Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL is one of Texas writer Horton Foote's most endearing stories, which comes at you straight, sad, honest, and life-affirming. This is one movie I don't mind showing to people of all ages. And it is especially meaningful to people in their 70s, 80s, and 90s. It says a lot of things they would like to say if only someone would listen. And in so doing, it reveals some things not only revealing, but that need underscoring.
It tells us it's okay to...come home.

First of all, Geraldine Page did a wonderful job of creating a woman who, back in 1953, decided to escape the prison that living in her cranky and self-centered daughter-in-law's home had become, and go back to her old home place in East Texas to capture, just one last time, the essence of her youth. Those of us who are aged less than 70 are for the most part absolutely clueless as to how wonderful it can be for an older person to catch the essence of their youth once again. This movie opens our eyes as to why this is so important.

The world we live in today (2001) is dominated by two main cultures in the USA: boomers and busters. Gen-xers have to stand in line at third mainly because we boomers outnumber everybody else. The only problem with all this is that sometimes we forget what Tom Brokaw called "The Greatest Generation": those people up there in their late 60s and above who made the postwar period of boomer prosperity (in spite of the Viet Nam fiasco period) possible.

I remember how Simon and Garfunkle wrote a sad, cynical song a few years ago called "Bookends" with a line in it that went "How terribly strange to be seventy..." Well, folks, it shouldn't have to be all that strange to be seventy. I'm planning to be seventy some day and I want to be hot as a firecracker. People should have meaningful and respected life way up there in their later years, but in American society we tend to devalue people once they retire.

TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL shows us that reality loud and clear. And it also asks the question: "When your time comes to be an old person, if it comes, do you want to be devalued like that?" So this is the second thing the story reveals: even though the setting was 1953, young and middle-aged adults in the USA society, unlike in other parts of the world like Asia, generally tend to devalue our elderly.

But the third thing the movie lifts up is this: it is never too late to "seize the time" and break the chains of prejudice. The woman in the story finally takes things into her own hands, breaks free, and breathes the free, clean air once again. And you know it is all worth it.

Look in this for a youthful Rebecca De Mornay playing an innocent young girl, far from the Risky Business and other things she later got into in Hollywood. But mainly watch Page.

I consider this movie a minor classic, although it may be a little hard to find on the local video store shelves. With all the youth and action and soft porn movies lining the shelves at the video stores, it is no wonder a great movie like this is hard to find. But if you find it, watch it with someone you love. You will probably cry a little, but you will learn a lot.

An old lady with grit and determination can teach you a lot, and Academy Award winner Geraldine Page did that in this one. It will humanize you.

*****

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: None of the Above
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up Ages 8