| The Trip to Bountiful | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Peter Masterson |
| Screenplay by | Horton Foote |
| Based on | The Trip to Bountiful 1953 play by Horton Foote |
| Produced by | Horton Foote Sterling Van Wagenen |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Fred Murphy |
| Edited by | Jay Freund |
| Music by | J.A.C. Redford |
Production companies | Bountiful Film Partners FilmDallas Pictures |
| Distributed by | Island Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 108 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $7,491,903[1] |
The Trip to Bountiful is a 1985 Americanroaddrama film directed byPeter Masterson and starringGeraldine Page,John Heard,Carlin Glynn,Richard Bradford andRebecca De Mornay. It was adapted byHorton Foote fromhis 1953 play. The film features a soundtrack by J.A.C. Redford featuringWill Thompson's "Softly and Tenderly" sung byCynthia Clawson.[2] Geraldine Page won theAcademy Award for Best Actress for her performance as Mrs. Watts and Horton Foote was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
The film is partially set in the community of Bountiful, a fictitious Texas town. Although part of the film is set inHouston (as was the original play), the movie was shot inDallas.
The film, set in the post-World War II 1940s, tells the story of an elderly woman, Carrie Watts, who wants to return to her home, the small, rural, agriculture-based town of Bountiful near the Texas Gulf coast between Houston and Corpus Christi, where she grew up, but she's frequently stopped from leaving Houston by her daughter-in-law and her overprotective son, who will not let her travel alone. Her son and daughter-in-law both know that the town has long since disappeared, due to the Depression. Long-term out-migration was caused by the draw-down of all the town's able-bodied men to the wartime draft calls and by the demand for industrial workers in the war production plants of the big cities.
Old Mrs. Watts is determined to outwit her son and bossy daughter-in-law, and sets out to catch a train, only to find that trains no longer go to Bountiful. She eventually boards a bus to a town near her childhood home. On the journey, she befriends a woman traveling alone and reminisces about her younger years and grieves for her lost relatives. Her son and daughter-in-law eventually track her down, with the help of the local police force; however, Mrs. Watts is determined. The local sheriff, moved by her yearning to visit her girlhood home, offers to drive her out to what remains of Bountiful. The town is deserted and the few remaining structures are derelict. Mrs. Watts learns that the last occupant of the town and the woman with whom she had hoped to live, has recently died. She is moved to tears as she surveys her father's land and the remains of the family home. Having accepted the reality of the current condition of Bountiful and knowing that she has reached her goal of returning there before dying, she is ready to return to Houston when her son and daughter-in-law arrive to drive her back. Having confronted their common history in Bountiful, the three commit to live more peacefully together. They begin their drive back to Houston.
The Trip to Bountiful received a very positive response from film critics. OnRotten Tomatoes, it has a score of 100% from 10 reviews, with an average rating of 7.3/10. Geraldine Page received particular praise for her performance as Mrs. Watts.Variety called the film "a superbly crafted drama featuring the performance of a lifetime by Geraldine Page."[3]Vincent Canby ofThe New York Times described it as a "funny, exquisitely performed film adaptation of [Foote's] own play" and wrote of Page, "Her Mrs. Watts is simultaneously hilarious and crafty, sentimental and unexpectedly tough." He added, "It's a wonderful role, and the performance ranks with the best things Miss Page has done on the screen."[4]
Roger Ebert of theChicago Sun-Times similarly observed that "Page inhabits the central role with authority and vinegar," writing, "She's not just a sweet and gentle little old lady. She's a big old lady, with a streak of stubbornness. And just because she's right doesn't mean she's always all that nice."[5]Charles Champlin of theLos Angeles Times further remarked, "Carrie [Watts] is a performance, a precisely conceived and calculated turn by a gifted professional always aware of what she is doing and the effects she's creating. But the test of acting always is that you forget this, surrendering to the certainty that you have been transported back to 1947 and that dark apartment, and are then riding the bus toward Bountiful in the company of this warm and loving old woman. The film gives us an unforgettable portrayal."[6]
Vincent Canby later includedThe Trip to Bountiful in his list of the top ten films of 1985.[7] The Japanese filmmakerAkira Kurosawa citedThe Trip to Bountiful as one of his favorite films.[8]
| Award | Category | Recipients and nominees | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Awards[9] | Best Actress | Geraldine Page | Won |
| Best Screenplay – Based on Material from Another Medium | Horton Foote | Nominated | |
| Boston Society of Film Critics Awards[10] | Best Actress | Geraldine Page | Won |
| Golden Globe Awards[11] | Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama | Nominated | |
| Independent Spirit Awards[12] | Best Film | Sterling Van Wagenen and Horton Foote | Nominated |
| Best Director | Peter Masterson | Nominated | |
| Best Female Lead | Geraldine Page | Won | |
| Best Screenplay | Horton Foote | Won | |
| Mainichi Film Awards[13] | Best Foreign Language Film | Peter Masterson | Won |
| National Board of Review Awards[14] | Top Ten Films | 3rd Place | |
| New York Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Actress | Geraldine Page | 3rd Place |
| Retirement Research Foundation, USA | Television and Theatrical Film Fiction | Horton Foote and Sterling Van Wagenen | Won |
| Writers Guild of America Awards | Best Screenplay – Based on Material from Another Medium | Horton Foote | Nominated |
On April 12, 2005,MGM releasedThe Trip to Bountiful on DVD in region 1 US in both a widescreen and a full-frame format on a two-sided disc.
In the United Kingdom, the film was initially released in late 1986 on VHS viaVestron Video,[15] while it has been available multiple times on DVD on region 2 in the UK; first distributed byArrow Films in a standard full-frame format edition on February 7, 2005,[16] while on February 6, 2006, it was made available via Prism in the same full-frame version.[17] Its most recent DVD release was on December 15, 2008, when it was distributed by Boulevard Entertainment.[18]
Kino Lorber releasedThe Trip to Bountiful on Blu-rayRegion A on September 25, 2018.[19][20]