PLACES IN THE HEART (Tristar 1984) Sony Home Entertainment

In the mid-1970s speculation in the trades ran wild that the end of the motion picture was not far away. Going to the movies was, as one particular eulogiser suggested, something we would look back on as a quaint relic from our collective past, like riding a horse drawn buggy. Far from fanciful protestations, all current concrete evidence seemed to suggest as much then. The ensconced Hollywood empires that had once dominated the industry were mere shadows of their former selves. Many had been taken over by corporate entities that had little interest in making movies. Indeed, by 1980, movies were not what they had once been – the act of going to the movies, more depressing still, sitting in badly dilapidated, half empty movie palaces from a bygone era that faintly wreaked of musty decay and the rancid sourness of day old popcorn.

But then something wonderful happened: wonderful and quite unexpected. Politics put a former actor in the White House; a man who understood what the Consent Decrees had done to a once thriving American touchstone. Hollywood responded with a miraculous resurrection; gambling their money on a diverse creative slate of projects whose popularity at the box office startled even industry pundits. Two tried and true main staples from the golden past were reinstated; the costly period drama (Gandhi, Amadeus) and the woman’s picture.

Robert Benton’s Places in the Heart (1984) is of this latter ilk; hauntingly rich in its characterizations and emotionally satisfying in its storytelling. Edna Spalding (Sally Fields) is preparing dinner for the family as her children, Frank (Yankton Hatton) and Possum (Gennie James) look on. Husband, Royce (Ray Baker) is town sheriff and late to arrive. Evidently, he takes his duties as a lawman very seriously. At home Royce is a firm, but understanding father and loving husband whose meagre salary ensures the family’s basic survival. As the Spaldings are about to break bread they are interrupted by Deputy Jack Driscoll (Jerry Haynes) who informs the sheriff that an unruly black youth is firing his pistol at empty bottles down at the rail yards.

Arriving on the scene, Royce calls out to the young man, Wylie (Devoreaux White). The two regard one another in a friendly – even playful - manner, clearly illustrating that neither bears the other malice. However, as Wylie admits he is drunk and agrees to surrender, he takes aim at another bottle, firing blindly and inadvertently gunning Royce down.  Jack and other members from the force bring Royce’s body back to the Spalding home. Edna is aided in the preparation of her husband’s remains by devoted sister, Margaret (Lindsay Crouse). Outside, a group of white farmers drive up, having dragged Wylie’s badly beaten corpse behind them for miles as revenge. Margaret orders the men away. Wylie’s body is strung up a tree, left for his family to discover and mourn.

After Royce’s wake, Edna confides to Margaret that she has no means of supporting the family. Worse, bank manager Albert Denby (Lane Smith) informs Edna that unless she takes in a boarder there will be no money to see the family through the next payment on her farm. Reluctantly, Edna agrees have Albert’s blind cousin, Mr. Will (John Malkovich) come to live in her home. At the same time, a vagabond, Moze (Danny Glover) offers to do odd jobs for food and a place to stay. To sweeten the deal Moze suggests to Edna that she might plant forty acres of cotton he could manage for her. Edna refuses to even entertain the offer, although she does agree to feed Moze breakfast. When her back is turned, Moze steals some of Edna’s silverware.

That evening Jack returns with Moze in custody and Edna’s silverware in hand. However, when confronted with Moze’s thievery Edna lies to Jack, telling him she gave Moze the cutlery to take to Margaret. After Jack leaves, Edna tells Moze that if he ever steals from her again she will kill him herself. But just now, her mind is focused on the prospect of raising cotton. Moze tries to back out of the deal, but Edna’s mind is made up. She goes to the bank and asks Mr. Denby to show her how to fill out a cheque. At the cotton gin, W.E. Simmons (Jay Patterson) attempts to sell Edna an inferior seed for top dollar. To Simmons everlasting chagrin, Moze intercedes and Edna pretends to inquire whether ‘a mistake’ has been made, forcing Simmons to give Edna the correct grade of seed.  

The rest of the story is really about reconciliations, finding those ‘places in the heart’ where hope sustains and the promises of faith conquer the overwhelming oppressions of today. In another part of town Margaret’s unemployed husband, Wayne Lomax (Ed Harris) is having an affair with school teacher, Viola Kelsey (Amy Madigan) who is the wife of his best friend, Buddy (Terry O’Quinn). Back at the Spalding home Frank and Possum sneak into Mr. Will’s room to listen to his Victrola. However, when Frank accidentally scratches one of the records with the needle, Mr. Will burst in on Edna in the kitchen to demand she discipline her children. Unbeknownst to Mr. Will he has intruded on Edna’s bath. When Mr. Will attempts to emphasis his frustrations by slamming his fist against the kitchen table – but instead strikes the surface of the water in Edna’s tub – he immediately realizes the embarrassing informality of his intrusion and removes himself from the room.

The next afternoon Frank is found out at school by Viola for smoking a cigarette. She takes him home to Edna to be disciplined. Although Frank accepts his punishment, receiving the strap, Edna struggles to maintain her composure as she whips her child with one of Royce’s belts. Mr. Will and Moze become good friends. Moze confides in Mr. Will that he doesn’t think they will be able to get the cotton crop in on time.

