Crimes of the Heart (1986)
Review by HTQ4
Film:
DVD:

Written by Beth Henley, based on her play
Directed by Bruce Beresford
Starring Diane Keaton, Jessica Lange, Sissy Spacek, Sam Shepard, Tess Harper

Released by: Fox Home Entertainment
Rating: PG
Region: 1
Anamorphic: Yes

My Advice: Rent it

The Magrath sisters have always had family troubles. They moved to Hazelhurst, Mississippi to live with their grandparents after their mother committed suicide. Lenny (Keaton) has stayed at the house taking care of Old Granddaddy (Hurd Hatfield) while the other two sisters have gone on to bigger and better things. Meg (Lange) moved to Hollywood to try to make it in show business and Babe (Spacek) married a prominent state Senator named Zachary Botrelle (Beeson Carroll). They are forced to reunite when the news gets broken that Babe is in jail for shooting Zachary in the stomach.

Beth Henley's award winning play turned into a rather charming little film. Of course, it doesn't hurt that Henley did her own adapting job on said play. The bad thing about this screenplay is that it force feeds the audience a bit too much. The main reason the play is so wonderful is that the audience is able to fill in some of the details for themselves. Still, these three actresses were perfect for their roles. They make for very believable sisters. Not only that, but it is perfectly believable that Babe could have shot her husband in the gut. Beresford, thankfully, didn't try to do anything earth-shattering with this script with his direction. He just stayed close to the material and let it and his cast do their jobs.

The DVD is a disappointment. Sadly, the film isn't considered high profile enough (yet) to warrant the money that would need to be spent on a solid treatment, because there are no special features of any kind. You'd think that they would have been able to take the time to put together some kind of documentary about Henley's script and the adaptation from play to screenplay. Perhaps a documentary about the original cast of the stage production and how their performances informed the performance of the film's stars. There is no commentary track from anyone involved with this movie. Nor are there any still galleries of pictures to look at. They didn't even include the original trailer on the disc.

So, if you've never seen the movie, it's worth seeing at least once. Pick it up as a rental some night when you need a good date flick.