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Terms of Endearment
Identification American film
Director James L. Brooks (1940- )
Date Released November 23, 1983
Successfully mixing sentiment and humor, the film pro-
vided a showcase for the principal actors and a mirror re-
flecting many of the preoccupations of the decade.
Terms of Endearmenttraces the life of a single
mother, Aurora Greenway (Shirley MacLaine), as
she raises her daughter Emma (Debra Winger),
fights with her over her marriage (she hates her fu-
ture son-in-law Flap Horton, played by Jeff Daniels)
and her pregnancies (she has to face up to aging
when she becomes a grandmother), and finally rec-
onciles with her as Emma succumbs to cancer (she
must assume the responsibility for raising her three
grandchildren). It is a relationship that does not
gloss over the tensions of a single-parent household.
Living next door is womanizer Garrett Breedlove
(Jack Nicholson), a former astronaut who gradually
has to face his own aging and develops a relationship
with Aurora despite her age and the fact that she be-
comes a grandmother—twice. American movies had
been reluctant to portray romantic situations involv-
ing older actresses, and MacLaine established the
first of her feisty older women roles in this film, a
trademark she continued to exploit.
The emotional centerpiece of the film is the se-
ries of scenes showing the gradual deterioration of
Emma as she fights her cancer. It is a sequence that
culminates in the farewell scene between Emma and
her two young sons and little daughter. Winger was
nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress,
and although she did not win, her performance in
these scenes was undoubtedly the reason the film958 Terms of Endearment The Eighties in America
From left: James L. Brooks, Shirley MacLaine, and Jack Nicholson celebrate their Oscar victories forTerms of Endearmentat the
April 9, 1984, Academy Awards ceremony.(AP/Wide World Photos)