Andrew Sarris
In 2002, Andrew Sarris published a revision of his initial opinion of Debra Winger; although the revision was evident as early as his review of Betrayed in 1988. These revisions appear below, after his initial review of Terms.
“…. A whole movie could take off from just one of the exquisitely loving glances exchanged between [Jennifer] Josey [as young Emma] and MacLaine as mother and daughter.
“Unfortunately, Jennifer Josey grows up to become Debra Winger, and that is when I begin having big trouble with the movie. Debra Winger's Emma Horton makes her entrance, sprawled on the front lawn, her skirt provocatively askew so as to give a free show to the grinning moving men, unloading the terrestrial belongings of an ex-astronaut aptly named Garrett Breedlove (and played with consummate brilliance by Jack Nicholson).
“As far as I am concerned, Debra Winger's most entrancing movie moment came atop the mechanical bull she straddled with an insinuating ease in Urban Cowboy. In her scenes with other human beings, however, she has always emitted the static of an incongruously unresponsive intensity, which is to say that she acts at other people rather than with them. The built-in wrangle to her personality makes her scenes of disagreement even more disagreeable than they should be….
“There is real talent at work in Terms of Endearment, notably that of Nicholson, Lithgow, and Bishop, even more than that of MacLaine and Winger. Yet it is curious that in this year of unueually activist heroines on the screen, most spectacularly Meryl Streep (in Silkwood, whom I would vote for right now as best actress, Bonnie Bedelia in Heart Like a Wheel, Joanna Cassidy in Under Fire, and even Barbra Streisand in Yentl, there should be a concerted effort to stampede everyone to Shirley MacLaine and possibly Debra Winger in two roles in which emoting is the only activity. When you think about it, Streep's Sophie last year was more acceptable in this context of anti-feminist backlash than her Silkwood this year. To win an Oscar, actresses must be suffering and submissive creatures with excessively messy lives. This is both the message and the mechanism of Terms of Endearment as the most widely admired tearjerker of the year. Its expertise makes it nonetheless the cabbage patch doll of Christmas movies.”
Andrew Sarris
Village Voice, December 13, 1983
“One does not have to "buy" the message of Betrayed to be stirred by some of the conflicting emotions it arouses, and most of these can be attributed to the devastating performance of Debra Winger … Throughout her career, Winger has combined a volcanic sexuality … with a nurturing warmth that has made millions of people cry over such otherwise manipulative entertainments as An Officer and a Gentleman and Terms of Endearment….”
Sarris
Village Voice, date? 1988, review of Betrayed
“….How in tarnation could I have missed her blazing eyes and uninhibited sexuality in Urban Cowboy (1980), An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), Terms of Endearment (1982), and Black Widow (1987)?….”
Sarris
New York Observer, March 4, 2002
(review of Big, Bad Love)
“…. A whole movie could take off from just one of the exquisitely loving glances exchanged between [Jennifer] Josey [as young Emma] and MacLaine as mother and daughter.
“Unfortunately, Jennifer Josey grows up to become Debra Winger, and that is when I begin having big trouble with the movie. Debra Winger's Emma Horton makes her entrance, sprawled on the front lawn, her skirt provocatively askew so as to give a free show to the grinning moving men, unloading the terrestrial belongings of an ex-astronaut aptly named Garrett Breedlove (and played with consummate brilliance by Jack Nicholson).
“As far as I am concerned, Debra Winger's most entrancing movie moment came atop the mechanical bull she straddled with an insinuating ease in Urban Cowboy. In her scenes with other human beings, however, she has always emitted the static of an incongruously unresponsive intensity, which is to say that she acts at other people rather than with them. The built-in wrangle to her personality makes her scenes of disagreement even more disagreeable than they should be….
“There is real talent at work in Terms of Endearment, notably that of Nicholson, Lithgow, and Bishop, even more than that of MacLaine and Winger. Yet it is curious that in this year of unueually activist heroines on the screen, most spectacularly Meryl Streep (in Silkwood, whom I would vote for right now as best actress, Bonnie Bedelia in Heart Like a Wheel, Joanna Cassidy in Under Fire, and even Barbra Streisand in Yentl, there should be a concerted effort to stampede everyone to Shirley MacLaine and possibly Debra Winger in two roles in which emoting is the only activity. When you think about it, Streep's Sophie last year was more acceptable in this context of anti-feminist backlash than her Silkwood this year. To win an Oscar, actresses must be suffering and submissive creatures with excessively messy lives. This is both the message and the mechanism of Terms of Endearment as the most widely admired tearjerker of the year. Its expertise makes it nonetheless the cabbage patch doll of Christmas movies.”
Andrew Sarris
Village Voice, December 13, 1983
“One does not have to "buy" the message of Betrayed to be stirred by some of the conflicting emotions it arouses, and most of these can be attributed to the devastating performance of Debra Winger … Throughout her career, Winger has combined a volcanic sexuality … with a nurturing warmth that has made millions of people cry over such otherwise manipulative entertainments as An Officer and a Gentleman and Terms of Endearment….”
Sarris
Village Voice, date? 1988, review of Betrayed
“….How in tarnation could I have missed her blazing eyes and uninhibited sexuality in Urban Cowboy (1980), An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), Terms of Endearment (1982), and Black Widow (1987)?….”
Sarris
New York Observer, March 4, 2002
(review of Big, Bad Love)
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