Sometimes aging actors are given Academy Awards that they deserved primarily on the basis of past performances. Such was the case for John Wayne ("True Grit") and Paul Newman ("The Color of Money"). This was definitely not the case for Geraldine Page. Page had been nominated for Best Actress or Best Supporting Actress on seven previous occasions, without receiving an Oscar. But when she finally won Best Actress for "The Trip to Bountiful", there was no one more deserving.
In fact, Geraldine Page gives one of the best performances in a film that I have ever seen. It is a challenging role, one that requires tears and joy, anguish and gentleness. She is so good that she doesn't appear to be acting, but is actually the unhappy, determined, weather-beaten character that she is playing.
"A Trip to Bountiful" is set in Houston in the year 1947. Page plays Mrs. Watts, a pensioner, living with her son Ludie (John Heard) and his wife Jessie Mae (Carlin Glynn). Ludie loves his mother and is well-intentioned, but is dominated by his selfish, nagging wife. Mrs. Watts is relentlessly subject to Jessie Mae's henpecking, and has a friendless, virtually shut-in existence.
Mrs. Watts dreams of returning to the small country town of Bountiful, where she was raised. One day, she hides her pension check from Jessie Mae's grubbing hands, and leaves on a bus for her hometown. She meets Thelma (Rebecca de Mornay) at the bus depot. Thelma is kindly young woman who befriends Mrs. Watts, listens to her problems, and feels sorry for her.
As Thelma approaches Bountiful, it is apparent that the town has been abandoned. She is held by a local Sheriff (Richard Bradford) who has been contacted via long distance by Ludie. He has learned of her escape and is on his way to retrieve her. The Sheriff agrees to take Mrs. Watts on the short journey to Bountiful, where she sees her decaying house and its beautiful surrounding countryside once again. Sadly, this would be one of the last films for Geraldine Page, who died in 1987.
"The Trip to Bountiful" was originally a play written for television, starring Lillian Gish in Page's role. Foote adapted his own screenplay for the film version, which garnered his third Academy Award nomination. (Foote had previously won screenplay Oscars for 1962's "To Kill a Mockingbird" and 1983's "Tender Mercies", the latter of which was also set in Texas.)
"The Trip to Bountiful" marked the debut of Peter Masterson as a film director. He was previously best known for playing Katherine Ross' husband in "The Stepford Wives" as well as co-writing the stage musical "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas". (70/100)
In an attempt to recapture the happiness she knew in the past an elderly woman journeys back to the small town where she raised her children. Based on...More at Family Video
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