Geraldine Page won a well deserved Oscar for her role as a widow women living with her son and daughter in law. The two women can not seem to get along prompting the mother to leave in search for one last look at her home in Bountiful Texas. A fine cast includes John Heard as the kind son trying to do the right thing, and Carlin Glynn as his wife, a basically good person who can just not seem to share her life with her mother in law with out complaining. Rebecca De Mornay is effective as a young girl who shares some time on a train headed for Bountiful. The music can be credited to Jack Redford and fits the film perfectly. See and enjoy this touching look at what home means for many who find themselves away and getting up in age.
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SnoopyStyle21 May 2019Hymn singing Carrie Watts (Geraldine Page) lives with her son Ludie (John Heard) and his demanding wife Jessie Mae in Houston. The women fight. Carrie hides her pension check from Jessie Mae and is desperate to return to her childhood home in rural Bountiful, Texas. She sneaks off to take the train to Bountiful but no trains go there now. Even the bus doesn't stop there anymore. She befriends Thelma (Rebecca De Mornay) on the trip.
There are a couple of real tear jerker scenes in this one. The conversation between Carrie and Thelma on the bus is devastating. I kinda expected Thelma to join Carrie on the rest of the journey. It's a disappointing when she departs the movie. I wasn't excited about the sheriff but driving her is a great redemption and her return is another tear jerker. This is a simple story and a powerful emotional journey. Geraldine Page won her well-deserved Oscar. This is a must see for cinema lovers. -
evanston_dad3 January 2017I saw "The Trip to Bountiful" on stage at Chicago's Goodman Theatre with Lois Smith in the role played by Geraldine Page in the film. I thought it was touching if not deeply affecting, and my principal interest in seeing the movie was to see Page's Oscar-winning interpretation of the role. I did not expect to be punched in the gut by the film, but man was I reduced to a puddle by the time this film was over.
Page gives an astonishing performance as Carrie Watts. I first reacted to her the way I do all of Page's creations -- I was put off by her mannered line deliveries, and I thought she was playing the role too broadly, turning Carrie into a tantrum-throwing child. But as the movie unfolds, Page's mannerisms calm down and her character matures before our eyes the farther she gets from her unhappy present and the closer she gets to her ruminative past, and the history she has accumulated along the way. "The Trip to Bountiful" is about, among other things, valuing and remembering the past, even when it hurts to do so. For it's our pasts, like it or not, that shape who we become. John Heard, who I never hear anyone talk about but who is equally wonderful in this film as Page's son, has a marvelous scene with Page at the movie's end where he finally stops dismissing his batty mom and listens to her and her advice, and discovers that there's a lot to learn from those who have been on this planet longer than us.
I was afraid "The Trip to Bountiful" would be mawkish and maudlin, and I suppose it might be to some -- maybe it would seem so to me if I had watched it in a different mood or at a different time in my life. But I instead found it to be bittersweet and painful in a cathartic way. It literally made my heart hurt, but the sensation was weirdly pleasant, if that makes any sense at all.
Grade: A -
GareThere15 December 2004Geraldine Page won the Best Actress Oscar for this film in 1985. And it's no wonder why. The movie almost unfolds as a Broadway play. It may seem depressing at first, but that's the gift that Geraldine has in portraying the emotions of an aging Southern mother who yearns to return to the small town she left in Texas many many years before. For whatever reason, this film hits an emotional chord with me because Geraldine Page reminds me so much of my maternal grandmother. If you're into fast paced, action flicks - or comic farces, you won't like this film. But, if you really appreciate character development that slowly unfolds and develops in a film, you should not pass up this one!
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bobbobwhite13 September 2005Note, I didn't say movie star as she certainly was not a movie star but was a veteran Broadway actor, a real actor and not a movie face with "presence". Charles Bronson once said that what big movie stars have is "presence", not acting ability. Page has both of these attributes here in spades, acting and presence.
This great film could be my grandmother's story but in reverse, as my grandma had a very caring daughter, my mother, but a resentful son-in-law in my father so I saw a very similar story first hand, which made me appreciate this film all the more.
