Places in the Heart (1984)

Still fresh from directing the critical acclaimed and box office hit, "Kramer vs. Kramer" ('79), in which he won the Academy Award for Best Director, plus four other more Oscars (including Best Film of the Year) for a total of nine nominations, the filmmaker Robert Benton, after the very good, but not as well succeed, "Still of the Night" ('82), started to develop a more intimate film, based on his own experiences growing up in Waxahachie, Texas during the Era of the Great Depression.The year is 1935. The Spalding family, consisting of Royce, the local sheriff (Ray Baker), his devoted wife, Edna (Sally Field) and their two little kids, Frank (Yankton Hatten) & Possum (Gennie James), live in a small, segregated town in the midst of the Depression. When Royce is killed by accident, Edna is left alone with their kids to raise and the family farm to mantain while the bank is starting to pressures her to sell it, because without her husband's salary, she can't afford to make the loan payments. Fighting back to sustain her family and home, Edna joins an african-american drifter called Moses (Danny Glover) and her new tenant, Mr. Will (John Malkovich), to plant cotton on all her acres to survive the Depression, but it's a task that will not be easy to succeed...It's noticeable how Robert Benton gave his whole heart to the movie: the tenderness, dreamlike realism and nostalgic factor of his own screenplay; the assertive direction of a melodrama without being too corny or overly sentimental and the use of an absolutely beautiful photography, captured by Néstor Almendros' camera.The less good part, is that the film drifts itself from the main plot when it starts to give too much relevance to the sub-plots from side characters such as the love triangle between Edna's brother in law, Wayne Lomax (Ed Harris), married to Edna's sister, Margaret (Lindsay Crouse), a hairdresser and the town's teacher, Viola Kelsey (Amy Madigan), married to a good hearted businessman, Buddy (Terry O'Quinn), which that went nowhere, throwing the movie into almost the 'soap opera' territory.Despite that, the ensemble cast delivers superb performances: the real life couple, Amy Madigan & Ed Harris always display great on-screen chemistry; Lindsay Crouse scored her only Oscar nominated performance here as the affable sister, however cheated wife; John Malkovich, also Oscar nominated, is very good as the blind, but literate & helpful, Mr. Will. Maybe if he had more scenes, probably could have won the Academy Award, but instead his co-star Haing S. Ngor from "The Killing Fields" was awarded, anyway the prize went to good hands that year.Danny Glover, in one of his first significant roles, plays the token black man with a sense of dignity and gravitas within his performance. It opened the doors for him being cast one year later in Lawrence Kasdan's "Silverado" ('85), playing one of the major parts and Steven Spielberg's "The Color Purple" ('85), in which he played the complete opposite of his more sympathetic turns. Glover deserved to be recognized for his role in "Places in the Heart" as much as his fellow colleagues, the two nominated supporting actors, Malkovich and Crouse.Last, but not the least, Sally Field, won her second Oscar here (after she won for "Norma Rae" back in '80), in a brave performance playing the central role of Edna Spalding, the persevering young widow, determined to sustain her children and to survive working in a men's world and in a town that is in an one step to poverty.In short, "Places in the Heart" is a memorable and affectionate 'period piece' of Americana, Robert Benton's most personal and devoted project (hence the movie's title) and also one of his best directed films. Sadly, the director took the wrong route for his next two movies, only redeeming himself with "Nobody's Fool" ('94), in which he got another Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, as well as his star, the legendary Paul Newman, for Best Actor in Leading Role.

Sally Field is at her best here. 1984 was her year. 5 years earlier she did "Norma Rae" that won her an Oscar. And she does it again in "Places in the Heart". Set in 1935 Texas. The Great Depression was in affect. Field plays Edna Spalding, a housewife who ends up being a widow when her husband is accidentally shot and killed by a young drunk African American. He in return is dragged and later hanged. After the bank tells her that money is scarce, she is forced to sell her property. A drifter name Moses (Danny Glover) wanted to help Edna with the cotton fields. She declined the offer, but gives him a meal. Since both are in desperation, he steals the silver spoons, and she gives Moses the offer. Experienced in cotton picking, Moses explain on how it works. Though the bank was a bit unwilling with Edna's persistent nature, he enlisted his blind brother-in-law, Will (John Malkovich) to help the widow and Moses. Obstacles came out to hinder things: The storm. And the KKK after the first sale of cotton. Edna was grateful for Moses for his help, and he took it well with pride. Pride can get in the way of life, when someone offer you a hand, Take it. This movie is a winner. No doubt about that. Sally Field did very well, for the second time. This movie is a gem. A must see. 5 stars.

Last night I saw this film again on TV, the second time since its first release 32 years ago. A lot of the scenes I still remember, the most dramatic of all to me is the hurricane. I sighed a few times during the whole film as in the case of Frank's (Balding's son) narrow escape from death running home from school. On the way, he was offered to enter into the car shelter where the homeless woman acted purely out of a kind heart to try to save a little boy. In the end, she was killed by the over-turned car battered by the storm. So contrasting of human nature was depicted in this film, for that I would reserve the top rating for the vile character to the guy called Mr. Simmons, the crooked cotton gin owner, who takes advantage of a poor widow with little or no knowledge of the trade, when she first came to buy seeds from him for her start-up. Fortunately, Mose foiled Simmons' deceit he had hatched up to give Mrs. Balding the wrong seeds deliberately. Mose's alert got Simmons to tender the correct seeds later. The rascal began to bear grudges with Mose from this point onward. Mr. Simmons haggles with Mrs. Balding again when she becomes the cotton grower first to return and sell the produce to the gin. He browbeats her in the cotton price with plenty of excuses, like the big depression, her greed to exact above market price, etc. In the end, Balding wins by striking a touching note at him that Simmons' father was not like him, that his father had a heart to treat kindly and reward the first seller of the crop, when she was about to end the negotiation and leave the room. In the end, the rascal trader backs down and let her have the right price she deserves. The director of the film got Simmons stick to his bad guy character. Approaching the end of the film, Simmons gangs up a group of triple-K clan members to inflict grave bodily harm on Mose, who realized he can no longer stay on helping Mrs. Balding in the next growing season. So, he departed, with yet another touching scene of affections he shows to Mrs. Balding and her children. Mrs. Balding bids him well and let him have the credit for achieving as the first grower to sell the crop in that season. I enjoy this good film as ever.

I was sad to find I didn't love this as much as I had remembered from its release nearly 30 years ago. The acting is terrific, and the film looks great. But the main plot has elements of familiar melodramatic clichés that bugged me more now in a way they didn't in 1984. The race to save the farm, and the 'we'll do it despite the odds!' dialogue felt a little too Hollywood this time around, as did the 'perfect' gallery of downtrodden, oppressed outsiders (the single mother, the African-American, the blind man). At the same time, the subplot of the romantic triangle between Ed Harris, Lindsay Crouse and Amy Madigan, while wonderfully acted, really seemed to have very little at all to do with the rest of the film. That said, all the acting (Sally Field, Danny Glover, John Malcovich) is terrific, and the details of time and place are rich and vivid is slightly (intentionally) softened by the haze of the passing years (Benton grew up in the town where the story takes place). And that wonderful long last shot, which gives the whole film a larger context, is still a powerful and brave way to end a story.