Terms of Endearment            

By Tom Keogh

Larry McMurtry's novel becomes a somewhat lumpy film as directed by James L. Brooks (As Good As It Gets). Nevertheless, it is entirely winning, with Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger playing a combative mother and daughter who see each other through various ups and downs in love and loss, and most especially through a terminal illness endured by Winger's character. Jack Nicholson deservedly won an Oscar for his supporting role as a free-spirited astronaut who backs away from a romance with MacLaine and then returns in the clutch. As he always does, Brooks keeps things from getting too soapy with his intense concentration on the soulful evolution of his characters.

Academy Awards

Terms of Endearment received an Academy Awards for Best Picture (James L. Brooks - Producer), Actress (Shirley MacLaine), Supporting Actor (Jack Nicholson), Directing (James L. Brooks), and Writing (Best Screenplay based on material from another medium; James L. Brooks). It also received nominations for Actress (Debra Winger), Supporting Actor (John Lithgow), Art Direction/Set Decoration (Polly Platt - Art Direction, Harold Michelson - Art Direction, Tom Pedigo - Set Direction, Anthony Mondello - Set Direction), Film Editing (Richard Marks), Music Scoring Awards (Best Original Score; Michael Gore), and Sound (Donald O. Mitchell, Rick Kline, Kevin O'Connell, Jim Alexander).

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