mattkratz This is a good movie, good on plot and loaded on character study and message. Robert Duvall, in an Oscar-winning role, is a has-been country singer given a second chance with a new wife and a stepson (the previous father/husband in this family had been killed in Vietnam) while his ex-wife continues a successful singing career while prohibiting him from seeing their daughter due the the fact that he used to be an alcoholic and tended to be violent when he was drunk. He attempts to reconcile with his former family, gets a second chance at his career when an aspiring band drops by the gas station where he works, and makes the most of his second chance with his new family and has to deal with a new tragedy.This is mostly a study about decisions in your life, relations with other people, dealing with tragedy, and second chances. It deserved its Oscar awards. Duvall and the rest of the superb cast was excellent, as were the songs and scenes. I loved it and you will too. *** out of ****

bkoganbing Red State America never got treated better than in Tender Mercies. It's a simple and sublime story of a former country singing star trying to pick up the pieces of his life.At one time Robert Duvall was one of the biggest names in country music with an appetite for life's pleasures to match. There's an opening flashback scene where we see a frightened Betty Buckley both trying to get away from a raging and drunken Duvall and protecting their little girl at the same time.As Duvall has drifted into obscurity Buckley has grown into a big country Loretta Lynn/Patsy Cline type superstar. Now with her taking her tour into the area of Texas the two are destined to meet.Duvall is now married to a woman who owns a small motel and filling station and he's a loving stepdad to young Allyn Hubbard. Tess Harper and Duvall are happy but both have a lot of stuff that is unsaid that gets said during the course of the film. Duvall also has now reunited with his daughter Ellen Barkin who may have inherited talent from both ends of the gene pool.Tender Mercies is simple and profound with not a false note struck either in the singing or the acting. You will rarely see a performance as profound and as underplayed as Duvall's is this side of Spencer Tracy. Small wonder he was the Best Actor Oscar winner. Horton Foote's original screenplay also won the other Oscar that Tender Mercies took home.If you're a country music fan you'll love this film and for Robert Duvall fans it's a must.

Shawn Sorensen "Solemnity, purposeless, inert solemnity" damns poet Mary Oliver. "Tender Mercies" shows the complexity behind the stoic stare and the empty country road, shows the warmth and reassurance of a seemingly simpler life. A man has to stare down the ugly parts of his past and prove he doesn't trust happiness at the same time he must have the courage to quietly welcome it back into his life. Surprises abound (and plenty of pleasantly bold ones in the angles of the camera), but sometimes the most surprising turn is the straightest road. The honest road that connects to the audience. Scriptwriters and actors take note - rarely has a movie said more with less than "Tender Mercies."

MartinHafer "Tender Mercies" is one of those rare movies I have seen more than once. The first time was back in the early 1980s when it first came out and I must admit it that I didn't particularly like it. I felt it was just way too slow and too low energy. So, almost three decades later, I decided to give it a try once again. After all, I've seen a lot of films since then and my tastes have changed considerably. And, since this is a film that earned Robert Duvall the Oscar for Best Actor, I decided to give it a try once again.So what did I think this time? Well, I certainly liked it a lot more. But, I can STILL understand why it didn't appeal to me when I was 19 and saw it the first time. If you are looking for excitement or much in the way of pacing, then the film would clearly be tough going. But, as I've aged, I much more look for characterizations--and there are many good ones in this one--particularly Robert Duvall. He did a nice job in portraying an alcoholic musician--a guy who must have been the inspiration, at least in part, for Jeff Bridges' starring role in "Crazy Heart"--a film which, incidentally, featured Duvall in a supporting role! Overall a fascinating but slow film--good for someone willing to cut the film a bit of slack.