Kramer vs. Kramer

Kramer vs. Kramer
Original film poster
Directed by	Robert Benton
Produced by	Richard Fischoff Stanley R. Jaffe
Screenplay by	Robert Benton
Based on	Kramer vs. Kramer by Avery Corman
Starring	Dustin Hoffman Meryl Streep Justin Henry Jane Alexander
Music by	Paul Gemignani Herb Harris John Kander Erma E. Levin Roy B. Yokelson Antonio Vivaldi
Cinematography	Néstor Almendros
Edited by	Gerald B. Greenberg
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	December 19, 1979 (1979-12-19)
Running time	105 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$8 million[1]
Box office	$106.3 million[2]

Kramer vs. Kramer is a 1979 American family courtroom drama film written and directed by Robert Benton, based on Avery Corman's novel. The film stars Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Jane Alexander and Justin Henry. It tells the story of a couple's divorce and its impact on everyone involved, including the couple's young son.

The film upon release received critical acclaim with particular praise for the performances of its cast. The film also became a major commercial success grossing $106.3 million against a budget of $8 million, becoming the highest grossing film of 1979. The film received a leading nine nominations at the 52nd Academy Awards, winning the highest five : Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Leading Actor (Hoffman) and Best Supporting Actress (Streep).

Plot[edit]

Ted Kramer (Dustin Hoffman) is a workaholic advertising executive who has just been assigned a new and very important account. Ted arrives home and shares the good news with his wife Joanna (Meryl Streep) only to find that she is leaving him. Saying that she needs to find herself, she leaves Ted to raise their son Billy (Justin Henry) by himself. Ted and Billy initially resent one another as Ted no longer has time to carry his increased workload and Billy misses his mother's love and attention. After months of unrest, Ted and Billy learn to cope and gradually bond as father and son.

Ted befriends his neighbor Margaret (Jane Alexander), who had initially counseled Joanna to leave Ted if she was that unhappy. Margaret is a fellow single parent, and she and Ted become kindred spirits. One day, as the two sit in the park watching their children play, Billy falls off the jungle gym, severely cutting his face. Ted sprints several blocks through oncoming traffic carrying Billy to the hospital, where he comforts his son during treatment.

Fifteen months after she walked out, Joanna returns to New York to claim Billy, and a custody battle ensues. During the custody hearing, both Ted and Joanna are unprepared for the brutal character assassinations that their lawyers unleash on the other. Margaret is forced to testify that she had advised an unhappy Joanna to leave Ted, though she also attempts to tell Joanna on the stand that her husband has profoundly changed. Eventually, the damaging facts that Ted was fired because of his conflicting parental responsibilities which forced him to take a lower-paying job come out in court, as do the details of Billy's accident.

The court awards custody to Joanna, a decision mostly based on the assumption that a child is best raised by his mother. Ted discusses appealing the case, but his lawyer warns that Billy himself would have to take the stand in the resulting trial. Ted cannot bear the thought of submitting his child to such an ordeal, and decides not to contest custody.

On the morning that Billy is to move in with Joanna, Ted and Billy make breakfast together, mirroring the meal that Ted tried to cook the first morning after Joanna left. They share a tender hug, knowing that this is their last daily breakfast together. Joanna calls on the intercom, asking Ted to come down to the lobby. She tells Ted how much she loves and wants Billy, but she knows that his true home is with Ted, and therefore will not take custody of him. She asks Ted if she can see Billy, and Ted says that would be fine. As they are about to enter the elevator together, Ted tells Joanna that he will stay downstairs to allow Joanna to see Billy in private. After she enters the elevator, Joanna wipes tears from her face and asks her former husband "How do I look?" As the elevator doors start to close on Joanna, Ted answers, "You look terrific."

Cast[edit]

• Dustin Hoffman as Ted Kramer
• Meryl Streep as Joanna (Stern) Kramer
• Justin Henry as Billy Kramer
• Jane Alexander as Margaret Phelps
• Petra King as Petie Phelps
• Melissa Morell as Kim Phelps
• Howard Duff as John Shaunessy
• George Coe as Jim O'Connor
• JoBeth Williams as Phyllis Bernard
• Howland Chamberlain as Judge Atkins
• Dan Tyra as Court Clerk

Production[edit]

Kate Jackson was originally offered the role played by Meryl Streep but was forced to turn it down. At the time, Jackson was appearing in the TV series Charlie's Angels, and producer Aaron Spelling told her that they were unable to rearrange the shooting schedule to give her time off to do the film.^[3] The part was then offered to various other actresses including Faye Dunaway, Jane Fonda and Ali McGraw, all of whom turned it down.

