Places in the Heart

Places in the Heart is a 1984 American drama film written and directed by Robert Benton about a Depression-era Texas widow who tries to save her family farm with the help of a blind white man and a poor black man. The film stars Sally Field, Lindsay Crouse, Ed Harris, Ray Baker, Amy Madigan, John Malkovich, Danny Glover, Jerry Haynes and Terry O'Quinn. It was filmed in Waxahachie, Texas, on Jack Davis' farm. Field won her second Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance.

Plot
It is 1935 and Waxahachie, Texas, is a small, segregated town in the midst of the Great Depression. One afternoon the local sheriff, Royce Spalding, goes to investigate trouble at the rail yards. He dies after being accidentally shot by a young black boy, Wylie. Local white vigilantes tie Wylie to a truck and drag his body through town before hanging him from a tree.

The sheriff's widow, Edna Spalding, is left to raise her children alone and maintain the family farm. The bank has a note on the farm, and the price for cotton is plummeting. The local banker, Mr. Denby, suggests that she sell the farm as he doesn't see how she can afford to make the loan payments.

A drifter and handyman, a black man by the name of Moses, appears at her door one night, asking for work. He offers to plant cotton on all her acres and cites his experience. Edna declines to hire him but offers him a meal and sends him on his way. The next morning, she sees him voluntarily chopping wood in her yard. She offers to make him breakfast on the condition that he leaves. Moses steals some of her silver spoons and leaves. When the police capture Moses with her stolen silver and bring him back to confirm the theft, Edna says she had hired him.

The next day, Edna visits Mr. Denby to relay her decision not to sell the farm. He unloads his blind brother-in-law, Will, on Edna, compelling her to take him in as a paid lodger. Will is slow to warm up to her children, but they eventually become close and he rescues her daughter Possum during a tornado. Moses helps Edna's son Frank find his way home during the tornado.

Edna realizes she cannot make the next payment even if she sells all her cotton. The bank declines Edna's request for relief, but she learns of an Ellis County contest: a $100 cash prize to the farmer who produces the first bale of cotton for market each season. Edna realizes the prize money plus the proceeds from the sale of her cotton would be enough to allow her to keep the farm. Edna knows she will need more pickers, and Moses agrees to help her find the help so they can harvest the cotton on time.

Their efforts pay off as Edna and Moses find themselves first in line at the wholesaler with the season's first bale of cotton. Moses carefully coaches Edna on how to negotiate with the buyer, and as a result he is unable to cheat her. That night, Moses is accosted by Ku Klux Klan members and savagely beaten. Will, who recognizes all the assailants' voices as local white men, confronts and identifies them one by one; they all run off. Moses realizes he will have to leave the farm because of possible future attacks.

The story ends with the community in prayer. Communion is passed among the assembled congregants at the church, hand to hand and mouth to mouth, between both the living and the deceased. The last line of the film is spoken by Wylie to Royce Spalding, "Peace of God". The film closes with all the characters gathered in church singing in unison.

Cast

 * Sally Field as Edna Spalding
 * Lindsay Crouse as Margaret Lomax
 * Danny Glover as Moses
 * John Malkovich as Mr. Will
 * Ed Harris as Wayne Lomax
 * Ray Baker as Sheriff Royce Spalding
 * Amy Madigan as Viola Kelsey
 * Yankton Hatten as Frank Spalding
 * Gennie James as Possum Spalding
 * Lane Smith as Albert Denby
 * Terry O'Quinn as Buddy Kelsey
 * Bert Remsen as Tee Tot Hightower
 * Jay Patterson as W.E. Simmons
 * Toni Hudson as Ermine
 * De'voreaux White as Wylie
 * Jerry Haynes as Deputy Jack Driscoll

Reception
Places in the Heart grossed $274,279 in its opening weekend. The film grossed $34.9 million in the US.

Critical response
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 93% based on reviews from 28 critics and a rating average of 8.1 out of 10. The consensus is: "Places in the Heart is a quiet character piece with grand ambitions that it more than fulfills, thanks to absorbing work from writer-director Robert Benton and a tremendous cast." Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote in his review: "Robert Benton has made one of the best films in years about growing up American." Canby called it "moving and often funny" and "a tonic, a revivifying experience right down to the final images", comparing it to Luis Bunuel's Tristana". Roger Ebert wrote in his review that Benton's "memories provide the material for a wonderful movie, and he has made it, but unfortunately he hasn't stopped at that. He has gone on to include too much. He tells a central story of great power, and then keeps leaving it to catch us up with minor characters we never care about."

Accolades
In 1985, when Sally Field accepted her second Oscar (the first was for Norma Rae), she uttered the memorable (and much-mocked) line "I can't deny the fact that you like me—right now, you like me!" It is often commonly misquoted as "You like me—you really like me!"

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
 * 2006: AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers – #95

Release
Places in the Heart was released in theatres on September 21, 1984. The film was released on DVD on October 9, 2001, by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.