'night, Mother | 
| Director: Tom Moore (ii)
Actors: Sissy Spacek, Anne Bancroft, Ed Berke, Carol Robbins, Jennifer Roosendahl
Studio: Universal Studios Home Video
List Price: $14.98
Buy Used: $12.29
You Save: $2.69 (18%)
Used (29) Collectible (4) from $12.29
Rating:  25 reviews
Sales Rank: 2168
Format: Color, Surround Sound, Widescreen, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: VHS Tape
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 4.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 0783237294
UPC: 096898054232
EAN: 9780783237299
ASIN: 6300185850
Theatrical Release Date: September 12, 1986
Release Date: April 18, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Tape in Good condition. Box has minor wear. All items Guaranteed.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 20 more reviews...
 Fantastic Movie! July 27, 2008
Elisa Lewis (Berkeley, California United States)
This movie was very disturbing yet it was fantastic! This movie also looked into Mother-Daughter relationships. Have your tissue ready because this is a tear jerker!
Compelling Psycho-drama August 21, 2007
Cyara Demonia (Massachusetts)
Who better than Sissy Spacek and Anne Bancroft to depict the doomed mother and daughter in this incredibly well-drawn drama? Without an ounce of special-effects, without even much of a change of scenery outside of maybe moving from the kitchen to the living room, these two reveal the nightmare of their lives and relationships interspersed with what would be humdrum details of laundry and grocery shopping if the dialogue itself weren't so increasingly, incredibly horrifying.
This movie drew me in from the very beginning, I could not tear myself away even though the details seemed so harmless at first glance. The longer the story goes on, the deeper the anguish.
I don't want to spoil it for you, no one spoiled it for me; so I won't go into the details. I can say there's no happy ending, and I cried...and yet, I understood.
The Long Walk Home
A Fine Film about a Hard Subject May 14, 2007
E. Begody (Ft. Defiance, AZ)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I teach Education Profession in which I work with high school students who want to explore the teaching profession. When we studied barriers to learning, targeting grief and depression, we watched this video. 'Night, Mother captures the factual stages and characteristics very well. Afterwards my students (16-18 year olds) said they enjoyed it even though "it was sad." Suicide is sad, but in a society that believes in canned self-improvements is a credit card purchase away, `Night, Mother shows that the decision can derive from cold but intelligent self-reflection--money, self-improvement books, or time may have no effect. It addresses the dismal conclusion that some suicides cannot be prevented. The film begins after Jesse has made her decision and now wants to make her last evening with her mother a memorable one. I'm cheered that Jesse carefully evaluates her condition and situation before making the critical decision that she does and that she doesn't blame anyone. By her narrative she suggests the process of suicide that leaves that large--ever large and bold-faced--punctuation that ends a life can begin years before the actual event. Though the film makes viewers grapple with unanswerable questions, `Night, Mother is a powerful film that makes you want to read a play by Marsha Norman.
 Dead Is Dead Quiet: A Flawed But Memorable Film Version Of The Celebrated Play February 1, 2007
Gary F. Taylor (Biloxi, MS USA)
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
Written for the stage by Marsha Norman, 'NIGHT, MOTHER opened on Broadway in 1983 with Anne Pitoniak and Kathy Bates in the roles of Thelma and Jessie Cates. It proved a stunning success with critics and audiences alike, running 380 performances, receiving the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, a Tony award for Best Play, and Tony nominations for Pitoniak, Bates, and director Tom Moore.
In 1986 Marsha Norman herself adapted the play to film. The roles of Thelma and Jessie went to Anne Bancroft and Sissy Spacek, and in the process of writing--and possibly under pressure from producers--Norman expanded the original play to include characters mentioned but never seen. The result was something slightly less than ideal. Spacek is perfectly cast as the suicidal Jessie, but although she gives an excellent performance Bancroft is intrinsically miscast in the role of Jessie's "plain country woman" mother. The expansion of the original story also has the effect of diluting the claustrophobic intensity of the original. As for director Tom Moore, although his work for the play was memorable, his work with the film was unremarkable.
But unexpectedly, such is the power of the story's basic premise that these flaws hardly matter. Watered down, fiddled with, and somewhat miscast, 'NIGHT, MOTHER is still a knock-you-flat story that raises the sort of questions that keep you awake on a sleepless night. Thelma is an ordinary, uneducated woman who takes life as it comes; Jessie, however, is an uneasy mixture of introspection and uncertainty, a woman whose marriage failed when she developed epilepsy, whose son has become a bit of gutter trash, who has over the years become a recluse in her mother's home. She's tired of the whole thing, and on this particular evening she informs her mother that in a few hours she's going to shoot herself and put an end to it.
Like the play, the film is essentially an emotional explosion between the two women, Jessie spelling out her reasons for her suicide, Thelma working to turn Jessie from it. Although the suspense of the film arises from a "Will she do it or not?" situation, the real interest here is in Jessie's motivations, the how and why of her decision, and the tactics that Thelma uses in an effort to bring Jessie's plans to a grinding halt, and the way they battle each other over the course of the film. The interest is in the characters, plain and simple.
As noted, Bancroft is not ideally cast here. It is extremely difficult to accept her in the role of Thelma Cates. Even so, Bancroft gives it all she has--and the end result is quite powerful as acting pure and simple, a remarkable feat. But the real powerhouse here is Spacek: we believe her, never question her in the role, and buy into it from start to finish. Even with Bancroft's miscasting, the dilution of the play, and the uninspired direction, Spacek's performance is more than enough to render the film powerful, memorable.
This is not a film that I casually recommend. It rather depends on the viewer's life experiences, and I would hardly send it off to a person in a depressed state of mind or one who had a suicide in the family. But it is worth the trouble it takes to seek out, particularly if it leads you on to reading the play itself--or better yet, seeing a stage production of the same.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer
it's a movie to watch! January 19, 2007
Alma R. Adame (glendale az)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
love the movie hard to find but thanxs to amazon .com not a problem very excellent movie to watch alot of brain thought to it thanxz again alma adame
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