Thomas Holbrook The basic story/plot here is stagy, melodramatic, and sentimentalized, evincing a superficiality that makes it difficult to stay with the movie for sufficient exposure to realize what Geraldine Page is creating in it as an actor. What she's doing in this movie is stupendous, one of the few performances ever by an American actor which stacks up against the best that the Brits can do. For me the movie then progressed on two levels: one carrying a mundane, sentimental story which barely engages; the second a mesmerizing and utterly believable journey in the company of a dauntless old woman traveling to bring her life to a satisfactory completion (all things considered). Toward the end, one expects death but gets life, carried on the wings of perhaps the best acting performance ever delivered in an American movie.

jzappa The Trip To Bountiful is an unexpectedly interesting piece of drama genuinely portraying the battle of the age groups. Geraldine Page masterfully plays an old woman who is determined to outwit her bossy daughter-in-law so that she can visit her childhood home. Her portrait of this elder is a fusion of desperation, wisdom, and all but emotion being diluted by time. There is a lot of shrewd spontaneity in her performance that challenges her co-stars. Carlin Glynn provokingly takes the part of the imposition of the succeeding generation, an interfering, self-consumed woman Page puts up with only for the sake of her son, Glynn's broodingly compliant husband, played by a very likable young John Heard.The script is exceptional in its unfussiness, as all the narrative obstructions to Page's fraught yearning to replenish herself with a nostalgic visit to her old home of Bountiful don't seem to phase her. This is a touching recognition of the seasoned nature of many elderly people, as Page, despite how miserable it must be to be intimidated by someone thirty years younger than you into remaining in their apartment passing away the time in a chair and a window, for the most part alone, as we first see her in the film, and to reminisce about the bygone times and lost relatives, is beyond the sort of anger and frustration that would set a younger person in a rut. This, however, is merely my twenty-year-old male opinion, though I would say that is a testament to the effect of the movie.Beautiful Rebecca DeMornay creates a wonderful character, a sensitive young woman who meets Page by happenstance and projects a wonderfully virginal, serene presence. She opens Page up, just as Richard Bradford's humble, taurine middle-aged sheriff does. The Trip To Bountiful is not a brilliant film. It's simply an enjoyable and engrossing piece of work.

Tahhh It's hard to rate this film, numerically, because the performance of the late Geraldine Page is so dazzling and utterly absorbing, that her glow makes it almost impossible to see the defects of the film.It's a neat, tidy, well-constructed drama, with a careful concentration on a single, simple story, and manages to make us care and worry about all the little mishaps in the plot. It's colorful, well-paced, gorgeously costumed and designed, and (assuming that you're not too cynical to enjoy a sentimental story for what it is) it's a totally absorbing and compelling two hours.Most of the characters of the drama are complicated enough to keep the film from getting too predictable, and certainly, in the hands of the great Geraldine Page, it would be hard for character NOT to be deeply interesting. Mrs. Watts is somewhat similar to Cousin "Sook" in the beautiful Truman Capote memoirs Miss Page performed in the late 1960's, but she has far richer monologues throughout the film that could not better underline her extraordinary skills.However, in spite of all this, I think the film is rather lacking in substance. It's QUITE sentimental, and while it never degenerates into a lament for the snows of yesteryear, it comes pretty close to it. Although there is some resolution of family tensions toward the end of the story, we never really get a terribly convincing demonstration of HOW the title's "trip to Bountiful" managed to bring this resolution about.For that, I tend to fault the screenplay--and perhaps I'll feel differently about it after another viewing.But that alone is characteristic: my wish to see it again at some point is PURELY because I want to admire Geraldine Page--and NOT because I found the story and film so moving. It's HER that I wish to watch, not the film.And so, I guess, as a compromise, I'll give it 8 stars...but everybody should understand I have two extra stars in parentheses for the star of the movie who could not have been a more deserving recipient of an Oscar that year.

fimimix I never know what to write about movies like "The Trip to Bountiful." So many users have already given it accolades; what else is there to write ? Once again, I stumbled on it on TCM in the middle of this film. I'd always wanted to see it. People who have not experienced the closeted atmosphere this plot depicts (several people living in a small apartment) are truly lucky - I have and am, although I'm not directly involved.Peter Masterson has directed a masterpiece from Horton Foote's script, although I doubt seriously if he had much to do with Geraldine Page's ("Carrie Watts") performance. She WAS "Carrie;" she portrayed this eccentric lady with a revelation seldom achieved by anyone. Although I missed the first half of the movie, I didn't need it - I could understand each character's personality clearly, although there were some whom I really didn't want to understand. But, isn't that life ? I did not recognize John Heard ("Ludie Watts"). He was perfect for that character, as was Carlin Glynn ("Jessie Mae"). Didn't you want to choke her? A fabulous performance. In the confines of their apartment, "Ludie" knew he was a failure in his life, because he had neither the courage to reprimand his wife nor gently accompany his mother to her dearest place on earth. He left that up to "the Sheriff" (Richard Branford)....another stellar performance.Every scene in this movie, I'm sure, was a gem, carried by Ms. Page. I was certain it was going to be "Thelma" (Rebecca de Mornay) to take "Carrie" to Bountiful.....she was so kindly aware of "Carrie's" predicament. Yet, that would have prevented the redemption of the other characters. "Ludie's" confession and demonstration of his love for "Carrie"; "Jessie Mae's" shock to receive the sweet kiss on her cheek by "Carrie", who accepted all of the demands of "the list". A touching shocker when "Carrie" let the magic of her life sift through her fingers as she scooped-up a handful of earth.....you know she saw her mom and dad on the porch.We all will make a "Bountiful" trip, either actual or imaginary. I'd jump into my auto right now, if I thought it would make it to Mississippi. Flying would be too abrupt - it's the build-up to the ultimate desire to re-connect with the past. This is a movie which should be shared by an entire family-viewing.......I've rated it at 50.