Page did a marvelous job of showing the immense disconnect between two diverse generations, one raised early in the 20th century in an era of intense religious devotion and the other raised 40 years later in a WWII era of emerging personal independence. The resulting conflicts between the loving son's selfish and demanding wife and his self-sacrificing mother was the entire story until her eventful "trip" back home to Bountiful, Texas. Wanting and praying so hard to be able to take her last trip home consumed her entire life as she gracefully but tearfully faced her hateful daughter-in-law's cruel harshness each and every day, with her unfortunate son forced to try to act as mediator. John Heard was effective as her concerned son caught in the middle.
Page was marvelous in the special way she showed her character's intense religious devotion and principles in how she always treated all people with decency even when they were not that way to her, and in how she tried her best to get along and be friendly in the face of intense dislike and resentment. Understandably, her all-day hymn singing got on her son's wife's nerves, just as my Grandma's incessant hymn singing got on my dad's nerves and forced the same conclusion....both old ladies were practically forced to leave.
Page's son loved both women dearly but he was forced to be in the difficult middle ground, wanting to please his jerk wife and his nice mom but was increasingly unable to do so, thus the long bus "trip" back home for mom was an inevitable run-away trip that left the son in an even greater mess....now what to do?
On her bus trip home, Page's character's "live and let live" understanding of humanity, and her awareness that we are all in the same boat here on earth(even though it was God's glorious boat to her)led her to reach out to a fellow bus traveler with immense friendliness and compassion in the best manner of her religion's teachings. Rebecca DeMornay was perfect as that fellow bus traveler, a prim young military wife on her way to her husband. And, even though Thomas Wolfe was right when he wrote that "you can never go home again", Page showed the perfect combination of wonder and sad acceptance upon seeing her old, run down, country home place again after so many years away in the big city.
Though her caring son finally came to retrieve her back home to whatever improvements he had worked out with his wife, at least she got to see the "old home place" one last time. She could now rest in peace no matter what. See this great story just to fill your heart, and to see that people in this country once were just like Page's character, and it was a better place for it.
Movies don't get any better than this one. If you loved this film you will also love "Places in The Heart". -
algernon422 January 2001I came back to read my original review of "The Trip to Bountiful" after I viewed the film again the other night. I read the other accounts of the movie and I couldn't help by get very emotional reading the words of praise for Geraldine Page's memorable performance.
The night she won the Oscar was big news in New York, where she lived and taught. One news program's crew visited a cafe where Miss Page's students were watching the ceremonies on tv. When F. Murray Abraham opened the envelope and said, "...and the winner is the greatest actress.." her students began to scream and cry BEFORE her name was called. They KNEW who had won, and so did I. I wept right along with them, just as I had done when I, a former actor, realized that very few actors would ever reach her level of artistry.
I watched "Bountiful" over and over in disbelief. Her scenes on the bus with Rebecca de Mornay were wonderful and very touching. I kept wondering HOW did she prepared herself for this?!!! When she rode, with the Sheriff through what was left of Bountiful and uttered, "My God, will you look at Bountiful..." Her walk through the old house and her gaze as she looked at the land, the trees and the birds reminded me of a visit to the old country town of my childhood, reminding me that everywhere I've ever been is still there, perhaps in a different form, but it's still there.
The reason that she got that standing ovation from the Academy Awards audience, is that it was appropriate to honor greatness and that the Oscar was going to an actor that TRULY deserved to win.
In an age that Oscars are won for okay performances, when, in other years, Oscars were truly given to deserving achievements, AND, the competition was much, much stronger.
I cannot recommend this picture more. For any aspiring actor that wants to set a goal standard for greatest, he or she must see this performance. -
Tito-821 April 1999Although I found that this film had a tendency to get rather slow at times, top-notch acting and some real emotions were enough for me to recommend this movie. Personally, I would have liked this film to have been a little shorter, since I felt that it seemed a little dragged out for a movie with only an average running time. But after several years, the first thing that comes to my mind when thinking back to this movie is not the somewhat slow pace, but the many beautiful scenes that were delivered to us by a great cast. This is not a film for those who need non-stop action to stay entertained, but if you like thoughtful dramas, then I'm sure that this will be well worth your time.
