Robert Duvall, Tess Harper, Wilford Brimley

Sometimes everything comes together in a movie and it becomes something so much greater than the sum of its parts that it can only be described as a miracle. That's the case with Tender Mercies...( read more  read more... ), a quietly luminous character piece about an alcoholic, washed-up country singer named Mac Sledge (Robert Duvall in an Oscar-winning performance) who hits bottom in a motel room one night and then slowly finds his way back into the land of the living with the help of the widow (Tess Harper) and her young son. It's a low-key, contemplative film that feels like a rural American family comedy in the vein of the great Japanese director, Yasujiro Ozu. Tender Mercies was directed by Australian Bruce Beresford (Driving Miss Daisy, Breaker Morant), written by Horton Foote (To Kill a Mockingbird), who won an Oscar for his screenplay, and has an unbeatable cast. This is one of Duvall's most intimate and deeply personal performances, matched only by his debut 14 years later as actor-writer-director in The Apostle. --Jim Emerson

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84% liked it

2,423 ratings

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85% liked it

20 critics

PG, 1 hr. 32 min.

Directed by: Bruce Beresford

Release Date: March 4, 1983

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DVD Release Date: March 15, 2000

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Flixster Reviews (157)


  • February 1, 2007
    loved this movie
  • July 29, 2008
    Robert Duvall is brilliant here. This might be Duvall's best performance of his stellar career. Great direction and screenplay in what I found to be an interesting, moving character study that is so genuine that I, a liberal atheist, could care about and relate to these southern ...( read more)Christians. Great film!
  • October 14, 2009
    Pretty good.It was funny that after a couple days of watching this, Some guy was on "Pawn Stars" pawning 1 of the guitars Robert Duvall played in the movie
  • October 3, 2009
    It just wasn't my cup of tea.
  • August 13, 2009
    the greatisst film that i ever saw for robert duvall
  • April 21, 2009
    Finally Duvall gets his oscar....and deservedly so.
  • April 11, 2009
    The underlying feeling running through this picture is wrenching. Duvall couldn't have been better, and the whole cast is just right - Betty Buckley should be a star - her rendition of "Over You" is spine-tingling. The richly developed midwestern world of Foote's nuanced screen...( read more)play is expertly observed and paced by Beresford along with his cinematographer Russell Boyd and editor William Anderson. Special.
  • March 25, 2009
    Little spare. Little maudlin. Makes you want to get a football.
  • December 8, 2008
    no thanks not my thing

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