The Trip to Bountiful

by Horton Foote

In The Trip to Bountiful, Carrie Watts is determined to escape a cramped, unpleasant life in a small Houston apartment with her son and avaricious daughter-in-law. Her burning desire is to return to the now desolate town of her childhood, against the inexorability of change and the refuge of memory. Foote earned an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay in 1985 for his work on Bountiful.

Genres: Plays, Drama, Theatre, Fiction, Classics, American, Southern

71 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1954

About the author

Albert Horton Foote, Jr. was an American playwright and screenwriter, perhaps best known for his Academy Award-winning screenplays for the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird and the 1983 film Tender Mercies, and his notable live television dramas during the Golden Age of Television. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1995 for his play The Young Man From Atlanta.

Reviews

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it! This short three act play starred the famous Lillian Gish in 1953 and is still as relevant today as it was then. We all age and, if you look deep enough within yourself, you can find a Bountiful. A place or time in your life that you wish to get back to.

[Mary Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I spent an early morning in bed reading this and crying and crying and crying. I'm not sure if it would have the same effect on everyone though. I think you might have to be Southern. And female.

[Marcia Kauffman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some people might look at Mrs. Watts' trip to Bountiful as depressing. I ,on the other hand, looked at it as fulfilling because she found what she felt was missing from her life.

[Doug H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it. Review to follow.

[Mia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a bittersweet play with a lot of great characters and emotional depth. The story is slower, but I didn't find it boring at all. The play deals with the tension between family members, longing for the past, and a struggle with loss. Loved the ending. This is definitely a play I'll reread.

If you like dramas, and tugs to heart strings I'd highly recommend this play. I'm so happy I won a copy to read.

[Janebbooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Only twelve more miles to Bountiful, Texas...., August 28, 2014

Although I read the play by Horton Foote many years ago, I was very happy to find new meanings and re-read it through Cicely Tyson's remarkable performance as Carrie Watts filmed in 2014 for television.

American playwright and screenwriter Horton Foote (1916-2009) is best known for his screenplay for Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) and his own screenplay for Tender Mercies (1983). Both won Academy Awards for Foote. I recall with fondness his play, The Trip to Bountiful. Although I didn't see the original film released in 1953 on NBC, I saw the 1985 movie that won Geraldine Page an Oscar for best actress.

The play, set in the 1940s in Texas, tells the story of an elderly woman, Carrie Watts, who wants to return home to the small town where she grew up, but is frequently stopped from leaving Houston by her bossy daughter-in-law and an overprotective son. The unhappy Watts family lives in a cramped two room apartment. Determined to visit her parents' old home in Bountiful, Texas, Carrie Watts runs away and boards a Greyhound bus to a town near her childhood home for a $3.50 fare. On the journey, she befriends a young war bride traveling alone and reminisces about her younger years. The local sheriff, moved by her story, offers to drive her the twelve miles out to what remains of Bountiful. The village is deserted, and the few remaining houses are derelict. Her childhood friend, the last remaining resident, whom she had planned to visit has just died.

A Broadway revival of A Trip to Bountiful premiered in April 2013. Legendary Cicely Tyson played Carrie Watts. It was her first Broadway appearance since 1983. The staging earned a total of four Tony Award nominations and Cicely Tyson won a Tony for best actress in a play. On March 8, 2014, a made-for-television remake premiered on the Lifetime network. The film featured Cicely Tyson in the lead role as Carrie Watts, Vanessa Williams as Jessie Mae Watts, Blair Underwood as Ludie Watts and Keke Palmer as Thelma, the young war bride. Tyson and Williams also appeared in the Broadway revival. I watched the DVD of the cable network remake that was released August 5, 2014.

The mostly African-American cast is remarkable. I read somewhere that this cast was a non-issue because the themes of aging, memory, and the yearning to return to one's roots are blind to race. The racial casting is an issue: it provides a new and profound shadow to the drama with its 1940s setting in the Jim Crow South and its segregated restrooms and hotels. Mrs. Watts sleeps on a bench in the bus depot when she arrives in a nearby town in the dead of night. The casting of a white Texas sheriff who offers to drive her the additional twelve miles to Bountiful is a nice touch.

