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'night, Mother (1986)
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Overview
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Release Date:
12 September 1986 (USA)
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Tagline:
It happened in 1983. It was a rare and remarkable theatrical experience. Controversial. Provocative. And shocking. Now, two Academy Award-winning actresses make the Pulitzer Prize-winning play the motion picture event of the year.
Plot:
What would you do if someone you loved sat down with you one night and calmly told you that they were going to end their life before morning...
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Awards:
Nominated for Golden Globe.
Another 1 nomination
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User Comments:
"Jesus was a suicide, if you ask me."
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Cast
(Complete credited cast) | Sissy Spacek | ... | Jessie Cates |
 | Anne Bancroft | ... | Thelma Cates |
 | Ed Berke | ... | Dawson Cates |
| Carol Robbins | ... | Loretta Cates |
| Jennifer Roosendahl | ... | Melodie Cates |
| Michael Kenworthy | ... | Kenny Cates |
| Sari Walker | ... | Agnes Fletcher |
| Claire Malis | ... | Operator (voice) |
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Runtime:
96 min
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1.85 : 1 more
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Fun Stuff
Trivia:
When asked by a Hollywood columnist if she was upset she didn't receive an Oscar nomination for her performance, Anne Bancroft quipped, "I should have gotten an Oscar just for memorizing all those lines."
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Quotes:
Thelma:
People don't kill themselves, Jessie. It's doesn't make sense, unless you're retarded or deranged, and you're as normal as they come, Jessie, for the most part. We're all afraid to die!
Jessie: I'm not, Mama. It's exactly what I want. It's dark and quiet.
Thelma: So's the backyard, Jessie.
Jessie: So quiet, I don't know it's quiet, so nobody can get me.
Thelma: Dead might not be quiet at all, Jessie. What if it's like an alarm clock, and you can't wake up, so you can't shut it off... ever!
Jessie: Dead is everbody and everything I ever knew, gone. Dead is dead quiet.
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Jessie: I'm not, Mama. It's exactly what I want. It's dark and quiet.
Thelma: So's the backyard, Jessie.
Jessie: So quiet, I don't know it's quiet, so nobody can get me.
Thelma: Dead might not be quiet at all, Jessie. What if it's like an alarm clock, and you can't wake up, so you can't shut it off... ever!
Jessie: Dead is everbody and everything I ever knew, gone. Dead is dead quiet.
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Movie Connections:
Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Thing That Couldn't Die (#9.5)" (1997)
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FAQ
Where can I get the film on DVD?more
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That is just one of the thought provoking lines from this movie. There are many. And while most of the reviewers praise the acting in this movie, and rightly so since it is a tour de force, I have to give praise to Marsha Norman who adapted her own Pulitzer Prize winning stage play for the screen.
When a movie is a "slice of life" such as this one, I unconsciously look for good and realistic dialog. There are just so many lines in this movie that ring true to real life conversations. There's a part where the Mom (Bancroft) tells Jessie (Spacek) to call her ex-husband up & try again, he might be ready and Jessie tells her that there's no point in calling him up because what's she gonna say, "nothing's changed, I'd just like to look at you if you don't mind?" In another scene Jessie compares life to a bus ride. She says it's hot, crowded & noisy and the only reason you don't get off is that your destination is 10 stops away. She says if she gets off now, or later, it's the same place when she steps down to it. In another part of the movie she says that she thought about sticking around if there was just something that she really liked, like rice pudding or cornflakes- but Jessie is a person robbed of any enthusiasm for life. So for her, staying around, especially for others, just doesn't make sense any more- she's had enough.
I really don't think Marsha was asking us to agree w/that point of view or to even condone it. I think she was just giving us some perspective- another point of view. And I have to admit, after having seen this many times, maybe Jessie made the right decision. As she also says in the movie, she is what *became* of her (Bancroft's) child. That she, Jessie, that might have made a difference to herself, didn't show up. Which is really food for thought for ANYone watching this movie- make a difference to yourself first and foremost. Despite the movie being about suicide, this is actually a life affirming movie if you look at it from that point of view.
The "acting" (I say that in parenthesis because it's so real it doesn't even seem like acting) from Spacek and Bancroft is absolutely first rate. I would recommend this movie on that score alone. Luckily, with the powerful and thought-provoking screenplay and the lovely music by Dave Grusin, there is much to recommend this heart wrenching tale of life and death.