Fresh
Places in the Heart is a loving, reflective homage to his hometown by writer-director Robert Benton.
Variety Staff, Variety
Places in the Heart
The story of a woman fighting for her children, for her land, for the greatest dream there is... the future.
1984 · 1h 51m · PG
Drama
Directed by
Robert Benton
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Places in the Heart
Overview
In 1935 rural Texas, recently widowed Edna Spaulding struggles to survive with two small children, a farm to run, and very little money in the bank - not to mention a deadly tornado and the unwelcome presence of the Ku Klux Klan. Edna is aided by her beautician sister, Margaret; a blind boarder, Mr. Will; and a would-be thief, Moze, who decides to teach Edna how to plant and harvest cotton.
Director and cast
- Robert Benton Director
- Sally Field as Edna Spalding
- Lindsay Crouse as Margaret Lomax
- John Malkovich as Mr. Will
- Danny Glover as Moze
- Ed Harris as Wayne Lomax
- Ray Baker as Sheriff Royce Spalding
- Amy Madigan as Viola Kelsey
- Terry O'Quinn as Buddy Kelsey
- Bert Remsen as Tee Tot Hightower
- Jay Patterson as W.E. Simmons
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
90%
Tomatometer
Fresh
Much is unemphatic, but all of it carries the moving weight of conviction. And it ends on a healing grace-note which passeth all understanding.
Derek Adams, Time Out
Fresh
[Benton's] memories provide the material for a wonderful movie, and he has made it, but unfortunately he hasn't stopped at that. He has gone on to include too much.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Fresh
Out of the memories of his boyhood in Waxahachie, Tex., during the Great Depression, and within the unlikely tradition of the old-fashioned ''mortgage'' melodrama, Robert Benton has made one of the best films in years about growing up American.
Vincent Canby, New York Times
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