A broken-down, middle-aged country singer gets a new wife, reaches out to his long-lost daughter, and tries to put his troubled life back together.
Director: Bruce Beresford
Stars: Robert Duvall, Tess Harper, Betty Buckley, Ellen Barkin.
Watched online, good print.
11 songs in the Soundtracks, 2 written by RD. He sings too.
Per IMDb: Filming date 2 November 1981. BB was in Eight Is Enough (TV Series, '77-23 May 1981) and originated Grizabella in Cats (Sep 23, 1982 - circa. Mar 1984) on B'way, won a Tony for that performance. Here she sounds like D.Parton. Her singing Memory is also high pitched, but not so twangy. I can tolerate the music here much better than Meowville.
RD won the Best Actor Oscar for this, and Horton Foote got Best Original Writing. Both are worthy (I didn't look at the competition). RD has a face worth watching. The story doesn't get too maudlin or nasty, yet has plenty of drama and heart.
EMI Films, distr. Universal, dir. Beresford; 7
