Kramer vs. Kramer

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Kramer vs. Kramer

original movie poster
Directed by Robert Benton
Produced by Stanley R. Jaffe
Written by Avery Corman (novel),
Robert Benton
Starring Dustin Hoffman,
Meryl Streep,
Justin Henry,
Jane Alexander
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date(s) December 17, 1979
Running time 105 minutes
Language English
IMDb profile

Kramer vs. Kramer is a 1979 film adapted by Robert Benton from the novel by Avery Corman, and directed by Benton. The film tells the story of a divorce and its impact on everyone involved, including the couple's young son. It received the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1980.

Contents

[edit] Plot

In Kramer vs. Kramer, Joanna Kramer (Meryl Streep), a Smith College graduate, is a stay-at-home mother for her son Billy (Justin Henry). Feeling confined in this role, and neglected by her husband Ted (Dustin Hoffman), Joanna leaves the marriage in order "to find herself."

Ted (who has been focusing on rising in his advertising company in order to provide well for his family) is shocked by Joanna's decision and is left to raise Billy by himself. With the help of his neighbor and Joanna's friend, Margaret (Jane Alexander), Ted comes to understand why Joanna left. In the process, he becomes more invested in raising Billy than in his job (which he eventually loses).

About a year and a half after leaving, Joanna returns to New York in order to claim Billy and a custody battle ensues. The courts side with the mother, but on the morning that Billy is to move in with Joanna, she comes to the apartment and tells Ted that, while she loves Billy and wants him with her, she knows that his true home is in the apartment with Ted, and she chooses to let Billy stay with Ted. The movie ends with the elevator doors closing on Joanna as she heads upstairs to tell Billy that he'll be staying with Daddy.

[edit] Cultural impact

Kramer vs. Kramer reflected a cultural shift which occurred during the 1970s and the period of second wave feminism, when ideas about "motherhood" and "fatherhood" were changing. The film was widely praised for the way in which it gave equal weight and importance to both Joanna and Ted's points of view [1].

[edit] 1980 Academy Awards

[edit] Wins

[edit] Nominations

[edit] Trivia

  • The producers had originally wanted Kate Jackson for the role of Joanna. Since Ms. Jackson was starring in the television series, "Charlie's Angels", and could not get a leave of absence to star in the movie, Ms. Streep (who was not well known at the time) was cast. After the film came out, Streep was well known.
  • In the scene where Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep reunite in the restaurant, the part where a disgusted Hoffman gets up to leave and slams a wine glass against the wall was ad-libbed. Afterwards, Streep has a genuinely surprised look on her face because she didn't expect it, and for the next second or so looks around wondering if the director was going to yell "CUT", but he didn't and the scene was left in the movie as it was.
  • In one of the many cutaways of the episode of Family Guy entitled "8 Simple Rules for Buying My Teenage Daughter", a clip of a (fictional) movie called Kramer vs. Predator was shown, as a result of the recent Alien vs. Predator film. It consisted of Ted telling the Predator in the restaurant that it could not have custody. The Predator then simply shot Ted with a shoulder-mounted weapon. This is one of many Hoffman references in the series. Others include Rain Man and Tootsie.
  • In one notable scene Hoffman is making breakfast for his kid and teaches him how to make French toast; in the process, he also taught millions of others how to do so, including many who never had even heard of French toast.

[edit] External links

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