TENDER MERCIES

title: TENDER MERCIES

year: 1983

cast: Robert Duvall, Tess Harper, Ellen Barkin, Alan Hubbard

rating: ****1/2

The heartfelt ballad of a once great Country singer who, at the end of his rope, finds a new life when his old one catches up: We learn more about Robert Duvall’s “Mack Sledge” from his reposeful expressions that, by the time a snoopy journalist provides exposition of his past, it doesn't matter. What’s important is his present life with a lovely, soft-spoken wife (Tess Harper) and her son. And as Mack’s ex-wife and estranged daughter turn up, the movie doesn't collapse into melodrama: remaining a firm character-study of a musician who’s found his place... but still has more to give. Duvall won a deserved Oscar; he not only transcends into the role, but plays guitar and sings with weathered passion.