Visions & Voices: A Trip to Bountiful: Horton Foote

Horton Foote's uniquely personal style of screenwriting is at its peak in this collection of two Academy Award winners, To Kill a Mockingbird and Tender Mercies, and The Trip to Bountiful, a film widely named as one of 1985's best. All three show a modern Chekhov at work, revealing the deep currents of American society through the simplest details of daily life.

In 1917, when Horton Foote was one year old, his family moved into a house on his grandparents' property in Wharton, Texas. Seventy years later, he returned to that house where he still lives. And while the years between took this acclaimed writer many literal & figurative miles, he remained forever tied to his Texas roots - roots that he explores in Farewell. The results reveals memories of a complex Southern family full of secrets, an aspiring young actor shaped by the storytellers around him, a world changing at a frenetic pace. Foote's observations of his own lifetime would have been enough. Here is a man who remembers a time in which black & white children played together until school age, when segregation forced them apart. But by drawing on the experiences of those around him, he transforms his memoir into some-thing else entirely: a glimpse into history, & a heartfelt tribute to the passions, ideals, & complexities of a small-town American life in the early part of this century. It is also a testimony to the power of storytelling. There is a frank simplicity in Foote's telling that makes Farewell a profoundly moving & illuminating reading experience, one that will long be remembered.

One of America's preeminent dramatists, Horton Foote returns to the fictional town of Harrison, Texas, with two captivating plays about the bewildering and unsettling encroachment of change in the American south. In a series of haunting dramatic monologues, The Carpetbagger's Children tells the story of three daughters who struggle against the pressures of modern life to uphold their father's dying wish. It is a timeless and elegiac portrayal of a once-vibrant family slowly disintegrating over time. The Actor tells the hilarious and moving story of a young man who'll make any sacrifice to keep his dream from being crushed under the weight of his parents' expectations. It's a charming exploration of artistic ambition from one of modern theater's greatest artists.

Carrie Watts begrudgingly lives with her busy, overprotective son, Ludie, and pretentious daughter-in-law, Jessie Mae. No longer able to drive and forbidden to travel alone, she wishes for freedom from the confines of the house and begs her son to take her on a visit to her hometown of Bountiful. When he refuses, Mrs. Watts is undeterred and makes an escape to the local bus station, where she befriends Thelma, a young woman traveling home.

In an attempt to recapture the happiness she knew in the past, an elderly woman journeys back to the small town where she raised her children.

John Steinbeck's classic story of the friendship between two ranch hands. Best friends Lennie and George find themselves unemployed in Depression-era California, unable to keep jobs because of Lennie's childlike mentality. But once they get hired at the Tyler Ranch, they enjoy a brief period of stability, until their supervisor's wife becomes the victim of Lennie's compassion, forcing George to make a compassionate decision of his own.

Somewhat autobiographical, the film is based on the story of Horton Foote's parents. Elizabeth has fallen in love with a young man her father condemns. No matter how strict and protective, her parents can't deter her growing independence.

Set in early 20th century Texas. At the hight of World War I, Elizabeth and her husband face hard times when her previously disapproving father steps in to take care of her children so her beloved can go off to war.

An alcoholic drifter comes into the life of a lonely widow and her young son in the barren flatlands of Texas. But when Mac is revealed to be a once-famous country singer, he must confront a painful past that includes his bitter superstar ex-wife.