Places in the Heart **** (1984, Sally Field, Lindsay Crouse, Ed Harris, Amy Madigan, John Malkovich, Danny Glover) – Classic Movie Review 5,126

Robert Benton’s 1984 US Deep South drama film Places in the Heart was a triumph for him and his star Sally Field, who won her second Best Actress Oscar as a sheriff’s widow fighting for her family’s cotton farm in Thirties Texas.

Writer-director Robert Benton’s 1984 US Deep South drama was a triumph for both him and his star Sally Field, who won her second Best Actress Oscar for her typically spunky performance as Edna Spalding, the sheriff’s widow fighting to keep and run the family’s cotton farm in Thirties Texas.

Field’s two kids Frank and Possum (Yankton Hatten, Gennie James), an itinerant worker named Moze (Danny Glover) and a blind lodger called Mr Will (John Malkovich) help her in battles against hard labour, a terrible storm and the Ku Klux Klan.

Director Benton turns in a typically lovingly crafted movie, with spot-on screenplay by him, glorious Nestor Almendros cinematography, and superlative acting. Benton won an Oscar for his original screenplay based on his memories of growing up in Waxahachie, where the movie is set.

Also in the superb cast are Lindsay Crouse, Ed Harris, Amy Madigan, Lane Smith, Bert Remsen, Terry O’Quinn, and Ray Baker.

Accepting her Oscar, Field foolishly told the Academy Awards: ‘This means you really like me!’ She previously won for Norma Rae (1979) and was nominated as Best Supporting Actress for Lincoln (2012).

Field recalls: ‘Nothing ever fell in my lap. When I won an Emmy for Sybil, when I won an Oscar for Norma Rae, when I won an Oscar for Places in the Heart, it didn’t mean open the doors, the scripts are falling in. It never, ever happened for me like that.’

Robert Benton (September 29, 1932 – May 11, 2025)

Robert Benton and David Newman were nominated for the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for the 1967 Bonnie and Clyde. In 1979, Benton wrote and directed Kramer vs Kramer, winning Oscars for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. He won another Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Places in the Heart.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5,126

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