Talk:Tender Mercies

Issue with Scarface reference
The following is problematic: "Universal had released Scarface, a far more expensive and anticipated film, that same year and the studio was spending most of its advertising revenue on that film, which left little remaining to publicize Tender Mercies". First, the past tense is simply incorrect--Scarface wasn't released until December 1983, nine months after Tender Mercies. Second, that's a long time in industry terms--and, I believe, a brand-new fiscal year. It's rather difficult to believe that Scarface had much to do with the scrimping on the Tender Mercies publicity budget. Then we check the source: it's Tess Harper. I can't say that an actor who was making their film debut at the time is a great source for accurate reportage of studio financial machinations. If corroboration for this claim can't be found, I'd cut it, or relegate it entirely to a footnote, clearly identifying its source.

P.S. Great work on the "Themes" section. DocKino (talk) 01:23, 24 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks! Regarding the Scarface issue, let me check around to see if I can find some more sources for it because this one. Although Tess Harper is the source, she's the person that said it in the documentary that came with the DVD; I find it hard to believe that they would have included it in the film if it flat-out weren't true. But if I can't find another source, I may cut it. —  Hunter  Kahn  ( contribs )  22:07, 25 May 2009 (UTC)

Image of setting?
During the last FAC, Steve brought up this idea in passing, and I'd been thinking very much along the same lines. Much in the article is made of the film's rural setting. is it possible to track down a free image of Waxahachie or that region of Texas that would give us a good sense of the physical milieu captured in the film? DocKino (talk) 01:30, 24 May 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm going to look into this too. Most of the photos available on Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons now seem to emphasize the Victorian architecture and gingerbread houses of Waxahachie, which (as the article says) they deliberately avoided while filming to give the film a more barren, West Texas feel. I will see if I can't find any other photos though and if you have any ideas, let me know. —  Hunter  Kahn  ( contribs )  22:12, 25 May 2009 (UTC)

Tender Mercies is a terrific article...
Thank you DocKino and HunterKahn for your work on it! --HarringtonSmith (talk) 05:32, 28 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks! —  Hunter  Kahn  ( c )  14:15, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

Design idea
The idea Steve raised in the FAC of adding quote boxes for visual variety was put into action to very nice effect. It just occurred to me that the same concept could be applied to what's almost always a long chunk of text in any film article--the "Plot". A box with a trenchant bit of dialogue or monologue would work nicely (I would use the cite video template; as with any quote, inline citation is called for). What do you think? DocKino (talk) 15:26, 3 December 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm not opposed to it. In the case of this film, Duvall's "I don't trust happiness" monologue at the end of the movie would work well. It's sort of the quintessential moment of the film... —  Hunter  Kahn  ( c )  15:54, 3 December 2009 (UTC)
 * I found the passage on NPR's website and added a box with it. See what you think. If you don't feel it works well, feel free to cut it. DocKino (talk) 01:13, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

Running time
Kudos to Hunter Khan for getting this to FA, and to DocKino for his very thorough review and copyedit. Anyway, before I take the article off my watchlist, I thought I'd just drop by to mention something I touched on in the FAC: if you do feel like clarifying the running time (with regard to the PAL–NTSC issue), I added this note to American Beauty this morning that seems like it would be a good template to use. Or not; it's totally your call. :-) All the best, Steve  T • C 16:15, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

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