Terms of Endearment, 1983

Posted By Pia Sooney on Mar 7, 2011

This film just may be the ultimate tear-jerker, even nearly thirty years after it was released. There have been other films with sad endings—plenty of them—but the secret to this film’s power just might be its perfect portrayal of messy reality. The film follows Aurora Greenway (Shirley MacLaine, who won an Oscar for the role) and her daughter, Emma (Debra Winger) throughout a three-decade span. That’s pretty much Emma’s whole...