On a gray afternoon, as Moze is about to plant the fields out back of the Spalding’s homestead a typical summer storm turns into a vicious tornado that decimates the town. In the resulting carnage, Frank runs away from school and barely makes it back in time to hide in the cellar along with the rest of the family. Trapped in the backroom of the school, Viola and her terrified students also survive the deluge. The moment is a turning point for Viola, who suddenly realizes she cannot go on deceiving her husband and Margaret any longer. Viola begs Buddy to take her away from Waxahachie. Assuming that the shell shock from the storm is responsible for her hasty decision, Buddy reluctantly agrees to the move.

However, at their farewell get together with Margaret and Wayne, Viola suddenly pulls away from Wayne after he offers to cut a deck of cards for her. The insinuation is picked up on by Margaret who orders Wayne out of the house after Viola and Buddy have gone home. Meanwhile, Edna comes to the realization that at current prices the sale of her cotton will not be nearly enough to make the bank payment on her house. She goes to Mr. Denby to beg for clemency. But as Denby asks the bank president for a deferment, Edna takes notice of a series of photographs hanging on his wall, depicting the annual Ellis County cash prize of $100 for the first bale of cotton brought to the gin.

Returning home with renewed determination Edna tells Moze and Mr. Will of her latest plan to save the family. Her plans are sneered at by Moze who has become cynical. In one of the best played and most fondly recalled moments in the film Edna breaks her silence and in sheer frustration informs the men, “If they take this place, you’re going back to beggin’ for every meal and Mr. Will they’re goin’ to put you in a state home and I’m going to lose what’s left of my family. I’m not going to let that happen. I don’t care if it kills me. I don’t care if it kills you. And if the two of you do then you can go straight to hell!”

In the face of such blind determination Moze hires extra pickers so that Edna can meet the deadline. Wayne and Margaret join Edna in the fields, as do Possum and Frank, enduring excruciatingly long hours in the blistering heat. The gruelling work ends by lantern light, with Edna and Moze the first to arrive at the gin the next morning and collect their prize money. That evening, as Edna attends a social dance in town, the Ku Klux Klan descend upon the farm, beating Moze into submission before Mr. Will arrives with Royce’s pistol in hand. Firing off a few warning shots, Mr. Will is subdued by the Klansmen, but not before he clearly identifies virtually all of them by the sound of their voice. Suddenly apprehensive, the men release Moze. But Simmons – the head of the Klan – whispers a warning in Moze’s ear, vowing to return and fully settle his score later.

When Edna arrives home Mr. Will informs her of the conflict. She rushes to the hut in back of the barn where Moze has been living to discover he is already packed up to leave. Edna tells Moze that ‘black or white’ he has been the finest farmer she has ever known, instilling a sense of bittersweet pride and gratitude. The next day, Viola and Buddy leave town. Wayne and Margaret attend church, as do Edna and her children. The film ends with communion. Margaret takes Wayne’s hand, clearly acknowledging that she has decided to give him another chance. As the wine is passed along we see Moze, Royce and Wylie among the parishioner.

The scene is bittersweet and fraught with double-edged meaning, suggesting that many who profess to love one another on Sunday are also those who belong to the Klan. In contrast, Edna has done everything out of love – for her husband, her children and her new extended family. As such, she has had a place in her heart for each of them that can never be tainted with the passage of the years.


Places in the Heart is so obviously Robert Benton's valentine to Waxahachie Texas, a robustly satisfying and incredibly nourishing reflection on an imperfect place in time, affectionately extolled by Benton's enviable brand of screen intimacy. Only Benton can transform a topic as weighty and highly charged as racial prejudice from moral platitude to profound self-reflection, where even a glint or tear caught in a character's eye unexpectedly becomes a life altering moment to be cherished in our own collective consciousness.


I can distinctly remember seeing this film at the age of thirteen and being intensely stirred. I can also remember believing for a long while thereafter that John Malkovich was really blind. Such was the impact in the caliber of his acting. Sally Fields justly won her second Best Actress Academy Award. But it was Danny Glover's downtrodden farmhand that tore my heart out: a performance so introspective he easily became the hero of the piece for me.


Benton's direction and screenplay are as near perfect as either can get. Clearly, this is a director who not only understands his medium but also the inherent foibles of mankind. The ending of Places in the Heart is uplifting, yet hardly optimistic. Benton resolves his story, not with a flourish of hopefulness, but with an almost mystical approach to Christianity; where the indefinable find form, the hopeless garner strength and where even a murderer and his victim can share in the understanding that each are singularly beloved in God's eyes. Hollywood doesn't make movies like Places in the Heart any more, perhaps because such projects require two essentials in very short supply these days: a genuine appreciation for the struggles of humanity and actors able to comprehend the material beyond mere superficial styling for 'playing the part.'


Sony Home Entertainment has not done justice to this film on DVD. Frankly, it needs a full 1080p upgrade on Blu-ray. Here's hoping we eventually get it through Twilight Time. For now, we have to contend with a rather flat transfer. Colors are badly faded. There's a strange grayish tint to just about everything except flesh tones, which are way too pink. Age related artifacts are everywhere and occasionally distract. The audio is mono but adequately rendered. Extras are limited to a stills gallery and trailer.


FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)
5


VIDEO/AUDIO
2.5


EXTRAS
0