Episode 510: Tender Mercies (1983)

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Our second film honoring the late Robert Duvall not only shows off his musical abilities, but it won him an Academy Award for Best Actor! Directed by Bruce Beresford, 1983's "Tender Mercies" tells the story of washed-up country singer Mac Sledge (Duvall) who, after a drunken night, finds himself stranded, penniless, at a small motel/gas station in Texas. He seeks out the proprietor, Rosa Lee (Tess Harper) who, with her young son Sonny (Allan Hubbard), tend to the business as best they can, and offers to work to pay off his room. He ends up staying on and cleans himself up, stops drinking, and becomes close with both Rosa and Sonny. He also begins writing new songs, although he tells no one about them. Eventually he professes his affections to Rosa and and the two get married. After a reporter (Paul Gleason) write a story about him in the local paper, a group of young musicians show up and tell him how much his music inspired them. He takes one of his songs to his ex-wife Dixie's (Betty Buckley) manager, Harry (Wilford Brimley) and asks him if he'd take it to her and see if she'd be interested in performing it. He also confronts Dixie and asks about his daughter, Sue Anne (Ellen Barkin) who he hasn't seen in a decade. Dixie throws him out, and Harry tells him she rejected his song outright, calling it substandard. Eventually, the young country band ask permission to record two of his songs, and Sue Anne comes to visit him against her mother's wishes now that she's turned 18. Things start to look up, but as Mac knows all too well, tragedy is always right around the corner - what matters is how you deal with it and move on. Plus, the trio FINALLY return to the list they began in early August and reveal which two films starring Dudley Moore will make up the next pairing!

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