Terms of Endearment

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OscarGuy
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Post by OscarGuy »

I'll join the love Terms of Endearment camp. Sure it has some campy moments, but its cancer themes still resonate today. The rest of it feels entirely dated (could be that its costumes are typical 80s) but the film itself ages decently when compared against films on a similar theme made today.
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Post by flipp525 »

Penelope wrote:I gladly and happily go along with MacLaine's selection for Best Actress.
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Post by Penelope »

dws1982 wrote:
Movielover wrote:Kind of hard to believe The Right Stuff beat Terms for the Oscar for Score.

That was a great win, and a great score--for my money, the only great score Bill Conti ever wrote. It should've beat it for Picture and Supporting Actor too.
Re Conti: aside from his glorious themes for Dynasty and Falcon Crest, of course.

And, yes, The Right Stuff shoulda won Best Picture over Terms of Endearment, but I gladly and happily go along with MacLaine's selection for Best Actress.
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Post by dws1982 »

Movielover wrote:Kind of hard to believe The Right Stuff beat Terms for the Oscar for Score.

That was a great win, and a great score--for my money, the only great score Bill Conti ever wrote. It should've beat it for Picture and Supporting Actor too.

I've never understood the love for Terms of Endearment. It's clearly more in line not with the sensibility of Larry McMurtry, but with that of a hack sitcom writer--Brooks constantly stops short of anything real or insightful in favor of clunky sentiment. He draws out the whole cancer thing for what seems like an eternity (if I recall correctly, McMurtry handles it much more quickly), although the last scene with Winger and her two boys is nicely handled. Still, I would like to see the hypothetical version with Jennifer Jones and Sissy Spacek in the MacLaine/Winger roles, and with a different writer/director.
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Post by Movielover »

He's not in it all that much, but he has some really great scenes (all with Winger).

And yes, the score is beautiful. Kind of hard to believe The Right Stuff beat Terms for the Oscar for Score.
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Post by rudeboy »

It's years since I've seen it, but I don't remember Lithgow's performance at all. Is he in it much?

I do remember liking Jeff Daniels' performance in the film.
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Post by HarryGoldfarb »

He would have got my vote for Garp... not for this one... he's pretty good but the whole cast did a terrific job, he's not superior to Nicholson imho. What I think is the film's most underestimated aspect is the music: the score is absolutely beautiful...
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Post by Movielover »

This movie is absolutely my favorite film of the 1980s. I know it has its detractors but I love the emotional level of the film, the sentiment it carries, and yes, I even think it manipulates the audience well - that doesn't bother me. MacLaine, in my opinion, was highly deserving of the Oscar, but I think if I were a voter, I would have gone with Lithgow for Supporting Actor. It's a subtle, sophisticated performance that may go unnoticed at first viewing. What do you guys think about Lithgow's performance in Terms of Endearment?
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