For those who fancy a good, old-fashioned howl, this tear-jerker will fit the bill nicely. In her Oscar-winning performance (following eight unsuccessful nominations), Geraldine Page plays a feisty, sentimental, hymn-singing old southern lady with a slightly dicky heart and a grasping sourpuss of a daughter-in-law who makes her life hell and has the old girl's submissive son under her thumb. After one bitter row, Page packs up and makes one of her occasional attempts to get back to her home town of Bountiful, now all but deserted. Somehow, this time she evades pursuit, with a small assist from a friendly fellow traveller Rebecca DeMornay, and begins the long bus journey to the nearest town. That's really the whole story, although incidentals, dialogue, and the central performance all count for a lot, even if they don't quite prevent a yawn sometimes sneaking in between the tears: the truth behind the basic situations sometimes cuts too deep for comfort.


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