Scarecrow suggests ... country-music movies in the vein of 'Crazy Heart' Robert Duvall won an Oscar for his portrayal of a fallen country singer in "Tender Mercies" (1984). Mac Sledge hits rock bottom in a small motel room in Texas, then wakes up and begins a slow, hard climb to redemption. The guiding light on his journey is widowed motel owner Rosa Lee (Tess Harper), who offers Mac a job in exchange for board, encourages him to sober up, and gets him to attend church. The two eventually marry and Mac starts a new life with Rosa and her young son, all the while trying to reconcile his stormy professional and personal past, especially with his ex-wife, Dixie (Betty Buckley), herself a country star, and daughter Sue Anne (Ellen Barkin). Duvall did... Gregg Allman headed to Ridgefield, Torrington He's a helluva picker. He did all the playing and singing in "Tender Mercies." Q: In a lot of ways "Crazy Heart" is Jeff Bridges' "Tender Mercies. ... Duvall simply great in 'Tender Mercies' So it goes for Sledge, played brilliantly in 1983's "Tender Mercies" by Robert Duvall (he won an Oscar for his troubles), an alcoholic former country-singing star. He says it without rancor or remorse, really. He knows he has wasted his talent and a big part of his life. He accepts this, and is now working not to become rich and famous again, but just to live his life. He finds a job doing chores for Rosa Lee (Tess Harper), a single mother who has no particular interest in his former fame and certainly no patience with any sort of wild living. Mac bonds with her son, Buddy (Allan Hubbard), and before long has struck up an almost comically straightforward romance with R... Jeff Bridges Shines in Lovely, Lyrical ‘Crazy Heart- Twenty-five years and a dozen-plus viewings haven't dimmed the emotional impact of “Tender Mercies” in the least, especially those touching final moments. ... Mercury Is Poison Now that we're about to entrust health reform to the tender mercies of the insurance industry, it's sobering to see the skullduggery that one of ... Is Reitman's 'Up in the Air' a Scrooge clone? I greatly enjoyed "Crazy Heart," but I liked it better back in 1983 when it was called "Tender Mercies" and Robert Duvall played the broken-down, ... Church 'will rally round couple and love them' “After his affair with Bathsheba, King David [of Israel] spoke of the multitudes of His tender mercies and the multitudes of His loving kindness. If God was not like this, where would we be?“God forgave him but David didn’t forgive himself, in so many of his trials he always went back and linked them to his affair with Bathsheba.”Mr McConnell said he thought the general public would be divided about the matter, with some people “jumping on the bandwagon” and judging Iris, while others would express sympathy.But he was in no doubt that when the couple appear at his church next “they will be surrounded and people will rally around them and love... The triple outrage of youth jails ... unions representing the workers in these facilities fight bitterly to keep them open, even as judges entrust fewer kids to their tender mercies. ... Santa Monica Mirror Duvall's Oscar-winning performance in Tender Mercies is ranked #14 in Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time. Also, Duvall appeared in ...

Review by WSJ Film Critic Joe Morgenstern It's a film that recalls such classics of the genre as "Tender Mercies" (though it's less subdued); "Payday" (though it's more sweet-spirited) and ...