TERMS OF ENDEARMENT: Blu-ray (Paramount, 1983) Warner Home Video
BEST PICTURE -
1983
Anyone who has a
mother will be able to relate to Terms
of Endearment (1983), director James L. Brooks’ poignant ode to the mother
of all mothers; acerbic, Aurora Greenway. Coming to terms with Terms of
Endearment is like revisiting a slice of memory from our collective
childhoods. From the moment Shirley MacLaine’s caustic matriarch – part
invigorating confidant/part meddlesome yenta – unapologetically stirs her
infant daughter just to hear her cry (so she knows she hasn’t died of infant
crib syndrome) Terms of Endearment
cuts like a knife into our recollections. No, this ain’t I Remember Mama – for sure! But Brooks’ message is pointedly clear.
Moms are great. But they can also be a royal pain in parts south of the
equator. As offspring we are grateful that they care. We just wish they could
do a little less of it when we want them to butt out of our lives. Based on
Larry McMurtry’s novel, Terms of
Endearment is a cornucopia of love, laughter and heartbreak; the generation
gap between this mother and daughter made all the more poignant by the advent
of a medical tragedy looming large on the horizon. And MacLaine and co-star,
Debra Winger get to the emotional center of their characters from the very
beginning; their often strained ‘friendship’ unpretentiously played out, their
laughter through tears even more so. Terms of Endearment comes at the tail
end of a decade-long infatuation in American movies to tell introspective
stories about those of us living in quiet middle-class desperation. It isn’t
all rose bushes and picket fences, unless of course one counts the thorns and
splinters.
There is
certainly plenty of each in the sharp-tongued Aurora Greenway, a gal who has no
compunction about making both her presence and intentions known. This
forthright no-nonsense attitude clashes with her daughter, Emma’s (Debra
Winger) more laissez faire outlook on life. Emma sees everything through
rose-colored glasses, or at least the halcyon afterglow of a good toke. Aurora
is defined by a more ambiguous cynicism; perhaps martyred as the widow, raising
a child on her own while pursued by many middle-aged bachelors. Emma just wants
to be let alone; the one thing Aurora will never do - even if her life depended
on it. It just might. Apart from its central narrative, following the pang separation of a mother expected – but unable – to let go after her only child
marries the one man mom deems unworthy of her little princess, Terms of Endearment is a nourishing
tale about this indestructible tie between parent and child. The movie is
nothing without its mother/daughter sparring; MacLaine and Winger coming
dangerously close to the edge of sentimentality only to pull back the aching
heartstrings and dreadful tears, making every moment psychologically enriching
and emotionally real. It would be hard to appreciate Terms of Endearment as anything better than a chick flick - except
that James L. Brooks’ screenplay never goes the easy route of relying on
estrogen and chemistry to propel his narrative ahead.
To this end
there remains a juicy part for bad boy Jack Nicholson, doing a variation on his
generic ‘slick bastard’ public persona, herein reconstituted as has-been
astronaut, Garrett Breedlove; a man who has traded in his fame and mystique to
gain access into the boudoirs of some very sexy ladies. It was all good a
decade or so earlier…maybe. But now the paunchy and balding flyboy just seems
like a dirty old man; his slovenly drunkenness, more crude than charming; his
inability to face the inevitability of growing old, robbing Garrett of a more
meaningful lifestyle. This would be a rather flashy part for Nicholson, except
that Jack plays Garrett right down the middle as a guy past his prime; a rather
pathetic shell of the proverbial lady’s man who needs a quart of gin just to
work up enough gumption to make a complete ass of himself. It’s a startling bit
of sustained acting and it works brilliantly; a stand-out without trying to be
one.
Aurora is both
fascinated yet repulsed by her new ‘next door’ neighbor. How could there ever
be anything between them except air? The unexpected ‘relationship’ that
blossoms and steadily grows inward from something outwardly superficial helps
the middle act of Terms of Endearment
click; a particularly uneven stretch in the movie’s structure; Brooks, dividing
his time between Aurora and Garrett getting on, and Emma and her husband, Flap
(Jeff Daniels) – having moved away to Des Moines for his work - presently
suffering through the heartaches and hardships of a marriage already on the
rocks; buffeted by infidelities on both sides and Emma’s realization that mom
was right all along. Flap Horton wasn’t Mr. Right after all; just Mr. Right
Now. It’s a bitter pill for Emma to swallow. In fact, she does her damnedest to
hold the family together, and not just for the sake of their children; Melanie
(Megan Morris), Tommy (played at intervals by Shane Serwin and Troy Bishop) and
Teddy (Huckleberry Fox), who increasingly come to resent her for trying. The
middle act of Terms of Endearment is
a series of vignettes; some more replete with something meaningful to say than
others. One recalls, as example, the benevolent ‘cute meet’ between Emma and Sam Burns (John Lithgow), the latter
offering to pay the difference on Emma’s grocery tab after she comes up short
at the checkout. Dealing with three hungry children, the embarrassment of being
poor, and, a cashier (Judith A. Dickerson) intent on making Emma feel even more
like a social outcast than she already is, Lithgow’s unlikely, gooney-looking
knight in shining armor is exactly what Emma needs just then; a friendly
gesture capped off by Sam’s classic admonishment of the cashier. “You’re a very rude young woman,” he
tells her. “I don’t think I was being
rude,” the woman begrudgingly replies. “Then
you must be from New York!” he reiterates for the laugh.
