The Trip to Bountiful (1985)

Director:

Peter Masterson

Writers:

Horton Foote (play)
Horton Foote (screenplay)

Release Date:

24 January 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Carrie Watts is living the twilight of her life trapped in an apartment in 1940's Houston, Texas with...

Plot Keywords:

Daughter In Law | Escape | 1940s | Houston Texas | Bus

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 5 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Geraldine Page	...	Mrs. Carrie Watts
John Heard	...	Ludie Watts
Carlin Glynn	...	Jessie Mae
Richard Bradford	...	Sheriff
Rebecca De Mornay	...	Thelma
Kevin Cooney	...	Roy
Norman Bennett	...	First Bus Ticket Man
Harvey Lewis	...	Second Bus Ticket Man
Kirk Sisco	...	Train Ticket Agent
Dave Tanner	...	Billy Davis
Gil Glasgow	...	Stationmaster Gerard
Mary Kay Mars	...	Rosella
Wezz Tildon	...	Bus Passenger
Peggy Ann Byers	...	Downstairs Neighbor
David Romo	...	Mexican Man
Tony Torn	...	Twin
John Torn	...	Twin
Alexandra Masterson	...	Drugstore Waitress
Don Wyse	...	Doctor
Marilee Van Wagenen	...	Family on Bus (as Marilee VanWagenen)
Arthur Van Wagenen	...	Family on Bus (as Arthur VanWagenen)
William Van Wagenen	...	Family on Bus (as Willie VanWagenen)
Hugh Van Wagenen	...	Family on Bus (as Hugh VanWagenen)
Andrew Van Wagenen	...	Family on Bus (as Andrew VanWagenen)
Jim Drake	...	Bus Station Derelict (as James Drake)
Larry Langley	...	News Vendor
Peter Masterson	...	Newspaper Boy (as Peter Masterson Jr.)
Allison Marich	...	Blonde on Bus
Ed Johnston	...	Man on Bus
Frances Peterson	...	Young Carrie Watts
Dean Dewulf	...	Young Ludie Watts
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Russell White	...	Bus Boy (uncredited)

Directed by
Peter Masterson

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Horton Foote		play
Horton Foote		screenplay

Produced by
Dennis Bishop	....	line producer
Horton Foote	....	producer
Sam Grogg	....	executive producer
Sterling Van Wagenen	....	producer (as Sterling VanWagenen)
George Yaneff	....	executive producer

Original Music by
J.A.C. Redford

Cinematography by
Fred Murphy

Film Editing by
Jay Freund

Production Design by
Neil Spisak

Art Direction by
Philip Lamb

Set Decoration by
Derek R. Hill

Costume Design by
Gary Jones

Makeup Department
Nena Smarz	....	hair stylist
Kelvin R. Trahan	....	hair designer
Jimi White	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Stephen McEveety	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Stephen McEveety	....	first assistant director
Mike Schilz	....	second assistant director (as Michael Schilz)

Art Department
E.W. Bradford	....	construction coordinator (as Bill Bradford)
John Gatlin	....	painter
Jerry G. Henery	....	carpenter (as Jerry Henry)
Wendell A. Bud Hill II	....	assistant set decorator (as Wendell A. 'Bud' Hill II)
Robert Joyce	....	property master
Paul D. Kelly	....	draftsman (as Paul Kelly)
Benny Miles	....	carpenter
Tim Short	....	carpenter
Darla Thompson	....	assistant property master

Sound Department
Anthony J. Ciccolini III	....	supervising sound editor
Marko A. Costanzo	....	foley artist
Susan Demskey	....	assistant sound editor
Tom Fleischman	....	sound re-recording mixer
John Pritchett	....	sound mixer
Joel Shryack	....	boom operator
Jeffrey Stern	....	sound editor (as Jeff Stern)

Visual Effects by
Moses Weitzman	....	optical effects designer: EFX Unlimited

Camera and Electrical Department
Robert Alcala	....	electrician
Thomas Alcala	....	gaffer
Timothy Blair	....	electrician
Peter Calvin	....	still photographer
Don Devine	....	first assistant camera
Gerrit Garretsen	....	best boy grip (as Gerrit W. Garretsen)
Gerrit Garretsen	....	dolly grip (as Gerrit W. Garretsen)
Robert Guerrero	....	second assistant camera (as Robert Guerrero Jr.)
Johnny Gutierrez	....	best boy electric (as Johnny L. Gutierrez)
Deana Newcomb	....	still photographer
Michael Pagan	....	grip (as Michael M. Pagan)
Kerry Rike	....	key grip
Carl D. Stitt	....	grip (as Carl Dean Stitt)
Mike Swenson	....	electrician (as Michael Swenson)
Greg Williams	....	grip
R. Michael Yope	....	electrician (as Michael Yope)

