Tender Mercies

PG

Released Mar 4, 1983

1h 30m

Drama

List

82%

28 Reviews

Tomatometer

81%

2,500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Down-on-his-luck country singer Mac Sledge (Robert Duvall) has nowhere to turn when he wakes up in a motel, short on cash. So he takes a job from Rosa Lee (Tess Harper), the kindly widow who runs the place. Mac begins to fall for Rosa, who helps him confront his drinking, and also finds an unexpected bond with Rosa's young son (Allan Hubbard). When the opportunity for a career comeback surfaces, Mac must choose between his new life and the life he let slip through his hands.

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Critics Consensus

Anchored by a deftly understated performance from Robert Duvall, Tender Mercies is a quiet character study that leaves a lasting emotional impact.

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Pauline Kael

New Yorker

I kept waiting for Tender Mercies to get started -- to get into something. I was still waiting when it was over and I was back out on the street.

Sep 19, 2023

Full Review

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Tender Mercies won Robert Duvall his only Academy Award in six nominations. It contains one of his most understated performances. It's mostly done with his eyes.

Rated: 4/4

Jun 20, 2018

Full Review

Roger Moore

Movie Nation

The best thing about this classic is you can watch it now and wonder, even all these years later, what took Hollywood so long to realize that the best among them was the one player who never called attention to himself.

Rated: 3.5/4

Jun 25, 2023

Full Review

Ian Kane

Epoch Times

If you’re looking for an inspiring movie that has an unusual sense of authenticity, heartfelt drama, and a good splash of romance, you can do no better than “Tender Mercies.”

Rated: 4.5/5

Feb 13, 2023

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

An unfussy and unassuming gem.

Rated: 3.5/4

Aug 16, 2020

Full Review

Molly Haskell

Vogue

Tender Mercies' ultimate miracle is its faith in the audience. It assumes, perhaps unreasonably, that we are not so canned overblown effects that we cannot pick up on its quiet rhythms.

Feb 27, 2020

Full Review

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Alec B

A subtle character piece that never wastes a second of its runtime and I love that Duvall won his Oscar for such a quiet and understated performance.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/21/24

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Ian M

Pure, honest, simple character study. It was nice to watch something that was 'the good 'ol days, when life had simple challenges.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

10/24/23

Full Review

Koi P

I thought it had to be based on a true story. Thought provoking and real.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

12/23/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A subtle character piece that never wastes a second of its runtime and I love that Duvall won his Oscar for such a quiet and understated performance.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/13/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Beautiful film, simple storytelling at its best. Spare production design, clean cinematography, authentic and believable characters. Robert Duvall excels as the washed up country music singer songwriter. He does his own vocals as well. There is a sweet spiritual thread running through the film, as well. Truly a good and rock solid family film. Gritty and true to life. This film is worth every minute, like a John Steinbeck story come to life.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I saw it in the library and noticed it was an award winner, so I checked it out and watched it with my mother. Neither of us were impressed. The story is about a former country music star who has collapsed into alcoholism and vagrancy, and ultimately winds up at a rural motel/gas station run by a young widow and her young son. He offers to work for her, and she accepts, telling him he could not drink. But he is still a country music legend, and he is first visited by a reporter, then a garage band who want to meet him. Also in the region are his ex-wife, also a country music star, and their daughter. The rest of the story, of course, has Mac's past catching up to him. While the performances and characters are all credible, especially of the little boy who acts like a genuine little boy and not a precocious stereotype, the story is predictable and holds little in the way of surprises. The song that makes a major part of the story isn't even very good. We don't even learn much of anything about the country music industry or culture. Not bad but not good either. It must have been a lean year at the Oscars.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/22/23

Full Review

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Bruce Beresford

Director

Robert Duvall

Mac Sledge

Tess Harper

Rosa Lee

Betty Buckley

Dixie

Wilford Brimley

Harry

Ellen Barkin

Sue Anne

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Synopsis

Down-on-his-luck country singer Mac Sledge (Robert Duvall) has nowhere to turn when he wakes up in a motel, short on cash. So he takes a job from Rosa Lee (Tess Harper), the kindly widow who runs the place. Mac begins to fall for Rosa, who helps him confront his drinking, and also finds an unexpected bond with Rosa's young son (Allan Hubbard). When the opportunity for a career comeback surfaces, Mac must choose between his new life and the life he let slip through his hands.

Director: Bruce Beresford
Screenwriter: Horton Foote, Horton Foote
Production Co: EMI Films Ltd.
Rating: PG
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 4, 1983, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 2, 2009
Runtime: 1h 30m

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