Terms of Endearment endures because it doesn’t really
stoop to convention for the proverbial ‘feel good’. We do come away from the
movie feeling good as it were, but for the unlikeliest of reasons, and, at the
most unexpected moments. After Emma is diagnosed with terminal cancer one might
expect the immaculately put together Aurora Greenway to shift into mother tiger
overdrive. Instead, Brooks’ screenplay and Shirley MacLaine’s performance counterbalance
Aurora’s outward ‘take charge’ attitude
with a spiraling inner fragility, almost rhythmically coming to a crescendo in
the scene where Aurora bursts from her daughter’s hospital room, frantically
racing around the nurse’s station and demanding that someone give Emma an
injection of morphine to momentarily arrest her severe pains. MacLaine whips
herself into a fevered frenzy; spouting her lines with a manic intensity and
leaping about as though someone had given her the proverbial ‘hot foot’, until
she finally screams in abject determination,
“Give her the shot!” The terrorized nurse’s compliance with this request is
met by a split-second transformation into the old Aurora, MacLaine instantly
composed as she very politely but directly adds, “Thank you.”
In every
screening of Terms of Endearment I
have attended this scene always gets the hearty laugh. And yet the moment is
fraught with unreserved anguish. It’s a curious and brilliantly played moment;
MacLaine going after the truth of a mother’s hopelessness with bold impatience
miraculously reshaped into magnanimity in the blink of an eye. Blink and you
will miss it. But clear-eyed – if you can be, realizing, as Aurora must, that
the time between she and her very best friend is prematurely drawing to a
close, one is teleported from empathetic tears into the very essence of joy
in this mother/daughter relationship about to expire. And MacLaine, more than
Winger, makes us feel the loss on an intuitive level, unafraid to look haggard
and careworn and utterly defeated as she greets Garrett on the steps of the
motel she has moved into to be nearer her dying child. Acting as good as this
is very rare. Its ilk has all but vanished from our present-day movie-going
experience.
We begin, then,
with Aurora (Shirley MacLaine) and Emma Greenway (Debra Winger). Each is
searching for the love of their respective lives; as yet unthinking that it
just might be the one they share together. James L. Brooks fast tracks through
Emma’s childhood. It isn’t really what interests him. The love-hate
mother/daughter relationship that evolves as Emma enters her twenties is far
more fascinating and complex; becoming friends with affluent Patsy Clark (Lisa
Hart Caroll), whom Aurora detests – not so much because Patsy is a bad
influence; rather because she divides Emma’s time spent away from her – and a burgeoning
romance with Flap Horton (Jeff Daniels), ultimately leading to marriage
(definitely the kiss of death for Aurora’s monopolization of Emma’s time and
love). This leaves the middle-aged widow despondent. Since the death of Emma’s
father, Aurora has, in fact, filled her days – though arguably not her heart –
with managing Emma’s life and entertaining romantic offers from a gaggle of
superficially attractive suitors.
Emma elects to
marry Flap instead of going off to college in New York like Patsy and in short
order gives birth to two children; Tommy (Troy Bishop) and Teddy (Huckleberry
Fox). A third, Melanie (Megan Morris) will follow after Flap announces he’s
moving his family to Des Moines, thereby separating Aurora from Emma for the
foreseeable future. The mutual contempt between Aurora and Flap is stirred. In
point of fact, Aurora sees right through him. He isn’t the guy for Emma. He’s
just the one occupying a small corner of her heart. Once in Des Moines, Flap
begins having numerous affairs with women from the college; mysterious phone
calls to the house causing Emma to clue in to his infidelities. Feeling alone
and friendless, Emma telephones home to ask her mother for some money. Unable
to deduce from the phone call that Emma is already seven months pregnant with
Melanie, Aurora encourages her daughter to consider getting an abortion.
Distraught, Emma politely terminates the call before bursting into tears. The
strain of her situation is temporarily quelled by an unlikely kindness that
blossoms into an affair with married middle-aged banker, Sam Burns (John
Lithgow).
In the meantime,
Aurora finds herself developing a curious attraction toward retired astronaut,
Garrett Breedlove (Jack Nicholson): the newly moved in next door neighbor whose
penchant for booze and broads she, at first, finds disgusting. Garrett astutely
assesses that Aurora is sexually frigid, uptight and commitment shy. He makes several
attempts to break Aurora of this frigidity; copping a feel and taking her for a
perilous ride along the windswept beaches in his speeding convertible. Garrett could, in fact, go for Aurora. If
only Emma hadn’t come home with her three kids just then, having discovered
Flap in the arms of Janice (Kate Charleson); a perky grad student. This isn’t
exactly the ‘happy family’ Garrett – a confirmed ‘old’ bachelor – had in
mind. He gets cold feet and breaks up
with Aurora, leaving her feeling betrayed and humiliated.
