Terms of Endearment
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''Terms of Endearment'' is a 1983 American
family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
tragicomedy Tragicomedy is a literary genre that blends aspects of both tragedy, tragic and comedy, comic forms. Most often seen in drama, dramatic literature, the term can describe either a tragic play which contains enough comic elements to lighten the ov ...
film directed, written, and produced by James L. Brooks, adapted from Larry McMurtry's 1975 novel. It stars Debra Winger, Shirley MacLaine,
Jack Nicholson John Joseph Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American retired actor and filmmaker. Nicholson is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of the 20th century, often playing rebels fighting against the social structure. Over his five-de ...
,
Danny DeVito Daniel Michael DeVito Jr. (born November 17, 1944) is an American actor and filmmaker. He gained prominence for his portrayal of the taxi dispatcher Louie De Palma in the television series ''Taxi (TV series), Taxi'' (1978–1983), which won him ...
, Jeff Daniels, and John Lithgow. The film covers 30 years of the relationship between Aurora Greenway (MacLaine) and her daughter Emma Greenway-Horton (Winger). ''Terms of Endearment'' was theatrically released in limited theatres on November 23, 1983, and to a wider release on December 9 by
Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...
. The film received critical acclaim and was a major commercial success, grossing $165 million at the box office, becoming the second-highest-grossing film of 1983 (after '' Return of the Jedi''). At the 56th Academy Awards, the film received a leading 11 nominations, and won a leading five awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (MacLaine), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor (Nicholson). A sequel, '' The Evening Star'', was released in 1996.


Plot

Aurora Greenway, a widow since her daughter Emma was a young girl, keeps several suitors at arm's length in River Oaks, Houston, focusing instead on her close, but controlling, relationship with Emma. Anxious to escape her mother, Emma marries callow young college professor Flap Horton over her mother's objections. Despite their frequent spats and difficulty getting along with each other, Emma and Aurora have very close ties and keep in touch by telephone. Soon after the wedding, Emma gets pregnant with their first child. He is a few years old when she is again expecting another. The small family moves to
Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...
in order for Flap to pursue a career as an English professor. When they run into financial difficulties, Emma calls Aurora for help. Admitting she is pregnant with a third, her mother suggests she go to
Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...
for an abortion. When Flap gets home, as he was away overnight, Emma demands to be told if he is having an affair. He insists it is paranoia, brought on by the pregnancy hormones. While at the grocery store, Emma does not have enough money to pay for all of her groceries and meets Sam Burns, who helps pay for them. Meanwhile the lonely Aurora, after her doctor discloses her real age at her birthday celebration, overcomes her repression and begins a whirlwind romance with her next-door neighbor, retired
astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...
Garrett Breedlove, who is promiscuous and coarse. Simultaneously Emma and Sam strike up a friendship and quickly an affair as Sam's wife refuses to have sex with him, and she suspects Flap of infidelity. Over the course of the next few years, the marriage begins to fray. Emma catches Flap flirting with one of his students on campus, so drives back to Houston immediately. There, Garrett develops cold feet about his relationship with Aurora after seeing her with her daughter and grandchildren and breaks it off. While Emma is gone, Flap accepts a promotion in Nebraska; she and the children return to Iowa, then they move to Nebraska. While on the campus, Emma sees the same young woman who she had seen Flap with in Iowa. Confronting her, she finds out he moved them to Nebraska so he could work with his girlfriend Janice. When Emma is diagnosed with cancer, before she knows how advanced it is, her lifelong friend Patsy convinces her to explore NYC. She is there a short time when Patsy's friends there first find it strange she has never worked then it gets more uncomfortable when they hear about the cancer. Not enjoying herself, she returns home early. When they discover it is terminal cancer, Aurora and Flap stay by Emma's side through her treatment and hospitalization. Garrett flies to Nebraska to be with Aurora and her family. The dying Emma shows her love for her mother by entrusting her children to Aurora's care. The newly formed family, Aurora and the children with Garrett, live together in Houston.


