Looking back at the Best Picture race year by year, it dawns on me that I became more cynical towards the awards year by year. Return of the Jedi, WarGames, Sudden Impact (which I had to sneak into) – how were these not nominated? Nothing about any of the actual five nominees appealed to me as a kid. But, my love of a good doo-doo joke aside, I’ve now grown to like and in some cases love them:
Tender Mercies: I remember Siskel & Ebert reviewing this and nearly falling asleep when they showed a two-minute clip. My dad thought it looked great, but was discouraged by the two thumbs up. Saw it when I got to be a grown-ass man, and damn it ’bout made me weep. Great, great movie, stunning performance by Robert Duvall. Maybe the best examination of the seemingly inexplicable nature of God’s grace I’ve ever seen.
The Right Stuff: Never had I felt more suckered by a movie in my life. Argued with a former boss about it right after college. He lent it to me, guaranteed I’d change my mind about it. He was right. I’ve watched it dozens of times since, and I don’t care about the historical accuracy or lack thereof, this is a great movie. Unexpectedly funny, too; I love the scene when some of the pilots mock the astronauts for only doing something a monkey has done before them, and Chuck Yeager (Best Supporting Actor Nominee Sam Shepard) counters, “You think a monkey knows he’s sitting on top of a rocket that might explode?”
The Big Chill: I know I’ll get slammed, but I don’t love it. Think I saw it when I was too young, and should probably see it again.
Terms of Endearment: Can’t really watch this one enough, and at the same time, when people argue that it’s overrated or that it’s not a story, just a rambling mess with cancer thrown in for no reason, I kinda agree. But I love it.
13 year-old Cam Cannon: Are you kidding me? The Dresser?
39year-old Cam Cannon: Seriously, you’re joking, right? The Dresser?!
Got us a three way (heh heh) race here, and I’m going with…the one that did win, Terms of Endearment. Great performances from Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, Jack Nicholson, and Jeff Daniels. A creepy one from Danny DeVito.
The opening scene, in which Aurora (Shirley MacLaine) goes to check on her sleeping baby, Emma, is brilliantly simple, a great suck’em in moment. Emma is, of course, fine. Sleeping soundly, but Aurora’s convinced the baby isn’t breathing. So, she wakes her up, the baby wails, and Aurora leaves her alone to cry.
Emma, played as an adult by Debra Winger, could not be more different than Aurora. Emma marries the ne’er do well English teacher, Flap (Jeff Daniels), moves away, comes back every now and then to fight with Aurora, discovers Flap’s infidelity, moves again, cheats on Flap, leaves Flap, reconciles with him, and then gets cancer. This broad description shortchanges the richness of the characters, the engine driving the movie.
Aurora was, of course, against the marriage to Flap (“You’re not special enough to overcome a bad marriage.” Ouch.), against Emma moving away, against her every move, really, but holds vigil by her side as she suffers in the hospital.
Lots of little moments make this movie rise above the aforementioned nay saying. Love when Debra Winger pops a zit on Jeff Daniels’ back. Just a goofy, dumb moment that feels so real to me. Or when Aurora calls Flap to check on Emma and the kids.
Aurora: How are the kids?
Flap: I wish I were so carefree.
Aurora: Yes, well, they don’t have anything to feel ashamed about.
Aurora is, in the end, one of the oddest characters to ever carry a movie. She’s not outright mean. But she’s not nice. She’s not eccentric, but then, she ain’t normal, either. She’s just odd, thinks her way of viewing the world is the way, and lives her life constantly amazed that the world sees things differently. In a movie full of great characters, all of whom we like on some level, she is the anchor.
But my favorite thing about the movie really only surfaces during repeat viewings, but it stems from the characters and their likability. The more often we watch, the more we pull for the characters not to make the stupid decisions that they make, or to say the sometimes horrible things that they say. Especially Aurora, but even Flap – Don’t cheat on her, no, stop, awww, man! It’s not just because it’s a tearjerker, though that plays a part in it. When we know the outcome of the movie, the characters’ sometimes petty behavior becomes cringe-inducing.
But in a good way.
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