Places in the Heart

Synopsis: Edna Spalding finds herself alone and broke on a small farm in the midst of the Great Depression when her husband the Sheriff is killed in an accident. A wandering black man, Moses, helps her to plant cotton to try and keep her farm and her kids together. She also takes on a blind boarder, Mr. Will, who lost his sight in the first World War. She must endure storms and harsh labor to try and make her mortgage payment on time.
Genre: Drama
Director(s): Robert Benton
Production: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
  Won 2 Oscars. Another 11 wins & 14 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.3
Rotten Tomatoes:
96%
PG
Year:
1984
111 min
1,488 Views


Possum, put that up, now.

Our Heavenly Father...

...bless this meal and those

who are about to receive it.

Make us thankful for your generous

bounty and your unceasing love.

Please remind us,

in these hard times...

...to be grateful for what

we have been given...

...and not to ask for what

we cannot have.

And make us mindful of those

less fortunate among us...

...as we sit at this table

with all of thy bounty.

- Amen.

- Amen.

Turn your plate over.

Put your napkin in your lap.

Frank, you want to take some...

...okra and pass it to your pa?

- Yes, ma'am.

Forgot to tell you, we got a letter

from your Aunt Gladys.

She was hoping we could come

to Oklahoma and visit them...

...during your vacation.

But I don't know.

I was hoping we could paint the house.

I'll get it.

Thank you.

- Frank, one biscuit.

- Yes, ma'am.

Right on my biscuit.

Excuse me, Mrs. Spalding.

The sheriff home?

He is, but we just sat down to dinner.

Can't this wait?

No, we got a problem down...

It's all right!

I'll be right there, Jack!

Sorry to bother you, sheriff, but

there's a drunk Negro by the track.

- I thought you ought to...

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Where are you going?

- With Pa.

- Royce?

- Hey.

No one excused you from the table,

young man. You stay here.

I won't be gone long.

- Who'd you say it was?

- That Wylie boy, sheriff...

Hey, boys, get on back now,

you hear me? You hear?

Wylie!

Wylie!

Howdy, Mr. Royce.

Nice day.

Wylie, you're drunk as a skunk.

I sure am, Mr. Royce.

Now, you ought to know

better than that.

I'm sorry, Mr. Royce.

- You ready to come with me now?

- Just a minute.

Wylie, are you done?

Royce...

Frank!

Frank!

Frank, give me my doll!

Frank. Possum.

- Frank. Possum.

- Give me my doll!

Come here.

Come on.

Something's happened to your pa.

- What do you think?

- Get her out here.

Ma?

- Ma?

- Never you mind, hon. Don't you look.

Come on.

For pity's sake, what do you

think you're doing?

You get out of here. Right now.

- Right now, Glen. I mean it.

- Guess we can go now.

Oh, sis.

Rosalie, you go down.

Go inside, both of you.

Oh, sis.

Sis, I'm so sorry.

I am so sorry.

I don't want anybody to see me.

- I don't want anybody to see me.

- I'm not gonna let anybody see you.

Nobody's gonna see you.

We would have been married 15 years

this October.

We had two children.

And I never knew till just now

Royce had a scar right there.

I never knew that.

I was afrai... I was afraid you wasn't

gonna make it.

Just don't worry about anything.

Darling, I'm sorry. I just heard.

I got here as fast as I could.

You all right? Come here.

It's all right.

It's all right.

Oh, honey, everything's gonna

be all right.

I'm here now.

I know how bad you feel.

There now, there now. I'm sorry.

All I could think of...

...when I saw that poor man

in there...

...was what would I do if it was you?

What would I do if something

happened to you?

Ain't nothing gonna happen to me.

I'm too ornery.

I don't think I could live without you.

Oh, I love you.

I love you so much.

I love you too.

Sorry to hear about it.

Thank you. We appreciate it.

- Wayne.

- Viola.

- Where's Edna?

- She's in the kitchen with Margaret.

All right.

- Hi, Buddy.

- Hello, Wayne. How you doing?

- How's Mrs. Spalding?

- She's all right.

Excuse me.

Vi, you want to take this

for a minute? I'll be right back.

Here, sug.

Come on, you gotta eat something.

Marie Thornton made that.

It's real good.

Margaret.

What's gonna happen to us?

I can't support this family.

I haven't the least idea

how to go about it.

It seems...

...like I have never done anything

all my life...

...but raise kids...

...and take care of this house.

Royce paid all the bills.

I never even knew how much

salary he made.

What's gonna happen to us?

And thou shalt eat

the herbs of the field.

In the sweat of thy face

shalt thou eat bread...

...till thou return unto the ground...

...for out of it wast thou taken.

For dust thou art...

...and unto dust thou shall return.

Amen.

Lord, I thought those people

would never leave.

- Margaret, let me get this now.

- No, you go on and rest.

I'll get that.

Evening, ma'am. Excuse me...

...but I was wondering if you have

any work around here?

No. There's nothing here.

You go on now. Shoo.

What is it?

I was just asking if you had

any chores I can help with.

Oh, no, there's no work around here.

I can make you a plate of food.

Thank you, ma'am.

- You wait out by the gate.

- Yes, ma'am.

Excuse me!

Morning!

I thought I told you last night

you can't stay around here.

Well, I seen you was almost

out of firewood...

...so I thought I'd chop some for you.

I could fix you some breakfast,

but after that, you got to go.

Thank you, ma'am.

You know, ma'am...

...you got a nice henhouse over here.

Of course, it's about ready

to fall down.

A mighty good-looking milk cow.

She sure need

taking care of, though.

There must be close to 40 acres

out back.

I reckon with the right

kind of help...

...you'd make yourself a handsome

living just farming cotton.

All you need is somebody like me...

...who knows most everything there is

to know about farming cotton.

I was thinking that maybe...

...I could work around here for food

and a place to stay.

No. I can't give you any work.

I could fix you some breakfast,

and then you've got to leave.

- No such thing as a job, nowadays.

- I'm sorry.

I'll fix you a nice plate of food.

You go wait out there

and I'll bring it to you, okay?

Yes, ma'am.

I can mend this fence with no

trouble at all, right after breakfast.

Oh, that'd be fine, just fine.

Okay. I'll be right out here.

Good afternoon, Mrs. Spalding.

- Mr. Denby.

- I hope I'm not bothering you.

- No. Won't you come in?

- Oh, thank you.

- Please.

- Thank you.

Mrs. Spalding, on behalf of everyone

down at the First Farmers Bank...

...if there's anything we can do in

this hour of need, please ask.

Thank you.

Mrs. Spalding...

...I don't know how much your husband

told you about his business.

But at the close

of banking hours yesterday...

...you had a balance of $116.72.

However, when your husband

bought this place...

...he did borrow money

from the bank.

At the time of his death

he still owed...

...$3681, to be paid twice a year.

What that means, Mrs. Spalding, is...

...come October 15th, you will owe

the bank $240.

We were wondering

if you had any idea...

...how you were gonna

make that payment.

Yes.

Matter of fact, I do.

I was thinking...

Rilla Langsford and her sister

have that nice little gift shop.

I thought I could

do the same thing.

I could get some pretty little things,

and I could set them out...

Mrs. Spalding, why would someone

come all the way out here...

...when the Langsfords' place

is there on the square?

Mrs. Spalding, what we at the bank

suggest is that you sell this place.

Now I know times are hard...

...but maybe we can pay off the loan

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote

Robert Benton

Robert Douglas Benton is an American screenwriter and film director. He won the Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director for Kramer vs. Kramer and won a third Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Places in the Heart. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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