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URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tender_Mercies
Timestamp: 2023-12-30 17:06:22.032272
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Contents move to sidebar hide (Top) 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production Toggle
Production subsection 3.1 Writing 3.2 Development 3.3 Casting 3.4 Filming 3.5
Music 4 Themes and interpretations Toggle Themes and interpretations
subsection 4.1 Love and family 4.2 Religion 4.3 Death and resurrection 5
Release Toggle Release subsection 5.1 Distribution 5.2 Festivals and
theatrical run 5.3 Home media 6 Reception Toggle Reception subsection 6.1 Box
office 6.2 Critical response 6.3 Accolades 7 Notes 8 References 9 Further
reading 10 External links Toggle the table of contents Tender Mercies 26
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Printable version From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 1983 film by Bruce
Beresford Tender Mercies Theatrical release poster Directed by Bruce Beresford
Written by Horton Foote Produced by Philip S. Hobel Starring Robert Duvall
Tess Harper Betty Buckley Wilford Brimley Ellen Barkin Cinematography Russell
Boyd Edited by William Anderson Music by George Dreyfus Production companies
EMI Films Antron Media Production Distributed by Universal Pictures Associated
Film Distribution Release date March 4, 1983 ( 1983-03-04 ) (limited) Running
time 92 minutes Country United States Language English Budget $4.5 million Box
office $8.4 million [1] Tender Mercies is a 1983 American drama film directed
by Bruce Beresford , featuring Robert Duvall as singer-songwriter Mac Sledge
in a performance that won him an Academy Award . The Oscar-winning screenplay
by Horton Foote focuses on Mac Sledge (Duvall), a former country music star
whose career and relationship with his ex-wife and daughter were wrecked by
alcoholism . Recovering from his affliction, Sledge seeks to turn his life
around through his relationship with a young widow and her son in rural Texas
. The supporting cast includes Tess Harper , Betty Buckley , Wilford Brimley ,
Ellen Barkin and Allan Hubbard. Financed by EMI Films , Tender Mercies was
shot largely 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 (1,000 km)
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 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 publicise 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
theatres. Although unsuccessful at the box office, it was critically acclaimed
and earned five Academy Award nominations, including for Best Picture . At the
56th Academy Awards . Tender Mercies won Oscars for Best Original Screenplay
for Foote and Duvall won the Academy Award for Best Actor . Plot [ edit ] 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 perform maintenance work at the motel in exchange for a room. Rosa, 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 on condition that he does not
drink while working. The two begin to develop feelings for each other, mostly
during quiet evenings sitting alone and sharing parts of their life stories.
Mac resolves to give up alcohol and start his life anew. After enough days of
keeping his word and doing his work, he is comfortable enough in his new life
that he and Rosa Lee wed. They start attending a Baptist church on a regular
basis. One day, a newspaper reporter visits the motel and asks Mac whether he
has stopped recording music and if he has deliberately chosen to lead an
anonymous life. When Mac refuses to answer, the reporter explains he is
writing a story about him and has interviewed his ex-wife, Dixie Scott ( Betty
Buckley ), a country music star who is performing nearby. After the story is
published, the neighbourhood 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 that Mac 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. Mac
tries to talk to her but she becomes angry on seeing him and warns him to stay
away from their 18-year-old daughter, Sue Anne ( Ellen Barkin ). On his return
home, Mac assures Rosa Lee he no longer has any feelings for Dixie, whom 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 truck.
He buys a bottle of whiskey but, returning home to a worried Rosa Lee and
Sonny, he tells them he poured it out. He says he tried to leave Rosa Lee, but
found he could not. Some time later, Mac and Sonny are baptised together in