Back in the 1950s, "The Trip to Bountiful" was a very successful stage play. I mention this because the film is a bit slower than many movies and it's easy to imagine it being performed live...much of it because the film has quite a few monologues. This is NOT a complaint....and I really enjoyed the picture...even if it's a bit of a downer at times.When the film begins, Mrs. Watts (Geraldine Page) is living with her adult son (John Heard) and his god-awful wife, Jessie Mae (Carlin Glynn). Jessie Mae is a very controlling and nasty lady and she seems to go out of her way to make Mrs. Watts feel like she isn't wanted. Oddly, she also doesn't necessarily want her to leave, either! In fact, Jessie Mae just seems to like complaining and making everyone miserable. As for her husband, Ludie is a wimp who wants everyone to get along but allows his wife to make the household tense. Within this atmosphere, Mrs. Watts has a strong desire to leave...not permanently, but to visit her old home town of Bountiful. While this seems like a reasonable thing, especially since Mrs. Watts is elderly and has a heart condition, Jessie Mae insists that she is not ALLOWED to make the trip...and that is that! Well, Mrs. Watts knows the only way to make this one last trip is to sneak off on her own...and she does.What follows is a long and leisurely film where Mrs. Watts meets several nice folks...nice folks who take the time to listen to her prattle on and on. It's obvious that no one has been listening to her...and she is making up for lost time! So what happens? See the film.The reason to see this film is the acting. Geraldine Page is delightful and I can see why she earned the Oscar for Best Actress. But I also thought that Carlin Glynn was also terrific. After all, I really, really wanted to throttle her...and she and the director did a great job in creating a strong emotional reaction in viewers. A nice character study and a film that might just make you shed a few tears...so have some Kleenex handy.

A Trip to Bountiful is in it's simplicity and superb acting a wonderful, wonderful, gentle trip, both real and metaphorically a beautiful movie. It is a tour de force for Geraldine Page. Her physicality is a thing beyond compare. Rebecca Demoney is also superb in one of her first appearances. Horton Foote has the ability to take a simple situation and make it a marvel of writing and style with a gentle touch, but considering that gentle touch and style so much as conveyed that a person comes away wondering how it was accomplished. You are given not only a feel for the people, but the wonder of the place where it takes place. Bountiful may or may not have been real, but in this story it is and to Carrie it's more real than anything else in her life and more important then anything that she get to see it one last time before her life is over. To reach this end she defies her irritating daughter-in-law who not only bow beat her, but her son; husband to the daughter-in-law. I bought this movie so I could watch the artful performance of Geraldine Page over and over again as every moment of her performance is sheer perfection. When you give an actress as great as her the words of Horton Foote you can't help, but have a magnificent performance.

Unusual in its focus on an elderly woman, "The Trip To Bountiful" offers a story that is slow but graceful, sentimental in parts, and has a lot to say about growing old, especially in the context of living with others. Geraldine Page pours her heart and soul into the role of Carrie Watts, an elderly widow who lives with her son and daughter-in-law in a cramped urban apartment, and who wants more than anything to make one last trip back to her rural roots.Homely in appearance, Carrie is quite a character. She's feisty and spunky, insistent, slightly forgetful but not senile, yet charming and likable. And she likes to hum gospel hymns. Her son is something of a sop married to a talky, overbearing worldly woman annoyed at having to share their small flat with his mother. Verbal conflict abounds.Yet the story centers on Carrie's desire to return to her old homestead before she dies. The script neatly conforms to a standard three-Act structure, with the final Act being the most sentimental. Page's performance is so riveting and multifaceted that we forget how much dialogue there is and, as a result, the film never seems talky. But the script does play with the viewers' emotions and, as such, is quite manipulative.Production design and costumes wonderfully capture the 1940s setting, especially in the nighttime scenes at the rural bus stop and in the small town, where naturalistic lighting and ambient background sounds render scenes highly realistic.Carrie's story is the story of many older people. It's what happens naturally when someone has lived a long and full life, to reminisce about the past, to yearn for its return, to grasp the reality of change, and to come to terms with the inevitability of one's own mortality.Despite a manipulative script, the film's underlying concept conveys genuine heart and soul. And Geraldine Page's Oscar-winning performance is breathtaking in its scope and depth.

I never know what to write about movies like "The Trip to Bountiful." So many users have already given it accolades; what else is there to write ? Once again, I stumbled on it on TCM in the middle of this film. I'd always wanted to see it. People who have not experienced the closeted atmosphere this plot depicts (several people living in a small apartment) are truly lucky - I have and am, although I'm not directly involved.Peter Masterson has directed a masterpiece from Horton Foote's script, although I doubt seriously if he had much to do with Geraldine Page's ("Carrie Watts") performance. She WAS "Carrie;" she portrayed this eccentric lady with a revelation seldom achieved by anyone. Although I missed the first half of the movie, I didn't need it - I could understand each character's personality clearly, although there were some whom I really didn't want to understand. But, isn't that life ? I did not recognize John Heard ("Ludie Watts"). He was perfect for that character, as was Carlin Glynn ("Jessie Mae"). Didn't you want to choke her? A fabulous performance. In the confines of their apartment, "Ludie" knew he was a failure in his life, because he had neither the courage to reprimand his wife nor gently accompany his mother to her dearest place on earth. He left that up to "the Sheriff" (Richard Branford)....another stellar performance.Every scene in this movie, I'm sure, was a gem, carried by Ms. Page. I was certain it was going to be "Thelma" (Rebecca de Mornay) to take "Carrie" to Bountiful.....she was so kindly aware of "Carrie's" predicament. Yet, that would have prevented the redemption of the other characters. "Ludie's" confession and demonstration of his love for "Carrie"; "Jessie Mae's" shock to receive the sweet kiss on her cheek by "Carrie", who accepted all of the demands of "the list". A touching shocker when "Carrie" let the magic of her life sift through her fingers as she scooped-up a handful of earth.....you know she saw her mom and dad on the porch.We all will make a "Bountiful" trip, either actual or imaginary. I'd jump into my auto right now, if I thought it would make it to Mississippi. Flying would be too abrupt - it's the build-up to the ultimate desire to re-connect with the past. This is a movie which should be shared by an entire family-viewing.......I've rated it at 50.