Cast


Production

James L. Brooks wrote the supporting role of Garrett Breedlove for Burt Reynolds, who turned down the role because of a verbal commitment he had made to appear in '' Stroker Ace''. "There are no awards in Hollywood for being an idiot", Reynolds later said of the decision.
Harrison Ford Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American actor. Regarded as a cinematic cultural icon, he has starred in Harrison Ford filmography, many notable films over seven decades, and is one of List of highest-grossing actors, the highest-gr ...
and
Paul Newman Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and activist. He was the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Paul Newman, numerous awards ...
also turned down the role. The exterior shots of Aurora Greenway's home were filmed at 3060 Locke Lane,
Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
, Texas. The exterior shots of locations intended to be in
Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...
and Kearney, Nebraska were instead filmed in
Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska. The city covers and had a population of 291,082 as of the 2020 census. It is the state's List of cities in Nebraska, second-most populous city a ...
. Many scenes were filmed on, or near, the campus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. While filming in Lincoln, the state capital, Winger met then-governor of Nebraska Bob Kerrey; the two wound up dating for two years. Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger reportedly did not get along with each other during production. MacLaine confirmed in an interview that "it was a very tough shoot ... Chaotic...( Jim) likes working with tension on the set." On working with Jack Nicholson, MacLaine said, "Working with Jack Nicholson was crazy", but that his spontaneity may have contributed to her performance. She also said,
We're like old smoothies working together. You know the old smoothies they used to show whenever you went to the Ice Follies. They would have this elderly man and woman – who at that time were 40 – and they had a little bit too much weight around the waist and were moving a little slower. But they danced so elegantly and so in synch with each other that the audience just laid back and sort of sighed. That's the way it is working with Jack. We both know what the other is going to do. And we don't socialize, or anything. It's an amazing chemistry – a wonderful, wonderful feeling.
MacLaine also confirmed in an interview with ''
USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...
'' that Nicholson improvised when he put his hand down her dress in the beach scene.


Reception


Box office

''Terms of Endearment'' was commercially successful at the box office. On its opening weekend, it grossed $3.4 million, ranking number two at the US box office, until its second weekend, when it grossed $3.1 million, ranking number one at the box office. Three weekends later, it arrived number one again, with $9,000,000, having wide release. For four weekends, it remained number one at the box office, and it slipped to number two on its tenth weekend. On the film's 11th weekend, it arrived number one (for the sixth and final time), grossing $3 million. The film grossed $108,423,489 in the United States and Canada and $165 million worldwide.


Critical reception

''Terms of Endearment'' received critical acclaim at the time of its release. On
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, the film has an 82% approval rating based on 109 reviews, with a weighted average of 7.9/10. The site's consensus reads: "A classic tearjerker, ''Terms of Endearment'' isn't shy about reaching for the heartstrings – but is so well-acted and smartly scripted that it's almost impossible to resist."
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
reports a score of 79 out of 100 based on reviews from ten critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
gave the film a four-out-of-four star rating, calling it "a wonderful film" and stating, "There isn't a thing that I would change, and I was exhilarated by the freedom it gives itself to move from the high comedy of Nicholson's best moments to the acting of Debra Winger in the closing scenes."
Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune'' who co-hosted a movie review television series alongside colleague Roger Ebert. Siskel started writing for the '' ...
, who also gave the film a highly enthusiastic review, correctly predicted upon its release that it would go on to win the
Academy Award for Best Picture The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards (also known as Oscars) presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since the awards debuted in 1929. This award goes to the producers of the film a ...
of 1983. In his movie guide,
Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic, film historian, and author. He is known for his book of film capsule reviews, '' Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide'', published from 1969 to 2014. Maltin was the film criti ...
awarded the film a rare four-star rating, calling it a "Wonderful mix of humor and heartache," and concluded the film was "Consistently offbeat and unpredictable, with exceptional performances by all three stars."


Accolades

As of July 2022, Nicholson is one of the few supporting actors to ever sweep "The Big Four" critics awards (
Los Angeles Film Critics Association The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) is an American film critic organization founded in 1975. Background Its membership comprises film critics from Los Angeles–based print and electronic media. In December of each year, the organi ...
, National Board of Review, New York Film Critics Circle, National Society of Film Critics) for his performance of Garrett Breedlove.
American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...
(nominations): * AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies * AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs * AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes: ** Aurora: "Would you like to come in?" Garrett: "I'd rather stick needles in my eyes." * AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition)


Sequel and stage adaptions

The sequel '' The Evening Star'' (1996), in which MacLaine and Nicholson reprised their roles, was a critical and commercial failure. A stage play of the same name, based on the novel, was written by Dan Gordon.


Notes


References


External links

* *
Terms of Endearment
' at the TCM Movie Database * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Terms Of Endearment 1983 films 1980s romantic comedy-drama films American romantic comedy-drama films Best Drama Picture Golden Globe winners Best Picture Academy Award winners 1980s English-language films Films about adultery in the United States Films about astronauts Films about cancer in the United States Films about death Films about dysfunctional families Films based on American novels Films based on romance novels Films directed by James L. Brooks Films featuring a Best Actress Academy Award–winning performance Films featuring a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award–winning performance Films featuring a Best Drama Actress Golden Globe–winning performance Films featuring a Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe winning performance Films produced by James L. Brooks Films set in the 1960s Films set in the 1970s Films set in the 1980s Films set in Nebraska Films set in Iowa Films set in New York City Films set in Texas Films shot in Houston Films shot in Nebraska Films whose director won the Best Directing Academy Award Films whose writer won the Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award Films with screenplays by James L. Brooks Paramount Pictures films Tragicomedy films 1983 directorial debut films 1983 comedy films 1983 drama films Films about mother–daughter relationships 1980s American films English-language romantic comedy-drama films 1983 comedy-drama films