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t-kirby-116 September 2004Carrie Watts (Oscar winning Geraldine Page) has been cooped up in a 2 room Houston apartment with her meek son and her outspoken daughter-in-law for twenty years. Getting on in her years, and equipped with a bad heart, her only wish is to see her home on the southern coast of Texas (Bountiful) before she dies. She has often attempted to go there, but always seems to get caught before she can even get on the bus. But one glorious day, she does manage to escape the confines of the apartment and her critical daughter-in-law, and thus, her adventure does begin. Mrs. Watts encounters a delightful young lady (Rebecca de Mornay)and relates her life story, sings hymns to her heart's content, and finally, through sheer will and perseverance, does make it to Bountiful, where she discovers that her one time home is now a timeworn shell. Here, she rediscovers her past, and all of the emotions she experiences and shares with us are to be treasured for generations to come. Geraldine Page is so masterful and in every frame of this monumental film, that we tend to forget that she is even acting. Her character could be our grandmother, our mother, and we come to love this eccentric character as though she were family. One of the most charming movies ever made!
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mossgrymk15 April 2022As a showcase for the awesome acting skills of Geraldine Page this film is impressive indeed. As a powerful, drama, however, it leaves much to be desired. Put simply, there is virtually no conflict. The only example of this vital ingredient for a satisfying dramatic experience is the struggle between mother and daughter in law and that is curtailed toward the end of act one, not to reappear until the very end of act three, (and if I sound like I'm reviewing a stage play rather than a movie, well, that's another problem with this thing). Most of the film is taken up with strangers being kind to the elderly woman played by Ms. Page, sort of the reverse of the Blanche DuBois situation in "Streetcar", a drama in which the conflict is most assuredly NOT soft peddled. So while Tennessee's searing work feels like a raucous, violent Saturday night of the soul Horton Foote's hymn singin paean to decency feels like Sunday school. And personally I like my movies to be more Saturday night than Sunday school, thank you very much.
Bottom line: Shoulda given Page the Oscar for "Sweet Bird Of Youth" instead. And left this work off Broadway, where it belongs. C plus.
PS...Can't leave this review without a tip of the cap to Richard Bradford, a veteran interpreter of psycho rednecks, here given a chance to play a good guy sheriff and acing it. -
StreepFan12621 February 2003Geraldine Page is most definatly one of the best actress in American film history. I this film, made just two years before she died, she plays Carrie Watts, a sixty year old living in a two room apartment with her son and daughter in law. For the past five year, Carrie has wanted only one thing, to go back to her hometown before she dies. Unfortunatly, her son and daughter-in-law think its a bad idea. Finding the right moment to escape, Carrie Watts runs away and begins The Trip To Bountiful.
A simple plot yes. But the acting is top notch. It's also kind of sad. Not just becuase of its bittersweet plot, but because of the timing. This film was first screened in early 1985 at the Sundance Film Festival, where it recieved great reviews. Released theatrically in the fall of 1985, it did well for an independant film and in March 1986, Page recieved her first Oscar on her 8th nomination, which was accompined by a standing ovation. Hollywood insiders said that Page's carrer would flourish again, and an adaptation of "The Glass Managerie" went into development, with Page to co-star with Paul Newman and Meryl Streep. 15 months after the Oscars, Page was dead, A heart attack claimed her life. She won an Oscar for her last leading role. -
Doylenf13 January 2008GERALDINE PAGE had only a couple of years to live after she made THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL, so it's fortunate that the Academy honored her with a Best Actress Oscar for her leading role in this film directed by Peter Masterson.
A lonely widow determined to visit the scene of her youth, Page boards a bus and soon forms a friendship with fellow passenger, REBECCA DeMORNAY, a kind young woman separated from her military husband during wartime. Their relationship forms much of the core of the film's character-driven tale, although the story itself is slowly paced and riveting only because Miss Page is such a consummate actress.
Based on Horton Foote's 1953 TV play, it provides a meaty role for Miss Page as a woman tired of living with her son and daughter-in-law in a cramped household and longing to return to Bountiful, Texas to recapture old times. Once you settle into the story, it provides a warm, nostalgic feeling and is impressively acted by the entire cast.
Well worth viewing, if only for Page's heartbreaking performance. -
Oh man, what peice of work. I'll admit to being a Horton Foote fan anyway, but THIS movie drills deep into your soul and will stay there as long as you draw breath. There's a spark inside Geraldine Page that finally combusts in a darkened bus depot-- a scene that is the result of masterful character development. No explosion from the biggest-budget action flick can match the concussion of Page's long-suppressed screed.
