PLACES IN THE HEART (1984) - Movie Review

Director: Robert Benton
Starring: Sally Field, Lindsay Crouse, Ed Harris, Amy Madigan, John Malkovich, Danny Glover, Terry O'Quinn
Genre: Drama
Writer: Robert Benton
Runtime: 111 min
Rated: PG
Buy This Movie: Blu-ray (Amazon), DVD (Amazon), Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV

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Synopsis:

Acclaimed by critics all over the country and boasting an Academy Award(r)-winning performance by Sally Field, PLACES IN THE HEART is a landmark film. Its emotionally gripping story centers around EdnaSpalding (Field) and her unending struggle against extraordinary hardships. But, as recalled from director-writer Robert Benton's own childhood, it's also a portrait of a time and a place and a people. It is the 1930s in Waxahachie, Texas. Against this Depression-torn background, unforgettable characters meet and collide. Like Mr. Will (John Malkovich), the blind boarder who sees all too clearly the bigotry of his time, Moze (Danny Glover), a black man who knows a lot, including his own place in a white Southern town, and Wayne (Ed Harris), Margaret (Lindsay Crouse) and Viola (Amy Madigan), decent people caught up in an adulterous triangle which threatens two marriages. Together they leave an indelible impression of faith, courage, love and, most of all, endurance.

Review:

"Places in the Heart" was one of three "Save the Farm" movies released in 1984, in the context of the 1980s Farm Crisis. The other two were "The River" starring Mel Gibson and Sissy Spacek, and "Country" starring Jessica Lange. Out of all the three, I would have to say Robert Benton's Oscar winning drama is still the best.

The film is set in 1935, and stars Sally Field as Edna Spalding, a recently widowed woman struggling to raise two children and keep the farm from being taken by foreclosure. With the unlikely help of black drifter Moses "Moze" Hadner (Danny Glover) and Mr. Will (Oscar-nominated John Malkovich), a blind boarder, she undertakes an ambitious plan to plant and harvest 30 acres of cotton.

Field's performance earned her a second Academy Award, and it was wholly deserved. Edna is probably her finest role. A heroine whose strength comes from within, she grows from helpess and lost to a strong woman in charge of her own destiny. Glover and Malkovich are also fantastic, especially Malkovich, who can communicate so much with the subtlest of gestures.

Writer/director Robert Benton paints a vivid depression-era Texas landscape where hardships, racism and injustice are commonplace, and populates it with complex memorable characters. The drama is strong and poignant and Benton infuses the story with an overarching sense of community as three strangers look past their differences and work together towards a common goal. There's not an ounce of cynicism in Benton's soulful script, and his greatest achievement is that it doesn't come off as sanctimonious, cheaply sentimental or overstated.

Benton's only mistep is that he too often shifts the focus away from a great story to secondary characters that prove inconsequential to the plot, and aren't really all that interesting to begin with. It almost feels like a second movie squeezed in between scenes of the main movie. Regardless, the supporting cast features solid performances from Lindsay Crouse, Ed Harris, Amy Madigan and Terry O'Quinn.

Despite all the adversity and melodrama, it's a surprisingly hopeful movie steeped in nostalgic Americana traditionalism that may not appeal to viewers looking for something more modern or edgy. However, if you prefer old fashioned drama, this is the perfect movie for you.

SCORE: 8/10