Best Picture: 1983
The Right Stuff >> Tender Mercies >>>> The Dresser >> Terms of Endearment > The Big Chill
Watched all of these recently, and think that The Right Stuff is the clear pick of this litter. Tender Mercies has lots of lovely moments though (Duvall's win was well earned), and they're both a hell of a lot better than the last three. I know a lot of people like Terms of Endearment, but to me it's bears the stamp not of a great writer (which to me Larry McMurtry unquestionably is) but of a hack sitcom writer (which to me James L. Brooks is). I'm all for director's bringing their own vision to an adaptation of a novel, but to me Brooks isn't an interesting or imaginative enough filmmaker to do that. (Exception: Debra Winger's last scene with her boys, which isn't in the book, if I recall correctly.) And my heart leaps at what-might've-been if Patricia Neal and Sissy Spacek (original cast in the two lead roles) had been in it instead of MacLaine/Winger.
Watched all of these recently, and think that The Right Stuff is the clear pick of this litter. Tender Mercies has lots of lovely moments though (Duvall's win was well earned), and they're both a hell of a lot better than the last three. I know a lot of people like Terms of Endearment, but to me it's bears the stamp not of a great writer (which to me Larry McMurtry unquestionably is) but of a hack sitcom writer (which to me James L. Brooks is). I'm all for director's bringing their own vision to an adaptation of a novel, but to me Brooks isn't an interesting or imaginative enough filmmaker to do that. (Exception: Debra Winger's last scene with her boys, which isn't in the book, if I recall correctly.) And my heart leaps at what-might've-been if Patricia Neal and Sissy Spacek (original cast in the two lead roles) had been in it instead of MacLaine/Winger.