Balladeer's Blog

R.I.P. Robert Duvall. This year we say goodbye to this monumental actor like we said goodbye to his friend and fellow thespian giant Gene Hackman early last year. Most tributes will cover Duvall’s roles in his many, many films whose titles are household words. This being Balladeer’s Blog I’ll instead look at some of his overlooked gems.

TOMORROW (1972) – Robert Duvall – who called this one of his favorite performances – plays poverty-stricken farmer and sawmill operator Jackson Fentry of Mississippi. One cold December evening he comes across the pregnant Sarah Eubanks, a poor woman whose abusive husband has abandoned her because he wants nothing to do with raising their child.

The lonely Fentry nurses Sarah back to health and supports her through her baby’s birth. He promises to raise the child as his own and keeps his word even when his and Sarah’s relationship is cut short by her poor health. Fentry’s fundamental decency rubs off on the boy, who shows signs of being as compassionate as Jackson himself.

SPOILERS: Unfortunately, Sarah’s violent brothers eventually learn that “Jackson Jr.” (Johnny Mask) is their sister’s child and take him from Fentry by force. From then on, the boy grows into the same kind of violent criminal that his uncles are. Ultimately, the young man is murdered, and his killer is let off because the jury views the slaying as a public benefit given what a depraved criminal the late Jackson Jr. was.

Horton Foote (who adapted the screenplay for To Kill a Mockingbird in which Duvall played Boo Radley) expanded one of William Faulkner’s short stories about lawyer Gavin Stevens into this film’s screenplay. A shorter version was first performed on tv’s Playhouse 90.

The film drags, but Robert performs brilliantly as a downtrodden man whose dignity and character shine through despite the deficient vocabulary his lack of education has left him with. Continue reading →