Casting Department
Ed Johnston	....	casting coordinator

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Rondi Hillstrom Davis	....	assistant costume designer
Deborah DeJulia	....	costumer
Taneia Lednicky	....	wardrobe assistant

Editorial Department
Elizabeth Canney	....	editing room assistant
Fred Koevary	....	negative cutter
Josephine Nericcio	....	assistant editor
Christine P. Williams	....	assistant editor
Joan Zapata	....	editing room assistant

Music Department
Norman Kasow	....	composer: source music
Joel Moss	....	scoring mixer (as Joel W. Moss)
LeAnn A. Redford	....	assistant to composer
Paul Ukena	....	musical consultant (as Paul Ukena Jr.)
Deborah Vowler	....	musician: Chopin opus 18, no. 1

Transportation Department
Robert L. Davis	....	driver
Alvin Milliken	....	transportation coordinator
Dennis Milliken	....	driver
Jack Mounger	....	driver

Other crew
Stephen M. Chudej	....	production assistant
Joe Dishner	....	location manager
Connie Dolph	....	production assistant
Anna Downing	....	assistant to producer
David Jeppson	....	production assistant
Dave Keagler	....	production assistant
Beth Kirchner	....	production coordinator
Cheryl Kurk	....	assistant to executive producer
Alexandra Masterson	....	production assistant
Renee Milliken	....	production secretary
James Pullen	....	period car coordinator (as Jim Pullen)
James Redford	....	assistant: Mr. Masterson
Phil Shirey	....	production assistant
Kate Singleton	....	manager: The Main Street Program, Waxahachie, TX
Zane L. Steadman Jr.	....	production assistant
Barbara-Ann Stein	....	production auditor
George Toomer Jr.	....	craft service
Frank Tudisco	....	script supervisor
Steven Lynn Walker	....	production assistant (as Stephen Lynn Walker)
Greg Webb	....	title designer
Eric Truax	....	location assistant (uncredited)

Thanks
Ellen Chenoweth	....	thanks
David Doty	....	thanks
L.T. Felty	....	thanks
Michael Hausman	....	thanks
Barbara Matera	....	thanks
Ann Roth	....	thanks
Alan Shapiro	....	thanks
Juliet Taylor	....	thanks

Production Companies

• Bountiful Film Partners
• FilmDallas Pictures

Distributors

• Island Pictures (1985) (USA) (theatrical)
• Cineplex-Odeon Home Video (1986) (Canada) (VHS)
• Embassy Home Entertainment (1986) (USA) (VHS)
• MCA (1986) (Canada) (video)
• Califórnia Home Vídeo (2005) (Brazil) (DVD)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2005) (Australia) (DVD)
• Distribuidora Internacional de Filmes (DIF) (Brazil) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Baby 'O Recorders  music recording
• Citizens of Waxahachie, Texas  thanks
• City of Dallas, Texas  thanks
• City of Venus, Texas  thanks
• Dallas Communications Complex  production facilities
• Dallas Police Department  thanks
• EFX Unlimited  titles and opticals
• Ellis Co., Texas  thanks
• Government Services Administration  thanks
• Greyhound Lines  thanks
• Mobil Oil Company  thanks
• Moses Weitzman EFX Unlimited  optical effects
• Sound One Corporation  post-production facilities
• Sundance Institute, The  thanks
• Texas Film Commission  thanks
• The Main Street Program, Waxahachie, Texas  thanks
• The Studios at Las Colinas  production facilities

Also Known As:

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Iceland:L | Argentina:Atp | Peru:PT | France:U | Australia:G | Finland:S | Portugal:M/6 | Sweden:Btl | USA:PG | West Germany:6

Filming Locations:

Building One, Studios at Las Colinas - 6301 North O'Connor Road, Irving, Texas, USA

Company:

Bountiful Film Partners

Trivia:

Jo Van Fleet won the 1954 Tony Award (New York City) for Supporting or Features Actress in a Drama for "The Trip to Bountiful" for her portrayal of Jessie Mae Watts.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: While Mother Watts is at the bus stop you see the bus approach. The head-sign says Montrose, which is just west of downtown Houston. If you look at the terrain, it is sloped not true rolling hills, but still somewhat hilly. Houston is flat as a board. These hills are reminiscent of the Dallas/Irvine area.