Emma terminates
her relationship with Sam after Flap informs the family of his new teaching
position in Kearney, Nebraska. It sounds like a fresh start – except that Emma
soon discovers Janice has enrolled at the university too and Flap has actually
followed her there to continue their affair. Things go from bad to worse when,
while taking Melanie to the doctor for her flu shot, the attending physician
takes notice of two large lumps under Emma’s armpit. Biopsies confirm that Emma
has cancer. To cheer her up, Patsy invites Emma for a Manhattan getaway. Since
moving to New York Patsy has become quite the debutante; a successful career
woman with chichi wardrobe and trust fund friends who cannot understand why any
woman – given half the option - would want to be saddled with motherhood. Emma
feels decidedly out of place among this ‘go-getter’ sect. So to break the ice
Patsy tells everyone that Emma has cancer, leading to a moment of faux
compassion – misguided and misplaced - that Emma finds quite hilarious.
Returning home
to start her treatments, Emma is devastated when doctors inform her nothing has
changed. In fact, her cancer is advancing at an alarming rate. Emma will not
survive it. As it is now quite clear that life-altering decisions have to be
made, Emma confides in Aurora the perilous state of her condition and elects,
with Flap’s reluctant consent, that after she is gone Aurora will be put in
charge of rearing their three children. While Flap divides his time between his
career and the hospital, Aurora never leaves her daughter’s side. Garrett
unexpectedly flies to Nebraska to comfort Aurora who, for the very first time,
shows distinct signs that her usual iron-cast resolve has eroded. In a moment
of weakness, Aurora confides in Garrett that she loves him and he replies with
his stock answer, “I love you too, kid.”
As Emma’s condition worsens Tommy becomes resentful; even blaming his ailing
mother for their circumstances and separation from their father. Later that
afternoon Aurora blasts Tommy for his mis-perceptions, reminding him of the
sacrifices Emma has made on all of their behalves. In response Tommy confides
his own worst fears of losing a parent, breaks down and cries on Aurora’s
shoulder as Emma quietly dies, knowing at least that she has done the right
thing by placing her children’s future in her mother’s care. At the post-funeral gathering in Aurora’s
backyard, Garrett bonds with Tommy. Patsy and Aurora reach a tenuous
understanding. Both women will be actively involved in Emma’s children’s lives.
The scene concludes with Aurora quietly sitting next to Melanie; a renewal of
this (grand)mother/daughter bond beginning all over again.
Terms of Endearment is a template for the Hollywood
melodrama. It attains some deeper understanding of the importance of family and
friends and solidifies, with exceptional clarity, the tenuousness of life;
ultimately translated into life-affirming cinema magic. MacLaine, Winger and
Nicholson are at the top of their game – pros, who sincerely believe in and
enrich the material. An old Hollywood adage suggests that if you have a good
script you are half way home. This is, of course, true. But the other half is
undeniably dedicated to the pluperfect performer, and herein, Terms of Endearment is immeasurably blessed.
Shirley MacLaine has arguably never been better. Her Aurora Greenway is so
authentic and unflinchingly direct, it is easy to find her a royal pain in
the ass. Yet, she is so right about everything that it is either very spooky or
just plain annoying. A little of each, as far as Winger’s Emma is concerned.
But there is a fascinating counter-lever at play here. As Emma’s attitude grows
more serious with her situation, MacLaine’s matriarch becomes more whimsical.
Life is a gift. So is a child. Aurora lets down her hair. She also lets her
daughter go with the understanding that neither has wasted their time in this
relationship. It is this rewarding message audiences have taken away from the
movie ever since and almost immediately after the houselights have come up. No
matter how the outside world views you, you are always loved at home. These are
the real terms of familial endearment.
Get ready to
laugh, cry and fall in love with Terms
of Endearment all over again. Warner Home Video’s distribution deal with Paramount
Home Video has yielded another fine Blu-ray. Colors are gorgeous.
Cinematographer, Andrzej Bartkowiak’s establishing shots in soft focus look
resplendent; the rest of the visuals throughout exhibiting razor sharp clarity,
solid contrast and a good solid smattering of grain looking very film-like.
There is an ever so slight amount of edge enhancement plaguing the main title
font, but otherwise this is a stunning 1080p transfer that will surely NOT
disappoint. The ‘wow’ factor is evident here. The 5.1 DTS audio is another
reason to rejoice. Michael Gore’s iconic theme sounds fresh and revitalized.
Dialogue is very natural. Bottom line: fantastic! Enough said. Extras: we get
the same tired audio commentary from James L. Brooks recorded for the DVD some
years ago, plus the original trailer. That’s it. Disappointing. Still, given
how wonderful Terms of Endearment
looks and sounds we’ll forgive the oversight. This disc comes very highly
recommended! A must have.
FILM RATING (out of 5 – 5 being the best)
4.5
VIDEO/AUDIO
4.5
EXTRAS
1
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