Hellen I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Abegail Noëlle While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

gavin6942 A broken-down, middle-aged country singer (Robert Duvall) gets a new wife, reaches out to his long-lost daughter, and tries to put his troubled life back together.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.Although I have little interest in country music, no interesting religious conversation, and almost no interest in love and family, this film still spoke to me. Duvall is just perfect, and I had no idea he could sing. For his performance along, it deserves more recognition.

SnoopyStyle Mac Sledge (Robert Duvall) is an alcoholic washed up country singer. He can't pay his motel bill and starts working for the widowed owner Rosa Lee (Tess Harper) who is raising her son Sonny. He turns his life around and they get marry. His new life is interrupted when a reporter drops by. His ex-wife Dixie Scott is a country music star and she's performing nearby. His story is printed in the newspaper. He goes to her concert and sees her manager Harry (Wilford Brimley). She angrily warns him not to see their daughter Sue Anne (Ellen Barkin).It's a powerful performance from Robert Duvall. That's the heart of the movie. He puts all of his skills to work. He's great when he's quiet. He's explosive when he needs to be. The camera work and the style could do more to add more substance to the material. It's a great showcase for Duvall and Tess Harper also gives a good performance.

Lechuguilla Toward the end a character asks a number of why questions; why did this happen, why that? We don't always know why things work out the way they do; but that's life, for everyone. That's kind of the theme of this slow-developing character study of a damaged man named Mac (Robert Duvall), former country songwriter and singer.The script tells the story of Mac and his life in the slow lane, and his relationship to Rosa (Tess Harper) and others around him. It's a story of simple but genuine folks whose lives center on basic human values like dignity, honesty, and absence of pretense The lonely, barren spaces of West Texas provide the backdrop for the story. As such, the film reminds me of three other films about down home folks set in the rural South: "Gilbert Grape", "Silkwood" and "The Last Picture Show".There's not much in the way of high drama here; there's no suspense; nor is there any mystery. The entire plot plays out in a natural sort of way, as does life for most people. Things just happen; we ponder why; we move on.Visuals look realistic with natural lighting and lots of wide-angle camera shots. Also adding to the sense of realism is detailed production design appropriate to rural Texas. Film direction, casting, and acting are fairly competent.My only real complaints relate to the slow pace and the music. If the pace had been any slower, the story would have stopped; and with the absence of high drama or anything startling in the plot, some viewers will become bored, as I did during a few segments. Also, I was disappointed with the country songs that were sung. None were memorable. As such, the film's tone was less evocative than it could have been.Slow-moving and very low-key, "Tender Mercies" offers viewers a plausible and deeply thematic story of life in a rural setting with characters that are believable and fairly likable. Too bad they don't make many films like this anymore.

Michael_Elliott Tender Mercies (1983)*** (out of 4) Robert Duvall picked up the Best Actor Oscar for his performance as Mac Sledge, a country music singer who finds himself broke due to alcohol. He ends up working at a small Texas gas station owned by a widow (Tess Harper) and her young son. Soon Max and the woman are married and he tries to get his life back in order and that includes trying to start a relationship with his own daughter (Ellen Barkin) who he had left years earlier. It's well known that this films original studio (Universal) were pretty much dead-set against this film and didn't bother to promote it, try to push it in theaters or anything else because they felt the film was a lost cause. I guess you could understand that because the movie is about as low-key as they come so I'm sure many people in 1983 would have been turned off by it but at the same time it's rather shocking that the studio didn't see how great Duvall was in it. The picture eventually got some Oscar nominations and became better known but I guess we should be thankful that the studio didn't completely give up on it. The main reason to see the movie is due to the performances with Duvall easily leading the way. Like Spencer Tracy before him, Duvall never gets the credit he deserves because I think he makes acting seem so easy. It rather amazing to watch someone like Duvall because of how easy they make acting seem and because of how terrific he is acting without words. There's a lot of range going on here but just watch the way Duvall doesn't use words to explain how he's feeling but instead he simply uses his eyes. The supporting cast is also very impressive with Harper standing terrific against Duvall as she too is very quiet in the film but we also know what she's feeling. The young Barkin doesn't have too many scenes here but she's impressive when on screen. Betty Buckley is wonderful as Duvall's ex-wife and Wilford Brimley is good as usual. The film's strong performances are certainly the main reason to check it out but I do think the film falls well short of being a great movie. I think the low-key nature works to a point but in the end there are a couple major turns in the story that I felt should have more of an impact but they didn't. I think the emotional range isn't quite there and at times it seems as if the movie is just too simple for its own good. I'm going to guess that the simple nature of country music is what they were trying to give us but I think it's just a tad bit too laid back. With that said, it's easy to see why Duvall won all the acclaim he did as he's certainly one of the greatest actors of all time and this is a perfect example for anyone needing to see proof of that.