Tender Mercies

I've been thinking a lot about what makes us like stories whether they are books or movies. One crucial aspect is that one must sympathize with the main character. Tender Mercies has such a character for me. In the beginning of the film, the main character, Mac Sledge, is in a drunken riot that ends with him passed out on the floor. Can you sympathize yet? Just wait. The next day, he wakes up and finds work with a young widow who runs a motel, doing odd jobs around the grounds for her. He tells her that his drinking days are over, and then asks her to marry him. Now, it wasn't Sledge's drunken rage that held my sympathy, but it was a man with a serious addiction who was trying to overcome it that gained my attention and interest. The two get married, and during the rest of the movie, I kept watching to see if Sledge would go back to his drinking. It's a simple problem for a story, I suppose, but it held my interest for the two hours that I watched it.

The title is significant. This man is on the rocks and is able to find mercy with this widow and her ten year old son, but the tender mercies take an ironic twist at the end. At the end of the movie, I felt like I had watched something quite moving. This is a slow-moving movie. It takes place in the barren flatlands of Texas which creates a lonesome mood to the entire work.

One last note about Robert Duvall's acting. If you look at the cover of this movie, you might think hey, a movie about a young Augustus McCrae from Lonesome Dove. Robert Duvall has the same mustache and beard. He also sports a cowboy hat with the same shape and looks as as Gus'. Don't be deceived, however. This is not Augustus McCrae, not the same character at all. We don't have the happy-go-lucky Gus, but rather a man at the end of a long dark road. It shows that Duvall can act, playing different rolls according to the part.