THE SALLY FIELD REVIEW

By Nate Lee

BEST FILM: Places in the Heart Her second Oscar-winning performance is more engaging, nuanced, and enlightened than her “Norma Rae,” five years earlier. Likewise, the film is much richer with a whole class of perfect performances. Sure, “Gump” is a classic, but “Places” is Field’s best film.

GREAT PERFORMANCES YOU MAY NOT HAVE SEEN:

Places in the Heart (Golden Globe and Academy Award-winning performance as a widowed woman trying to make it in Depression Texas)

Norma Rae (Golden Globe and Academy Award-winning performance as a Union organizer in the textile industry)

Absence of Malice (Golden Globe-nominated performance as a reporter, opposite Paul Newman)

Steel Magnolias (Golden Globe-nominated performance as Julia Roberts’s mother)

Mrs. Doubtfire (Robin Williams’ long-suffering wife)

Legally Blonde 2 (Reese Witherspoon’s boss)

Not Without My Daughter (opposite Alfred Molina)

Punchline (a comedienne, with Tom Hanks)

Murphy’s Romance (Golden Globe-nominated performance opposite James Garner)

THE BURT REYNOLDS MOVIES:

Smokey and the Bandit (Golden Globe-nominated performance)

The EnD

Hooper

Smokey and the Bandit II

BLOCKBUSTERS:

Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks’s mother)

THE REAL SALLY:

Norma Rae

Pint-sized, pixied persistence. Don’t mistake the ageless Gidgety girl for anything less than a woman who achieves her goals. That’s what her famous Oscar-winning speech was all about. Otherwise, she would have been washed up after six or seven Burt Reynolds movies.

ACTING STYLE:

It was silly sitcoms that got her started, and she can certainly do comedy. But, even better than Reese Witherspoon, the secret of her success lies in the juxtaposition of her young innocent face and the determination – and pathos – of her characters. Even as the mom or the wife in comedies, she is a force to be reckoned with.

BITS AND QUIRKS:

The doe eyes with the whisper. The determined jaw. The smile with the mouth wide open. The look of distress with the mouth puckered.

GREAT SCENES:

PLACES IN THE HEART -

Giving son Frank a spanking for the first time, after his father has died and she has to take over > Dealing with a blind John Malkovich who’s stormed into her bathroom to complain about her kids > Saying goodbye to Danny Glover

MURPHY’S ROMANCE -

At the dance, being jerked back and forth between James Garner and Brian Kerwin

STEEL MAGNOLIAS -

Opening scene, running about the house dealing with wedding preparations > at the hair salon with Dolly Parton and Olympia Dukakis > Arguing with Julia Roberts over her baby

NORMA RAE -

In the bar, talking about how her husband died > Talking to the preacher about union activities > Fighting with Beau Bridges > Standing on the desk in the factory with the “Union” sign until everyone shuts off their machines >

MRS. DOUBTFIRE -

The courtroom scenes where Robin Williams loses custody > The restaurant scene where Mrs. Doubtfire’s identity is revealed > The reconciliation

ABSENCE OF MALICE -

The final working out by Wilford Brimley > Dealing with Paul Newman in the end