Hal Hinson

“Other actors combine a sense of emotional depth and realism with the charismatic appeal of a star. Debra Winger must be the most expressive romantic actress in American movies since Garbo. [Is this last comment appropriate for Terms, or just for Officer?] Winger creates her characters on the screen out of pure, raw emotion. Her style is simple and unaffected; there are no actorish flourishes. Winger opens herself up competely to the camera, and there's an uncanny vibrancy and conviction in her work. Her style is naturalistic, but not in the usual sense. She doesn't make herself over in each new film; the women she's played in ehr films so far are different only in small, subtle ways, in little details. But each character seems uniquely real simply because she comes to life so completely within the world of the film. In An Officer and a Gentleman and Terms of Endearment, Winger's performances are so passionate and believable that, in each case, we almost forget the movie-fed artificiality of the films themselves. Her characterizations are the key element in both films; she gives them heart….

“Winger's style fits into an older Hollywood tradition of popular screen acting. She's accessible in a way that makes an audience feel they know her, the way earlier audiences grew to know Jimmy Stewart or Carole Lombard over the course of their careers. [This isn't necessarily what I enjoy about film acting.] Winger's rapport with her audience is more dirct and personal than that of actors like Streep and Hurt who make contact only through their characters. [Making contact through characters can make a more powerful film experience than constantly being reminded of the actor's "personality," in much the same way some critics don't like to be reminded of Streep's technique while watching her.] Winger makes us recognize ourselves in her. Her approach takes into account an audience's need for emotional satisfaction from a popular Hollywood movie, and the larger-than-life heroines that popular movies can accommodate. She transforms romantic tinsel into flesh and blood. [Again, appropriate for Terms?]

“Winger probably doesn't have the range or technical facility to work on the stage, and she may not be any better in her future films than she has been already. But she's so good, so alive on screen that she lifts star acting to a level far beyond the reach of mere technique. Winger communicates sexual longing to an audience more vividly than any other modern actress.”

Hal Hinson
“The Naked and the Bred",
Boston Phoenix, October 2, 1984