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lasttimeisaw22 August 2015This is acting legend Geraldine Page's final Oscar-winning performance at the age of 61, after harvesting eight nominations during her renowned silver-screen career, and she passed away two years later in 1987. So Ms. Close, don't give up your hope yet, please live long and prosper.
THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL is an adaptation of Horton Foote's eponymous play, sets in Houston in 1940s, Mrs. Watts (Page) lives with her son Ludie (Heard) and his wife Jessie Mae (Glynn) in a two-room apartment, for almost two decades, Mrs. Matts tries to visit her hometown, Bountiful, an obsolete town being forgotten by any train or bus schedule, for the last time, however, Ludie and Jessie Mae can always pre-empt her plan in the past years, this time, after a sleepless night and the quotidian spat with Jessie Mae, plus a sinking spell may indicate that she has some heart problem, Ms. Watts ramps up all the courage and she must go back to Bountiful on her own, with the pension check she smartly concealed from Jessie Mae.
Luck is also on her side, finally, she dodges Ludie and Jessie Mae's search in the bus station and befriends with her fellow passenger Thelma (De Mornay), a young married girl whose husband is dispatched to the war zone, on the bus to the nearest town from Bountiful. A quasi mother-daughter bond builds tenderly while they confide their stories en route. When Thelma leaves for her destination, Mrs. Watts stays over in the local station until the Sheriff (Bradford) arrives to inform her that Ludie will fetch her up at the morning. Out of despair, Ms. Watts plead the Sheriff to drive her to Bountiful, allow her to see her old house for the last time before Ludie arrives.
This is a featherweight indie picture, with a handful of actors, spanning merely two nights and two days, Page's Mrs. Watts is always in the centre of the story, she is a country girl in spirit, crammed in a small apartment and crashes with an ultra-selfish Jessie Mae in every possible way (the hymn, the pout and the gait), as she pointedly confesses to Thelma - when you have a son, when he marries, you lose a son, but if you have a daughter, when she marries, you get a son! She is too benign to defy Jessie Mae since Ludie is a weak- minded man, a mother's self-sacrifice is inbuilt, her longing for the land where raises her is the only getaway from a grating reality. Ms. Page pitches at every note of emotions precisely in her warm and endearing performance, looks rather older than her real age, she doesn't possess any idiosyncrasy or appeal to be a figure under the spotlight, Mrs. Watts is such an ordinary old woman one can meet everyday and pay no attention of, but thanks to Foote's very personal and unostentatious script, her mere dream is amplified into a universally affecting pursuit of fulfilment, particularly edifying for us, as our parents are in the same range of Mrs. Watts, homesick, nostalgia and past memories become all they have in the world. In retrospect, it is rather astonishing to realise from Houston to Bountiful it only takes more or less 10-12 hours by driving, how come Ludie never brings his mother to visit for once is quite baffling, he is not that callous kind.
John Heard's acting is not at the same clique as Page's not only because Ludie is a pretty dislikable character in default, his only great moment is his big confession scene, otherwise, he is a bland actor. Carlin Glynn's Jessie Mae, on the other hand, excruciatingly hammy, but frankly speaking, Glynn saves the day by injecting a patina of self-awareness which underlines maybe Jessie Mae is not a complete damaged good, she is an egocentric virago for sure, but she is not the evil kind, she is not entirely hostile towards Mrs. Watts, her life is also stuck in a stifled status quo, sometimes we stupidly and unintentionally discharge our dissatisfaction towards those who are near us, it's just human nature, no misogynous overtone is agitated.
In a word, THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL is Ms. Page's showpiece to the hilt, a star-making device aiming for that golden statue and it succeeds, but you could say it is a fair play, and in 2014 a TV remake with a core black cast with Cicely Tyson, Vanessa Williams and Blair Underwood, verifies that this old yarn is still relevant nowadays. -
vincentlynch-moonoi21 December 2016There are some films you watch because they have a great story. This is not one of them.
There are some films you watch because of a great acting performance. This is supposed to be one of those films. But in reality, it is not. I don't care that Geraldine Page won an Academy Award for this film; in my view it was a payback for having been nominated 7 times previously and not winning.
