Natalie-31

This is a film that separates movie lovers from movie goers; art lovers from action lovers; intelligent analysis from drivel. First, this movie (like many) is not meant to be watched on the TV screen. It is a big-screen movie. If you missed it on the big screen, you missed a lot. This film was not nominated for Best Picture by the Academy of Motionless Pictures, Arduous and Sizable (let's face it--if it's not long and boring like Private Ryan, Schindler's List, Titanic or A Beautiful Mind or it hasn't made its box office goals, it won't get many nominations.) However, the screenwriters who nominate the screenplays got it right and nominated this masterpiece. (Note: the same nominating group ignored Titanic which gives further insight into their superior intellect.)

Enough cannot be said about the perfection that this film achieves. The story is perfectly executed and filled with so much insight that it is eerie. Every detail adds to the character development and the development of plot. This movie is not for movie-goers who "just want to be entertained." They should stick to Rush Hour or A Beautiful Mind. There is no trite formula in this one.

This is a great film, in my personal top ten of all time. I know several people who did not like the ending, the affair, the title. All I can say is you have to think about this one. It's not trite nonsense like "A Beautiful Mind." When the ending arrives, think about what it means to love and forgive. Think about people in your life that have left for one reason or another. Think about where it is that those people that affected you still exist (hence the brilliant title and ending). When I saw this film in the theater, I was so stunned by the ending that I couldn't speak. I didn't just cry. I burst into tears. It is so touching and relevant to the themes of the whole movie--forgiveness, love, brotherhood. I have zero respect for the AFI and any other silly list makers when they leave PLACES IN THE HEART out of their top 100 or 200.

This film was made by people who thought they were creating something brilliant. It is so painfully bad. After seeing it in 1976, it took me at least fifteen years before I could respect Streisand again. It's hard to believe that she was involved in this mess and then went on to do films as good as Yentl, Mirror Has Two Faces etc. Barbra Streisand defended this film after it was savaged by every critic with a brain. I'll bet she has grown to realize how awful this one is. Scene after scene of utter nonsense--When the interviewer tells Kristoferson she'll do anything for an interview and then "surprises the viewer" with the fact that she wants the interview with Streisand, I think I might have thrown up. The final song that was meant to be filled with Streisand's raw emotions is agonizing to watch for all the wrong reasons--goofy Big Bird choreography mixed with hideous changing light cues.