The Evening Star (1996)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

Robert Harling

Writers (WGA):

Larry McMurtry (novel)
Robert Harling (screenplay)

Release Date:

25 December 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

A story about friends, family and other natural disasters.

Plot:

Continuing the story of Aurora Greenway in her latter years. After the death of her daughter, Aurora struggled to keep her family together...

Plot Keywords:

Death | Generation Gap | Grandchild | Lover | Loss Of Daughter

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 5 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Shirley MacLaine	...	Aurora Greenway
Bill Paxton	...	Jerry Bruckner
Juliette Lewis	...	Melanie Horton
Miranda Richardson	...	Patsy Carpenter
Ben Johnson	...	Arthur Cotton
Scott Wolf	...	Bruce
George Newbern	...	Tommy Horton
Marion Ross	...	Rosie Dunlop
Mackenzie Astin	...	Teddy Horton
Donald Moffat	...	Hector Scott
Jennifer Grant	...	Ellen
China Kantner	...	Jane
Jack Nicholson	...	Garrett Breedlove
Shawn Taylor Thompson	...	Bump
Jake Langerud	...	Henry

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 on appeal for some sexual situations and brief strong language.

Runtime:

129 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #34750) | Iceland:L | USA:R (original rating) | USA:TV-14 (TV rating) | UK:15 | Singapore:PG (cut) | Argentina:13 | Peru:14 | Taiwan:PG-12 | Finland:S | France:U | Netherlands:AL | Norway:7 | Spain:13 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Galveston, Texas, USA

Company:

Rysher Entertainment

Trivia:

When producers found they could not use the original house used in Terms of Endearment (1983) for the project, they searched Houston for a house that looked similar. When they located one, they found out that the house belonged to the daughter of the person who owned the one used in the original movie.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Tommy is about to leave from a visit with his grandmother, he covers the brownies she brought him with tissue paper. A second later, we see him doing the same exact thing with the same paper.

Quotes:

Aurora Greenway: I do not understand hatred as a sport. How does one win?

Movie Connections:

Follows Terms of Endearment (1983)

Soundtrack:

I Ron't Know What Time It Was

Worth Seeing if you have seen Terms of Endearment

Now when this movie first came out, no one really saw it. Critics gave it bad reviews. Part of the issue was the original Terms of Endearment was made back in 1983. So when some of the cast came back 13 years later, it can lose some of its box office draw. However, the time that passed actually made this movie more believable as the characters had also aged. Shirley MacLaine reprises her role and does a nice job, trying to raise her dead daughter's children. The movie stays grounded by dealing with everyday issues as well as getting older and the trials of a non-traditional family. Paxton plays a nice role in this film adding a little flare to the shadowing plot of Shirley MacLaine's character getting older. Nicholson's return, although brief, helped this film round itself out. See this one only if you see Terms of Endearment first.

Best Scene: Nicholson and MacLaine re-living the past on the beach.