Now, why do I say that her performance is not Oscar worthy. Go back and watch 1963's "Toys In The Attic" starring her, Dean Martin, and Wendy Hiller. Same performance, just a different script and different lines. I would have thought it was a fine performance had I not been familiar with "Toys In The Attic".
What about supporting actor John Heard as the son. Wooden. Talking, not acting. Thumbs down (and yet I have seen Heard be very good in other films).
How about Carlin Glynn as Heard's wife? Too shrill. Overacting.
In my view, the only performance worth watching in the film was that of Richard Bradford in a somewhat small role as the sheriff. Nicely played. Actually, Rebecca De Mornay is fairly good as a fellow bus passenger, as well.
Sorry, but this film -- the type of film I often like -- gets a BIG thumbs down from me. -
wrdiggs12 August 2003The effects of the aging process is touchingly portrayed by Geraldine Page in this warm human drama set in rural Texas in 1947.
Carrie Watts (Page), now a lonely widow, is being taken care of by her son, Ludie (John Heard) and his wife Jessie Mae (Carlin Glynn) in a cramped two-room apartment in Houston.
The two women spend all of their time being irritable to each other while Ludie is caught in the middle. Though trying admirably to do the right thing by the two women in his life, the situation is tense.
Carrie yearns to return to the family farm where she grew up, hoping to recapture some of the happiness of her youth. She has even tried to run away a few times, only to be stopped by her son and daughter-in-law who, in spite of their differences are only trying to spare her the disappointment of what she may find.
Her hometown, Bountiful, now basicly no longer exists. The people just "used up the land and moved on". All that remains are a few abandoned and deteriorating buildings, including her childhood home. Nevertheless, Carrie finally succeeds in slipping away.
On the way, she meets a young wife, Thelma (Rebecca DeMornay), whose husband is overseas in the military behind enemy lines. As they converse, it is obvious they are both on a quest, Carrie to recapture her youth and Thelma to hold on to hers, not knowing if she will ever see her husband again. Until he returns, she is going back to stay with her parents. The two women form a bond and find each other a source of strength on the long bus ride. Though we hope for Thelma's eventual happiness, somehow we know that only disillusionment awaits Carrie in Bountiful.
Filmed as a play with the advantages of outdoor scenery, the entire cast and crew did a splendid job, presenting a difficult subject in a tasteful manner. Page won an Oscar in what was to be her last role shortly before her death. Besides the other supporting players, Richard Bradford was also outstanding as the compassionate Sheriff who helped Carrie obtain her goal. The period pieces, all of those old 40's automobiles and the architecture and scenery, the general "feel" of small-town Texas during that era, helped add to the realism of the film. THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL should be recognized as a national treasure. -
cjammincoop4 May 2002This movie should be classified as all time favorite. I really enjoyed this film whenever I watch it I think of times when I to was a child and a young adult. I remember when times were not so fast paced, I'm originally from a small town in Florida called Ocala. I think of it often and have found memories and I long to be back there often. Geraldine page put true emotions and feelings into this part. I have added this movie to my collection and watch it often, my children see how moved I am by the movie. They enjoy watching it now. Thanks for allowing me to write a little piece on this remarkable movie. I will treasure this movie in my heart for always.
Thanks
Michael -
This movie is so achingly, movingly wonderful that it is hard to describe it accurately. Geraldine Page has got to be the best actress of all time. The only one I can think of who comes close is(was) Jessica Tandy. In Ms. Page's role for this film, she brings to life and light the plight that so many older, widowed people are facing daily. In the place where I work, many of our clients could easily be Ms. Carrie Watts. (I work at a Legal Aid Society). The empathy she creates as she brings Ms. Watts to life is astounding to me. She really, really "gets" it.
To be sure, John Heard's portrayal of Ms. Watt's son Lutie was flawless as well - the strain he feels trying to please both of the most important women in his life is almost palpable. Again, this is so close to real life that it breaks your heart to watch it. Carlin Glynn's portrayal of Lutie's hard-headed wife Jessie Mae brings me to tears at several points in this film, no matter how many times I watch it. You can't help but feel aggravated with her but also angry at her for her treatment of her mother-in-law. Ms. Glynn's performance was dead-on.
