To summarize this wonderful movie can't do it justice because it is through Geraldine Page's Mama where the whole becomes so much greater than the sum of its parts. Sometimes pain becomes comfort as we watch our days go by. Carrie Watts (Mama) has been in conflict with her daughter for years, but she is dependent on her and their fights never take them anywhere. Now aging, she wants to go back to Bountiful to try to recapture some of her youth. Of course, we have seen the them of "You Can't Go Home Again" played out so many times. But the bleakness of her "paradise" is so gut wrenching, we feel her pain, especially her trip into the old house. Even if we live for only a day, it is a new day with new challenges and excitement. The performance her by Page won an Academy Award and it was so deserved. While this film may make one sad, it's not maudlin or cheap or contrived.

There are some films you watch because they have a great story. This is not one of them.There are some films you watch because of a great acting performance. This is supposed to be one of those films. But in reality, it is not. I don't care that Geraldine Page won an Academy Award for this film; in my view it was a payback for having been nominated 7 times previously and not winning.Now, why do I say that her performance is not Oscar worthy. Go back and watch 1963's "Toys In The Attic" starring her, Dean Martin, and Wendy Hiller. Same performance, just a different script and different lines. I would have thought it was a fine performance had I not been familiar with "Toys In The Attic".What about supporting actor John Heard as the son. Wooden. Talking, not acting. Thumbs down (and yet I have seen Heard be very good in other films).How about Carlin Glynn as Heard's wife? Too shrill. Overacting.In my view, the only performance worth watching in the film was that of Richard Bradford in a somewhat small role as the sheriff. Nicely played. Actually, Rebecca De Mornay is fairly good as a fellow bus passenger, as well.Sorry, but this film -- the type of film I often like -- gets a BIG thumbs down from me.

I have read the first few pages of the reviews for this wonderful movie, and no one seems to notice a little touch that Geraldine Page, or perhaps the director, made at the end of this movie that made me smile.First off, though, let me just say I found out about "The Trip to Bountiful" when I was going through some old Siskel and Ebert shows on youtube to find something new to watch I hadn't heard of. I miss these reviewers so much these days; it was always a pleasure to hear them give a glowing review, to argue intelligently about some film, or to stab an awful movie with cutting remarks that always made me laugh.Anyway, as you can imagine, "Bountiful" got a two thumbs up rave review, and the clips they previewed looked amazing. I knew immediately I had to see Geraldine Page in this movie, and I was not disappointed. She nailed this part so beautifully I was just awestruck. (Another movie Horton Foote is associated with, "Tender Mercies," has this same quiet force of pure emotion and three dimensional characters that burst with life and spontaneity, and Robert Duvall deservedly won an Oscar for his performance as Mack Sledge).Now here's the kicker I mentioned earlier. Watch closely at the end when Page has her fingers in the dirt and you will see her put the government check on the ground, but fail to pick it up when she retrieves her purse and gets up to go back to the car. Isn't that a subtle piece of mischief? I bet Jessie Mae had a heart attack herself when she found out she wasn't going to be able to get those new shoes she was no doubt already scheming to buy.One final note: "A Trip to Bountiful" was remade in 2014 with Cicely Tyson in the lead role. I haven't seen this version, but it also received very strong praise. I'm not surprised; the script is flawless.

The Trip To Bountiful is an unexpectedly interesting piece of drama genuinely portraying the battle of the age groups. Geraldine Page masterfully plays an old woman who is determined to outwit her bossy daughter-in-law so that she can visit her childhood home. Her portrait of this elder is a fusion of desperation, wisdom, and all but emotion being diluted by time. There is a lot of shrewd spontaneity in her performance that challenges her co-stars. Carlin Glynn provokingly takes the part of the imposition of the succeeding generation, an interfering, self-consumed woman Page puts up with only for the sake of her son, Glynn's broodingly compliant husband, played by a very likable young John Heard.The script is exceptional in its unfussiness, as all the narrative obstructions to Page's fraught yearning to replenish herself with a nostalgic visit to her old home of Bountiful don't seem to phase her. This is a touching recognition of the seasoned nature of many elderly people, as Page, despite how miserable it must be to be intimidated by someone thirty years younger than you into remaining in their apartment passing away the time in a chair and a window, for the most part alone, as we first see her in the film, and to reminisce about the bygone times and lost relatives, is beyond the sort of anger and frustration that would set a younger person in a rut. This, however, is merely my twenty-year-old male opinion, though I would say that is a testament to the effect of the movie.Beautiful Rebecca DeMornay creates a wonderful character, a sensitive young woman who meets Page by happenstance and projects a wonderfully virginal, serene presence. She opens Page up, just as Richard Bradford's humble, taurine middle-aged sheriff does. The Trip To Bountiful is not a brilliant film. It's simply an enjoyable and engrossing piece of work.