Streep was initially cast as Phyllis (the role eventually given to JoBeth Williams), but she was able to force her way into auditioning for Joanna in front of Hoffman, Benton and Jaffe. She found the character in the novel and script unsympathetic, ("an ogre, a princess, an ass", as she called her) and insisted on approaching Joanna from a more sympathetic point of view.^[4] Hoffman believed that the recent loss of her fiancé, John Cazale, only months earlier, gave Streep an emotional edge and "still-fresh pain" to draw on for the performance.^[4]

Gail Strickland was first cast as Ted's neighbor Margaret, but departed after a week of filming (according to Columbia Pictures due to "artistic differences") and was replaced by Jane Alexander.^[5] The truth was that Strickland was so intimidated by Hoffman while filming their scenes together that she developed a nervous stammer which made her lines unintelligible.^[4] Strickland herself disputes this account, saying that she couldn't memorize the improvised lines which Hoffman gave her fast enough, which agitated him and led to her firing two days later.^[4]

Cinematographer Néstor Almendros, a collaborator on numerous François Truffaut films, had been hired with the expectation that Truffaut would direct. Truffaut seriously considered it, but was too busy with his own projects and suggested screenwriter Robert Benton direct.

Hoffman-Streep Conflict[edit]

Hoffman has been widely reported in different media to have harassed Streep during the making of the movie, and the two had a contentious working relationship as a result.^[4][6] In a 1979 Time magazine interview, Streep claimed that Hoffman groped her breast on their first meeting.^[7] The two actors battled over their characters, with Streep wanting to portray Joanna as more sympathetic and vulnerable than she was written.^[4] As a famously committed method actor,^[8] Hoffman would also hurl insults and obscenities at Streep, taunting her with the name of her recently deceased fiancé, John Cazale, to draw a better performance out of her.^[9] He also famously threw a wine glass against the wall without telling her (although he did inform the cameraman beforehand), which shattered and sent glass shards into her hair. Her response was: "Next time you do that, I'd appreciate you letting me know." ^[4]

In 2018 she confirmed what had first been reported in 2016, that Hoffman had slapped her hard without warning while filming a scene:

"This is tricky because when you’re an actor, you’re in a scene, you have to feel free. I’m sure that I have inadvertently hurt people in physical scenes. But there’s a certain amount of forgiveness in that. But this was my first movie, and it was my first take in my first movie, and he just slapped me. And you see it in the movie. It was overstepping."^[10]

Reception[edit]

The film received positive reviews from critics. It holds an 88% approval rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, with an average score of 7.9/10. The consensus reads: "The divorce subject isn't as shocking, but the film is still a thoughtful, well-acted drama that resists the urge to take sides or give easy answers."^[11] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four stars, giving praise to Benton's screenplay: "His characters aren't just talking to each other, they're revealing things about themselves and can sometimes be seen in the act of learning about their own motives. That's what makes Kramer vs. Kramer such a touching film: We get the feeling at times that personalities are changing and decisions are being made even as we watch them."^[12]

Cultural impact[edit]

Kramer vs. Kramer reflected a cultural shift which occurred during the 1970s, 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.^[12]

Awards and nominations[edit]

American Film Institute Lists

• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies – Nominated^[13]
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – Nominated^[14]
• AFI's 10 Top 10 – #3 Courtroom Drama

Adaptation[edit]

In 2013 Kramer vs. Kramer was remade with a Mexican twist and an unexpected ending as Instructions Not Included (original Spanish title: No se aceptan devoluciones, literally No Returns Accepted.) Comedy-drama film co-written, directed by, and starring Eugenio Derbez.

In 1995, Kramer vs. Kramer was remade in India as Akele Hum Akele Tum, starring Aamir Khan and Manisha Koirala.

See also[edit]

• "Kramer vs. Kramer: Kenny to Cosmo"
• Trial film

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Kramer vs. Kramer

• Kramer vs. Kramer on IMDb
• Kramer vs. Kramer at AllMovie
• Kramer vs. Kramer at the TCM Movie Database
• Kramer vs. Kramer at Rotten Tomatoes