My mom recommended this movie to me, it is her favorite. My grandmother also loves this film. It's a generational tradition in our family. If you've never seen it PLEASE don't miss out! It is so worth the effort to find. -
gavin69421 July 2016In 1940s Texas, an elderly woman (Geraldine Page) is determined to visit her childhood home for one last time.
Geraldine Page (1924-1987) was not as old as she is made out to be in this film, but she plays it well as someone at the end and ready to say farewell one last time. I don't know if she knew it, but she herself was in her final year of life, too... I suspect not, since her death at 62 was from a sudden heart attack. Anyway, this is a well-deserved Oscar, as she is more or less the entire film.
I like how simple yet effective this story is. Basically it is a woman returning home to a place that barely still exists. Nothing too strange. But add a few misadventures and stumbling blocks and you have a nice, offbeat story. It captures your attention in its simplicity. -
jungophile6 June 2016I have read the first few pages of the reviews for this wonderful movie, and no one seems to notice a little touch that Geraldine Page, or perhaps the director, made at the end of this movie that made me smile.
First off, though, let me just say I found out about "The Trip to Bountiful" when I was going through some old Siskel and Ebert shows on youtube to find something new to watch I hadn't heard of. I miss these reviewers so much these days; it was always a pleasure to hear them give a glowing review, to argue intelligently about some film, or to stab an awful movie with cutting remarks that always made me laugh.
Anyway, as you can imagine, "Bountiful" got a two thumbs up rave review, and the clips they previewed looked amazing. I knew immediately I had to see Geraldine Page in this movie, and I was not disappointed. She nailed this part so beautifully I was just awestruck. (Another movie Horton Foote is associated with, "Tender Mercies," has this same quiet force of pure emotion and three dimensional characters that burst with life and spontaneity, and Robert Duvall deservedly won an Oscar for his performance as Mack Sledge).
Now here's the kicker I mentioned earlier. Watch closely at the end when Page has her fingers in the dirt and you will see her put the government check on the ground, but fail to pick it up when she retrieves her purse and gets up to go back to the car. Isn't that a subtle piece of mischief? I bet Jessie Mae had a heart attack herself when she found out she wasn't going to be able to get those new shoes she was no doubt already scheming to buy.
One final note: "A Trip to Bountiful" was remade in 2014 with Cicely Tyson in the lead role. I haven't seen this version, but it also received very strong praise. I'm not surprised; the script is flawless. -
MOscarbradley15 March 2017Geraldine Page finally picked up a long overdue Oscar as the cantankerous widow longing to see her hometown of Bountiful one more time before she dies in Peter Masterson's fine and understated adaptation of Horton Foote's play "The Trip to Bountiful". Foote himself did the screenplay and there's really very little to it but Foote was a master of making the small, inconsequential things of life seem important. Unfortunately there is nothing small about Page's performance; this is acting with a capital A. Never the most subtle of performers, Page deploys every mannerism in the Method Actor's Handbook pulling out all the stops in a shameless bid to finally get that Oscar. The best performance comes from John Heard as the son torn between a nagging wife, (an excellent Carlin Glynn), and an overpowering mother. It's just a pity we don't see more of him
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dglink5 December 2005Film performances do not get much better than this one.
An aging woman, who uncomfortably shares the Houston home of her son and daughter in law, yearns to make one last trip to her childhood home in the fast-disappearing town of Bountiful. The gentle tale of the woman's wily escape from her family is told in a simple straightforward style that does nothing to detract from the glory of Geraldine Page's career-topping performance as Carrie Watts.
There are no histrionic scenes in the film of the type that generally capture Oscar attention. Page's performance, however, has such depth and heartfelt, yet subtle, emotion, that the viewer is immersed in her quest to return home, and only the hardest stoic will be dry eyed when she sits on the porch of her parents' derelict house and says that she almost expected her father and mother to greet her at the door. Obviously Oscar voters in 1985 left tear stains on their ballots.
Carrie's journey from Houston to Bountiful is filled with memories as she relates pieces of her past to a young woman en route, to the night clerk at a bus station, and to a local sheriff. The people she meets share more of her past than her dull son or shrewish daughter in law. Although the supporting cast, which includes John Heard, Rebecca De Mornay, and Richard Bradford, is fine, each member underplays his or her part in such a way that they enhance and do not detract from Geraldine Page's work. Carlin Glynn's selfish daughter in law is the only character that tries to compete with Page.
