The accidental death of the older son of an affluent family deeply strains the relationships among the bitter mother, the good-natured father, and the guilt-ridden younger son.
Director:
Robert Redford
Stars:
Donald Sutherland,
Mary Tyler Moore,
Judd Hirsch
Ted Kramer's wife leaves him, allowing for a lost bond to be rediscovered between Ted and his son, Billy. But a heated custody battle ensues over the divorced couple's son, deepening the wounds left by the separation.
Director:
Robert Benton
Stars:
Dustin Hoffman,
Meryl Streep,
Jane Alexander
At the close of World War II, a young nurse tends to a badly-burned plane crash victim. His past is shown in flashbacks, revealing an involvement in a fateful love affair.
Director:
Anthony Minghella
Stars:
Ralph Fiennes,
Juliette Binoche,
Willem Dafoe
In Hawaii in 1941, a private is cruelly punished for not boxing on his unit's team, while his captain's wife and second-in-command are falling in love.
Lieutenant John Dunbar, assigned to a remote western Civil War outpost, befriends wolves and Indians, making him an intolerable aberration in the military.
Director:
Kevin Costner
Stars:
Kevin Costner,
Mary McDonnell,
Graham Greene
Aurora and Emma are mother and daughter who march to different drummers. Beginning with Emma's marriage, Aurora shows how difficult and loving she can be. The movie covers several years of their lives as each finds different reasons to go on living and find joy. Aurora's interludes with Garrett Breedlove, retired astronaut and next door neighbor are quite striking. In the end, different people show their love in very different ways.Written by
John Vogel <jlvogel@comcast.net>
At about 20 minutes in the movie Jack Nicholson falls out of the car, drunk, on the right side of his face. When he gets up he has a wound at the left side of his face. See more »
Quotes
Sam Burns:
You're a very rude young woman. I know Douglas from the Rotary and I can't believe he'd want you treating customers so badly.
Checkout Girl:
I don't think I was treating her badly.
Sam Burns:
Then you must be from New York.
See more »
Terms Of Endearment is a story of what happens when life does not go as planned and how you deal with it. In one way or another we are flawed humans,
but most of us can rise to the occasion if the situation calls for it. It gained an
Oscar at last for Shirley MacLaine and a second for Jack Nicholson though in the
Supporting character category.
The story stretches out over a 30 year period and it starts with the death of MacLaine's husband early on and she's left to raise her daughter on her own.
As the daughter who grows up to be Debby Winger the two fight constantly.
She really doesn't approve of her choice of husband Jeff Daniels who is a
struggling academic who in the course of the movie has several teaching
positions and rises slowly in his profession. Not fast enough for MacLaine.
She reminds me of Madge Wallace the mother-in-law of Harry S. Truman who
never thought her son-in-law would amount to anything. She died in the
White House just before the Trumans left for Independence permanently.
Winger has three children, but she's beset by doubts about Daniels's infidelity
as he does have nubile coeds all about. Both of them misread signals about
each other and MacLaine's hectoring doesn't help.
As for Shirley, her neighbor is a retired astronaut Jack Nicholson who is still
looking for space groupies. He's an unlikely candidate to thaw MacLaine out,
but they find out they have more in common than they think. And Nicholson
has more character than we first suspect.
Terms Of Endearment is a film that places people who are very much like the
people who pay to see this film in real universal situations we can all understand. Not hard to understand how this became such a critical and
popular hit.
Terms Of Endearment won for Best Picture in 1983 and Best Director and Best
Adapted Screenplay for James Brooks. It got a flock more nominations as
well. It's an enduring classic and will remain so.
The finale with MacLaine is sublimely beautiful.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Terms Of Endearment is a story of what happens when life does not go as planned and how you deal with it. In one way or another we are flawed humans, but most of us can rise to the occasion if the situation calls for it. It gained an Oscar at last for Shirley MacLaine and a second for Jack Nicholson though in the Supporting character category.
The story stretches out over a 30 year period and it starts with the death of MacLaine's husband early on and she's left to raise her daughter on her own. As the daughter who grows up to be Debby Winger the two fight constantly. She really doesn't approve of her choice of husband Jeff Daniels who is a struggling academic who in the course of the movie has several teaching positions and rises slowly in his profession. Not fast enough for MacLaine. She reminds me of Madge Wallace the mother-in-law of Harry S. Truman who never thought her son-in-law would amount to anything. She died in the White House just before the Trumans left for Independence permanently.
Winger has three children, but she's beset by doubts about Daniels's infidelity as he does have nubile coeds all about. Both of them misread signals about each other and MacLaine's hectoring doesn't help.
As for Shirley, her neighbor is a retired astronaut Jack Nicholson who is still looking for space groupies. He's an unlikely candidate to thaw MacLaine out, but they find out they have more in common than they think. And Nicholson has more character than we first suspect.
Terms Of Endearment is a film that places people who are very much like the people who pay to see this film in real universal situations we can all understand. Not hard to understand how this became such a critical and popular hit.
Terms Of Endearment won for Best Picture in 1983 and Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for James Brooks. It got a flock more nominations as well. It's an enduring classic and will remain so.
The finale with MacLaine is sublimely beautiful.