Directed by Bruce Beresford
Written by Horton Foote
Starring Robert Duvall, Tess Harper, Betty Buckley, Wilfred Brimley, Ellen Barkin and Allan Hubbard
The career of Robert Duvall is a queer one. He’s been in movies for more than 50 years, been a part of some of the greatest movies of all time – The Godfather, Apocalypse Now – and starred in a bunch of others. Despite this, he’s never actually been a star. Sure, he’s had financially successful films, but those seem more a product of the individual film and not Duvall’s ability to open one. After all, of his three most prominent leading roles – The Great Santini, The Apostle and Tender Mercies – only one made any money and that was because it had a modest budget, not because it actually made money. And if we’re honest, the greatest part he ever played – Augustus McRae in Lonesome Dove – was in a TV miniseries, where the viewer had to pay nothing.
The truth is, Duvall is the consummate character actor, which is probably the highest compliment an actor can get. After all, he parlayed that into a 50-year career on screen, which is the only thing that matters.