness in all his work and the flavour of simple people in the countryside of Texas.

This was Australian director, Bruce Beresford's first American movie and it was nominated for several Oscars, winning for screenplay and for Robert Duvall as best actor. Beresford went on to make many movies in the US (including Crimes of the Heart and Double Jeopardy) and in Africa and Australia (Paradise Road). Duvall has had a significant career since his role in 1962 in To Kill a Mockingbird and received Oscar nominations for The Great Santini, Apocalypse Now and The Apostle, which he directed.

Foote and Beresford are not afraid of playing the religious themes straight and sincerely, portraying sympathetically the earnest religion and Church-going of the South.

Duvall composed his own songs for the movie. Actress singer, Betty Buckley, plays his wife, Ellen Barkin his daughter.

1. An appealing film? Its acclaim, Oscar nominations, quality?

2. A piece of Americana, small-town Americana? The background of Texas? A local film – yet humane, universal? A portrait of a way of human life? location photography, the motel, the flat, open spaces, the town, the school, the roads, the country and western atmosphere? A simple yet vivid environment?

3. The importance of music: religious music, hymn-singing? Country and western music – Mac's songs and his singing, Dixie's strong performances, the group and their singing? The background of country and western? The musical score in general, the incorporation of the songs, the lyrics – especially the song of facing reality? The incorporation of songs into the story, the staging? Music as an environment?

4. Horton Foote and his sensibilities for the Texas way of life? Bruce Beresford's skill as director – and the Australian perspective on Texas life? The universality of the film?

5. The title and its reference to Rosa lee and her prayers? Simple religious life, faith, happiness, sadness, care? The Baptist ethos? Her praying and vision of life – and Mac and Sonny as the first of the tender mercies God had granted her? The importance of the religious feeling in the film?

6. The focus on Mac: his fighting, drunkenness, waking lost, his honorable nature, working his keep, being more at home with Rosa Lee and Sonny? Courteous, less drinking, sharing their life? The simple proposal while working? His impact on Rosa lee and her acceptance? His care for Sonny? The kids questioning Sonny at school and their attitude towards Mac – as a drunk and Sonny's defence of him? The gradual revelation of his story: wandering' marrying young, divorced, marrying Dixie, the drink, the success, the fights, his separation from his daughter? losing his money? His love for songs, feeling retired but discovering he missed it? The reporter and his questions, Mac's efforts to avoid him and put him off? Dixie's concert and his going, listening but having to walk out? The encounter with Harry, giving him his song – and Harry's later rejection of it, his further apology and offering to try it out? The encounter with Dixie and the clash with her? His not seeing his daughter? His reaction about Dixie's and Harry's rejection of the song? Walking out, driving, buying the alcohol, driving up and down, his return and not drinking? The musical group and their coming out to meet him and admire him, his embarrassment and shyness meeting them, the simple advice? Their return' his advice to them while shopping in the town, joining them for singing in the club, the dance, the record? The woman who asked 'Did you used to be Mac Sledge?' The visit of his daughter, his awkwardness, the story of her fiance, her wanting him to call her by name – and he didn't except for the title Sister? Her memory of a song about a dove and his forgetting it? His standing by the window singing the song – and the emotional feel of his love for his daughter? The news of her death and his response? Dressing up, the visit to Dixie and her tantrums? His return home? The response to the quiet Rosa Lee? Singing for her? Sharing? The importance of the baptism sequence? Buying Sonny the football and the final playing with him? Robert Duvall's skill in indicating a character: history, experience, sensitivity, weaknesses, strengths?

7. Rosa Lee – and her life at the service station, a woman of control, low-keyed? Her love for her boy? The running of the motel, her response to Mac, employing him, warning about the drink, sharing the meals? Accepting his proposal simply? Her relationship with her son – always fair, explaining things to him, apologising for her anger, answering all his questions? The story of her husband, her marriage, pregnancy? Her youthfulness? His death? The fact that people did not know exactly how he died? The importance of religion, singing in the choir, the minister, her prayers – and seeing her recite them? Her tender mercies? Her liking of Mac's song? The thrill of dancing with him after he sang his song? Her friendliness with the group? Her quietly waiting for Mac to return from Dixie's concert? Her upset at his disappearance, her anxiety, the joy of his return and cooking him something? The baptism and her joy with Sonny and Mac both baptised, her pride? Her courtesy to Mac's daughter, lending her the money? Her quiet presence – and her looking at Mac and Sonny play? God answering her prayers?

8. The portrait of Sonny as a boy, at work at home, at school, fights, discussion about parents, projects? Watching television? His admiring Mac and liking him? Anxious when he was away? Gaining a father? The shared baptism? The discussion with the boy at the dance and the comparisons of stepfathers? His final question about his father's death? His being satisfied? Playing with Mac? The character drawn with great attention to detail?

9. Dixie and her strength, her singing, her reaction to Mac's presence, her memories, spoiling her daughter? Reliance on Harry? The wedding and her anger, her having to be sedated? The grief at the death – her tantrums? The huge mansion and her success? A glimpse of an unhappy but successful woman?

10. Harry and his loyalties, friendship with Mac, dilemmas?

11. The portrait of the daughter: spoilt, visiting her father, wanting him to say her name, the memories of the song? Talking about her boyfriend, eloping? Coming back with her no-good husband for the cheque from Rosa lee? Grief at her death?

12. The group of boys their first appearance, suspicious? Their shyness and admiration of Mac? Their hopes, their work and other jobs, playing at the dance, the success of their record? Genial characters?

13. The minister and the background of Southern Baptists? His preaching, songs, prayer, the baptism by immersion?

14. Mac being transformed – by di aster, grief? His final pondering of meaning and life as he worked in the garden – his daughter's death and his surviving?

15. The importance of religion and fundamentalist interpretation of scripture and religious principles for the living of life?

16. A humane film involving its audience emotionally?