When Carrie hears that the last friend she had in Bountiful has died, one can feel the empty hollowness and loneliness that such loss brings through Page's eyes and body language. Hers is a performance that commands attention from the first scene without flamboyance or mannerisms. She captures and holds the viewer with her soul and her deep understanding of the character and the character's need and yearning to return to the last place where she was loved. "The Trip to Bountiful" is haunting, heartbreaking, and yet ultimately uplifting. -
jordondave-2808518 April 2023(1985) The Trip to Bountiful DRAMA
Adapted from a play written by Horton Foote, starring Geraldine Page as Grandma Carrie Watts, making attempts to visit a small town called 'Bountiful'. That although, she is happy living with her biological son, Ludie Watts (John Heard) she is not currently happy living with her daughter-in-law, Jessie Mae (Carlin Glynn) living in Hamilton. And she has not seen Bountiful for over 20 years, holding with her are some of her most fondest memories. And along the way, she meets Thelma (Rebecca De Mornay) in a small role as one of the passengers. Geraldine Page won an Oscar for her role as Best Leading actress out of two nominations. -
dellajo3 June 2005I am going to try not to be redundant. Other commenters have quite rightly lauded the brilliant performance of the late Geraldine Page, but lost in the shuffle is just how damn good John Heard also is in this movie. His character is all about failure and disappointment and trying not to have to face your past. (You get some of the same feel from the corrupt cop he played in the Sopranos.) The first time I watched this movie, I was awestruck by Page, but the second time I saw it, I realized the movie is really more about Heard's character, and why he is so intent on keeping his poor old mother from seeing her home town, a request that on its face seems fairly reasonable.
Carlin Glynn is also superb. Her character is actually a lot more complicated than one might think from reading the comments. To cite just one example: There is a scene near the start of the movie where the childless couple is retiring to their separated double beds for the night, and she looks over and sees him reading a book called something like "How To Succeed In Business." From earlier scenes, we know that Heard's character is going nowhere. Carlin Glynn's character, although a social striver, still loves her husband, and seems not at all resentful about his obvious shortcomings (in the way she is about her mother-in-law's presence). When he tells her the title of the book, she just gives him a kind smile. Does Hollywood even know how to tell a story anymore about someone who is both likable and unlikable? In the real world, aren't there a whole lot more people like that than like any of the characters you see in the movies? This movie is filled with understated scenes like this one. -
pangraz-210 January 2009The basic story/plot here is stagy, melodramatic, and sentimentalized, evincing a superficiality that makes it difficult to stay with the movie for sufficient exposure to realize what Geraldine Page is creating in it as an actor. What she's doing in this movie is stupendous, one of the few performances ever by an American actor which stacks up against the best that the Brits can do. For me the movie then progressed on two levels: one carrying a mundane, sentimental story which barely engages; the second a mesmerizing and utterly believable journey in the company of a dauntless old woman traveling to bring her life to a satisfactory completion (all things considered). Toward the end, one expects death but gets life, carried on the wings of perhaps the best acting performance ever delivered in an American movie.
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pegasus328 March 2017Geraldine Page won the Best Actress Oscar in 1986 for her performance in this film as Mrs. Watts, a doddering old lady who seeks to return to her old homestead in Bountiful, Texas amidst the grumblings of her son Ludie (John Heard) and termagant daughter-in-law Jessie Mae (Carlin Glynn). One afternoon, she runs out of their apartment in Houston and gets on a bus where she meets a sympathetic young woman, Thelma, ( Rebecca De Mornay), who provides some solace and support along the way. The film throughout showers the viewer with lots of maudlin pontifications emanating from Page's stagey characterization, one that seemed like a rehash of Faulkner and Tennessee Williams roles she may have been involved in over the years. This film gets a lot of praise, but I found it a sentimental mish mash about aging amidst rose colored memories of the past. Page's performance impressed me as very repetitive and ultimately a bit tiresome, creating a character to whom I found myself engendering little compassion. On the other hand, Heard and De Mornay, I thought, put in quite creditable performances that in many respects outshone Page.