851222 Greetings from Lithuania."Places in the Heart" (1984) is very enjoyable and great movie. The story is about a woman's struggles to save and run her farm 1930's USA's south. Sript is very good here and involving from start till finish. If the story itself kinda feels a bit manipulative here and there, it's not overwritten and not to soft, there are some moving moments.Acting is superb by all involved. Sally Field who won Oscar for her part in this movie is amazing, you really feel that she is out there. Other actors including Ed Harris, Danny Glover and especially John Malkovich are very solid. There is also a big subplot involving an affair of Ed Harris character. The very last scene of this movie isn't straightforward as the rest of the movie, and can seem a bit confusing, but i guess what they wanted to tell that it's all about forgiveness.Overall, "Places in the Heart" is superb drama. Acting, directing, script, pacing - it's all clicks here, and watching this movie more than 30 years after it's original release one can admire it's craftsmanship.

David Conrad There's a super sweetness to "Places in the Heart," but it wears it well. The characters all have little failings, but nothing that can't be quickly overcome in the space of a tender, touching moment. Though many scenes walk right up to the line, they stop short of turning that well-earned tenderness into cloying sentimentality.The young, cherub-cheeked widow played by Sally Field is can-do-ism personified, and is perhaps more racially tolerant than the norm for 1930s Texas, especially considering that her husband has just been killed by a drunk, black youth. But the movie sells us on the idea that she has bigger problems to worry about than racial politics or even personal loss. The Depression is palpable throughout the movie, and it reshapes her life almost overnight. A neighbor is living in a car, paint on a nearby abandoned house says "Gone to California," and now, with the death of the family breadwinner, Field's character also appears to be headed for bust. Worse, she may lose custody of her two children. With no time to mourn, she has to take in a surly boarder (John Malkovich, thoroughly believable as the blind WWI veteran) and hire a black man who previously stole from her (Danny Glover) in a desperate attempt to stay afloat. If it seems all too predictable that her headstrong determination and positive spirit will prevail, that her worldly-wise black field hand will prove his worth, and that the bottled-up boarder will grudgingly reveal his sensitive side, well... it wears it well. Perhaps these characters should be thought of in the way that many of us like to think of our grandparents and great-grandparents: a little idealized in our minds, perhaps, but people who we believe were fundamentally good and who lived through difficult and transformative years in our history as soldiers, laborers, school children, and housewives. The final scene in the movie is a creative tracking shot that emphasizes the oneness of this diverse, often fragmented and antagonistic, yet familiar community that we have come to know. It is not just a Texas community, but an American one.It is hard to say what a slow-boiling side plot about marital infidelity, featuring a young and inscrutable Ed Harris, adds to the movie. There may be some thematic connection to a frightening sequence of a literally home-wrecking tornado. Or maybe it is a way to provide additional color by making the supporting characters flawed and allowing the main ones to remain only nominally imperfect. In any case, this B-plot is not very creatively rendered, and it takes time away from the Malkovich and Glover characters whose private lives would surely be far more interesting but are too seldom seen. This shortcoming, though, does not prevent the main plot from being as affirming and moving as it strives to be.

james higgins A wonderfully simple film, lovingly detailed art direction and costume design. The cinematography is excellent. The performances from everyone are notable. Sally Field gives a very convincing and heartfelt performance. The supporting cast is exemplary. Ed Harris, who is memorable in just about every film he is in, Lindsay Crouse, Amy Madigan, John Malkovich, and in particular Danny Glover. Impressive production throughout. There are a couple of scenes that are a little overdone, the tornado and the endless cotton picking scene, but overall the film comes together very well and it always held my interest throughout. Sally Field won an Oscar for her fine performance.

ma-cortes This is an exquisite mood piece about the turbulent life of a widow set against mid-Western cotton farm at the turn of the great Depression 1930s , in which Sally Field won well-deserved Oscar for her magnificent acting and equally Robert Benton for his original script . It deals with a mother named Edna Spalding (Sally Field) of two sons is suddenly widowed to a sheriff (Ray Baker). Edna is persisted to survey facing the pressure by the bank to sell her farm . She fights her fateful fate along with an African-American (Danny Glover) and a blind (John Malkovich).It's a sensitive and intimate look at hometown childhood , an affectionate film celebrating the spiritual force of the human will ; being based on records and memories well written by Robert Benton about his little town , Waxahachid , Texas . It takes part of a mini-cycle of farming movies that all debuted in 1984 . The films include Country (1984 ), The river (1984) and this one (1984). All three pictures were nominated that year for the Best Actress Academy Award with Sally Field winning the Oscar in that category for the latter beating out Jessica Lange and Sissy Spacek from the first two films respectively . Extraordinary performances from film stars , as this flick gave actress Sally Field her second and final to date , Academy Award and both in the Best Actress in a Leading Role category ; Field's first had been around five years earlier for Norma Rae (1979) in 1980 . Supporting cast is frankly magnificent , such as : Amy Madigan , Linsay Crouse , Terry O'Quinn but special mention for Danny Glover , Ed Harris and John Malkovich . Being one of numerous filmed collaborations of married actors Ed Harris and Amy Madigan. Originally shown in lively colors by cameraman Nestor Almendros , Robert Benton's usual photographer , who previously won Oscar for ¨Days of heaven¨, though its visual beauty will be decreased on TV . The motion picture was very well directed by writer-director Robert Benton . This filmmaker and screenwriter, Robert Benton , set the film in his birthplace of Waxahachie , Texas in 1935, three years after he was born there . He's a films-dramas expert such as proved in ¨Human stain¨ , ¨Twilight¨ , ¨Still of the night¨ , ¨Billy Bathgate¨ and his greatest hit : ¨Kramer vs Kramer¨. Rating : Better than average, it's a great movie so well realized that is hard not to like .