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Robert Duvall won an Academy Award for his brilliant performance as Mac Sledge, a down-and-out country singer who is weaned off the bottle and finds happiness while staying with widow Rosa Lee (Tess Harper) and her young son (Allan Hubbard). Mac and Rosa Lee marry, but he must come to terms with his relationships with his ex-wife (Betty Buckley) and the daughter (Ellen Barkin) he hasn't seen in years. Wilford Brimley co-stars in director Bruce Beresford's poignant character study.
While director Bruce Beresford has often dwelled on the amusing peccadilloes of southerners, in this film he has adapted his style to characters whose manners are as plain and unadorned as the landscape they inhabit. The film stars Robert Duvall as Mac Sledge, formerly an icon of country & western music, now down-and-out, a penniless alcoholic. Rosa Lee (Tess Harper), the young widow who owns the rural Texas motel where he has ended up, allows him to work off his board. As the months pass, the singer develops a bond with Rosa and her young son, experiencing the healing effects of this deeply religious woman's compassion. They become a family when she accepts Mac's offer of marriage, and he continues to rebuild his life. He attempts to see his daughter, Sue Ann (Ellen Barkin), whom he hasn't seen in years, and despite a nasty dust-up with Dixie (Betty Buckley), his ex-wife, is finally able to do so. However, the last tragedy he must confront is one that will truly test his recovery. Less a traditional story than a chain of epiphanies on faith and love, this masterpiece of low-key naturalism is arguably the finest work in the distinguished careers of both Duvall and Beresford.
