The often overlooked Tender Mercies is a winning, low-key film about a country singer who finds the inspiration to put his life back together when he meets an attractive young widow and her little boy. It features a tour-de-force, Oscar-winning performance by Robert Duvall as Mac Sledge, but the film's true strength comes from Horton Foote's sensitively written screenplay (which also won an Oscar). Foote refused to approach this material as soap opera or drama: the movie unfolds quietly and simply, and the big emotional moments sneak up on the audience as effects are indirectly achieved. The film's theme song, "It Hurts to Face Reality," was both written and performed by Duvall.