Tender Mercies

Tender Mercies is a 1983 American drama film directed by Bruce Beresford and written by Horton Foote. It stars Robert Duvall as singer-songwriter Mac Sledge, a former country music star whose career and relationship with his ex-wife and daughter were wrecked by alcoholism. Recovering from his affliction, Sledge seeks to turn his life around through his relationship with a young widow and her son in rural Texas. The supporting cast includes Tess Harper, Betty Buckley, Wilford Brimley, Ellen Barkin and Allan Hubbard.

Financed by EMI Films, Tender Mercies was shot largely in Waxahachie, Texas. The script was rejected by several American directors before the Australian Beresford accepted it. Duvall, who sang his own songs in the film, drove more than 600 miles (1,000 km) throughout the state, tape recording local accents and playing in country music bands to prepare for the role. He and Beresford repeatedly clashed during production, at one point prompting the director to walk off the set and reportedly consider quitting the film.

The film encompasses several themes, including the importance of love and family, the possibility of spiritual resurrection amid death and the concept of redemption through Mac Sledge's conversion to Christianity. Following poor test screening results, distributor Universal Pictures made little effort to publicise Tender Mercies, which Duvall attributed to the studio's lack of understanding of country music.

The film was released on March 4, 1983, in a limited number of theatres. Although unsuccessful at the box office, it was critically acclaimed and earned five Academy Award nominations, including for Best Picture. At the 56th Academy Awards. Tender Mercies won Oscars for Best Original Screenplay for Foote and Duvall won the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Washed-up, alcoholic country singer Mac Sledge awakens at a run-down Texas roadside motel and gas station after a night of heavy drinking. He meets the owner, a young widow named Rosa Lee, and offers to perform maintenance work there in exchange for a room. Rosa, whose husband died in the Vietnam War, is raising her young son, Sonny, on her own. She agrees to let Mac stay on condition that he does not drink while working. During quiet evenings, they sit alone and share parts of their life stories.

Mac resolves to give up alcohol and start his life anew. After enough days of keeping his word and doing his work, he is comfortable enough in his new life that he and Rosa Lee wed. They start attending a Baptist church on a regular basis. A newspaper reporter eventually visits the motel and asks Mac whether he has stopped recording music and if he has deliberately chosen to lead an anonymous life. When Mac refuses to answer, the reporter explains he is writing a story about him and has interviewed his ex-wife, Dixie Scott, a country music star who is performing nearby.

After the story is published, the neighbourhood learns of Mac's past, and members of a local country–western band visit him to show their respect. Despite greeting them politely, Mac remains reluctant to open up about his past. Later, he secretly attends Dixie's concert. She passionately sings songs that Mac wrote years earlier, and he leaves in the middle of the performance. Backstage, he talks to Dixie's manager, his old friend, Harry. Mac gives him a copy of a new song he has written and asks him to show it to Dixie. Mac tries to talk to Dixie, who becomes angry on seeing him and warns him to stay away from their 18-year-old daughter, Sue Anne.

Upon returning home, Mac assures Rosa Lee he no longer has any feelings for Dixie. Later, Harry visits Mac to tell him, seemingly at Dixie's urging, that the country music business has changed and his new song is no good. Hurt and angry, Mac drives away and nearly crashes the truck. He buys a bottle of whiskey but, returning home to a worried Rosa Lee and Sonny, he tells them he poured it out. He says he tried to leave Rosa Lee, but found he could not. Mac and Sonny are later baptised together in Rosa Lee's church.