Quotes:

Mrs. Carrie Watts:I guess when you've lived longer than your house and your family, then you've lived long enough.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Return to Bountiful (2005) (V)

Soundtrack:

Blessed Assurance

"If Your Son Marries, You Lose A Son"

This is a gentle, contemplative little film. It is the story of an old woman's return to her pre-Depression home, and the memories and regrets that the journey invokes.

Mother Watts lives with her son Ludie and his wife Jessie Mae in a two-room apartment. Life is cramped. Mother has to sleep on the couch, everybody in the apartment is constantly getting in everybody else's way, physically and emotionally, and the neighbours can hear every word. Mother Watts is a country girl in spirit, having been raised on the land, and her yearning to get away from the rootless, joyless suburbs eventually overwhelms her ...

The film is set in the nascent middle-class suburban environment of Houston, Texas in the 1940's. Ludie and Jessie Mae are a typical couple in their early middle years: he is hoping for a salary raise, so that he can afford a house and a car, she inhabits a narrow psychological world of nice clothes, coffee shops and picture shows. Ludie's mother lives with them, and this irritates Jessie Mae intensely. The two women clash repeatedly as Jessie Mae constantly seeks to assert her ascendancy within the household.

Mother Watts is a simple soul. She sings the hymns she learnt as a child as she goes about her dreary chores (Jessie Mae does no housework). Mother receives a monthly pension cheque from the government, and this seems to be the only reason that Jessie Mae tolerates her presence. The daughter-in-law clearly regards the cheque as her own property.

The old lady inhabits a world of reverie, an intuitive, emotional world of memories. The full moon keeps her awake all night, as it did when she lived in the rural community of Bountiful, some 20 years previously. In the glow of the moonlight, she hankers for that idealised country life. When Jessie Mae switches on the electric light, its harsh glare ends the dream-time abruptly, stark modernism cutting Mother Watts' links with her own personal history.

Mother Watts resolves to make one last trip to Bountiful. On her way she encounters obstacles (she has enormous difficulty cashing her cheque) and disappointments (death and progress have transformed the Bountiful of her memories). However, she also meets with the kindness of strangers. Thelma, the young woman who is travelling her way, befriends her and shares confidences with her. Mother Watts reveals that two of her children died in Bountiful - one of diphtheria, one of sheer poverty. The local sheriff (Richard Bradford) undergoes a change of heart and helps the old woman to revisit the place of her dreams.

When Ludie and Jessie Mae finally catch up with the wandering old lady, Ludie momentarily glimpses that other world, the world of soil, simplicity and communal spirit. Jessie Mae is of course impervious to Bountiful's charms, and she seems utterly out of place in her white high-heels.

The 'message' of this nostalgic little film is that people who live on the land put down roots which sustain them them through hardship and sadness, whereas the shallow urbanites have nothing to bolster their bland existence. Mother Watts may have lost two babies, but she is infinitely more fulfilled than Jessie Mae, who has never had any children.

An excellent period feel suffuses the film. The early scenes in the apartment are suitable claustrophobic, helping to develop the theme of 'hemming-in'. By contrast, when Mother Watts begins her bus ride, the screen opens out into an impressive panorama of land and sky. We feel that this will be Mother Watts' final adventure in life, and this elegiac quality is subtly underscored by clever touches: we see her behind a glass panel at the bus station, with the lettering "Houston Terminal Cafe" obliterating her face.

Geraldine Page is great as Mother Watts, keeping her character simple and humble, and resisting the temptation to 'grandstand'. John Heard impresses in the role of Ludie, the slightly downtrodden son who strives to do the right thing. Again, the characterisation is spot-on ... Ludie is dull and inarticulate, and Heard grounds him in bathos. Carlin Glynn has fun playing the awful Jessie Mae, and Rebecca de Mornay is first-class as the sweet-natured Thelma.

A restricted palate can sometimes produce the most powerful effects. The final scene, where Mother Watts gets her fingers in the dirt one last time, is a terrific climax, built up slowly and patiently, and relying purely on the interplay of characters.