The Trip To Bountiful

THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL (PG)

D: Peter Masterson

Island/FilmDallas (Horton Foote & Sterling van Wagenen)

US 1985

108 mins

Drama

W: Horton Foote [based on his play]

DP: Fred Murphy

Ed: Jay Freund

Mus: J.A.C. Redford

Geraldine Page (Carrie Watts), John Heard (Ludie Watts), Carlin Glynn (Jessie Mae), Rebecca DeMornay (Thelma), Richard Bradford (Sheriff)

Geraldine Page won the Best Actress Oscar for 1985 with her performance in The Trip To Bountiful, but I really can't help but think that it was all down to a sympathy vote. This film, and her performance, is quite unremarkable, especially when you consider other films and performances that year (Cher in Mask, Whoopi Goldberg in The Color Purple).

Page plays Carrie Watts, an elderly woman living with her son and his wife, who wants to visit her hometown one last time, but with no train stopping there anymore, she takes a bus trip there and strikes up a friendship with a young woman who is also a passenger.

It's a quaint, twee spin on your usual road trip film, and the performances are well delivered, but it's a rather dull film and looks about 10 years older than it actually is. TV movie-of-the-week stuff.

6/10