Tender Mercies

“I don’t trust happiness. I never did, I never will.” If that cheery sentiment sounds like it’s ripped from the lyrics of country music canon, mission accomplished—because if ever there was a tear in someone’s beer, it’s in Mac Sledge’s. Robert Duvall took home his only Oscar® for this quiet 1983 film about a washed up country singer struggling to lay off the bottle and find himself a good woman. Filmed mostly on location in Waxahachie, Texas, the local color oozes off the screen and right into your gullet as Mac faces the small town version of being put out to pasture. You’ll hear plenty of country caterwauling in this one, but oddly enough, no score—which only adds to the emotional punch of Duvall’s performance.