Terms of Endearment (1983)

“You are not special enough to overcome a bad marriage” – Aurora Greenway

Number of Times Seen –  5-10 times (cable, video, DVD, 23 Jun 2013)

Brief Synopsis – The ups and downs of a mother-daughter relationship in the American heartland

My Take on it – This is a movie that I saw numerous times on cable as a kid and obviously didn’t understand it all until I was more grown up.

Having re-watched it, I think I appreciated it the most this time around.

Cast is great for James L. Brooks directorial debut. Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, Jack Nicholson, John Lithgow,  (all 4 were nominated for Oscars, MacLaine and Nicholson won.) Danny Devito and Jeff Daniels.

This movie was based on a book and I think that they managed to tell a 10+ year story quite well in just over 2 hours of screen time while at the same time making sure we get to know the characters well and believe that they are living those lives. The tragedy and triumphs are what make us all humans. We never know what will happen next in life.

Winner of 5 of 11 Oscars (picture, director, actress (MacLaine), supporting actor (Nicholson) and Adapted screenplay.)

It lost actress (winger), supporting actor (Lithgow), score (cant believe it lost. It’s one of my favorite pieces of music.  Hear it here.), Art direction, sound and film editing.

Beat out The Right Stuff (1983) which was possibly a better (but very different kind of) movie for Best Picture.

Bottom Line – Very moving movie, deservingly won Best Picture. Highly Recommended

Rating – Oscar Worthy