by Chris Marshall:
I’m now halfway through watching the Oscar winners of the
1980s, and as I feared, I haven’t been very impressed by the quality of the
movies. I was, however, quite pleased with Terms
of Endearment. It’s a typical Oscar bait tearjerker, but at least it was
well made.
Like Ordinary People,
it could have easily fallen into that dreaded Lifetime movie category if not for the quality of its cast. Debra
Winger was still a relative newcomer at the time, but this was Shirley MacLaine’s
third appearance in a Best Picture winner[1].
Among the supporting cast, Jack Nicholson, who won Best Supporting Actor for
this role, and Danny DeVito (!) were making their second Best Picture appearances.
The story is really quite expansive, though it never feels
like it. I don’t know if it’s ever specifically said how much time passes, but
it begins right before Debra Winger’s wedding and ends when her oldest kid
appears to be in his tweens/early teens. Nevertheless, the plot moves fluidly,
and it never feels like the movie is trying to do too much.