To prepare for her role, octogenarian Tyson visited Horton Foote's home in rural Wharton, Texas, to get "a sense of what it is like, to smell it, feel the earth, hear people talk, go to the marketplaces. Being there [in Texas] I understood very clearly why my character longed to return because I was myself mesmerized by the beauty of the place and the tender enfolding of the gulf wind."

In a way, Cicely Tyson echoes a 1986 interviewer's words about Horton Foote: "His Texas is not the brawling, big-mouth land of cattle and oil. It's more like the Old Deep South in culture and appearance: a place of moist breezes and lush farmland, devoted spirituality and virulent racism, of aristocracies old, new and fading. It is what he has spent his life writing about."

A mesmerizing beauty... and the tender enfolding of the gulf wind. A place of moist breezes and lush farmland. These phrases evoke a deep sense of place, and it abounds in this production with a gospel hymn, "This is my story...this is my song...," hummed and sung in the background. Yes, it's the Old Deep South that I grew up in, too.

[Joy H.]

I watched a Netflix DVD of "The Trip to Bountiful" (1985)
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/The_Trip...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090203/
I gave the film 4 stars out of 5.

As Netflix describes it: "Geraldine Page won an Academy Award for this bittersweet tale set in 1947 about an elderly Houston woman in search of happier times."

The story slowly draws you in as you develop empathy for the old woman who is longing to go back to her hometown of Bountiful. She sneaks out of her son's house and gets on a bus but the sheriff catches up with her.

The film is based on the play, The Trip to Bountiful, by Horton Foote. Wiki says: "The Trip to Bountiful premiered March 1, 1953 on NBC-TV with the leading cast members (Lillian Gish, Eva Marie Saint) reprising their roles on Broadway later that year." GR says: "Foote earned an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay in 1985 for his work on Bountiful".

IMDb describes Horton Foote as a "Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist and Oscar-winning screenwriter". He wrote the screenplay for To Kill a Mockingbird.

PS-Below is a link to an interview with Horton Foote at the NYS Writers Institute in 2006:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4tDSF...

PPS-Below are some quotes I took down as I watched the DVD of "The Trip to Bountiful":

From the film: "Mama, I want to stop remembering. It doesn't do any good remembering."

From the DVD's bonus commentary on the film: "An exploration of the human condition. It is a gentle reminder that life is not forever, that each of us must be free to find its meaning and in doing so, we may find inner peace."

I found the following at the IMDb page containing quotes from the film:
"I guess when you've lived longer than your house and your family, then you've lived long enough." [said by the old lady]

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Lots of elderly people just want to go home 1 more time before they die.

[Ckg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh my...that wife is the most shallow, obnoxious, pathetic nag. I spent six weeks of my life doing this production. Luddy is painful to watch. Horton Foote has done an excellent job of capturing a man and his mother trapped in the shallow mundane world of now, with no escape except to look back on how things use to be, and maybe bring some of the past back to life in the present.

[Tom Mathews · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful story about aging and one's desire to return to a past that is long gone. Horton Foote, who also wrote Tender Mercies and the screenplay to To Kill a Mockingbird, nailed the sense of yearning of an elderly woman far from the home she identifies with.

[Rick Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This strikes really close to home for me. Heart-rending.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful play. Stunning in it's simplicity-and a rich work for an actor who really wants to mine a character for great moments. Just Lovely.

[Martin Denton · Rating 4 out of 5]

The play, which was written in 1953, tells the story of Mrs. Carrie Watts, a widow living with her son, Ludie, and his wife, Jessie Mae, in their cramped three-bedroom apartment in Houston. Ludie, employed in some nameless office job, is just getting by: the combination of a recent illness that kept him out of work for two years and his own listless lack of ambition/suitability for desk work have made him less of a success than he or his relatives had hoped for. Jessie Mae doesn't work; doesn't do much of anything, actually, except flit around their tiny home, hovering over her mother-in-law, who cooks and does most of the household chores. The two women do not get along: specifically, Jessie Mae abhors Carrie's hymn-singing (which is the devout Mrs. Watts's one great solace in life), her running around when walking would do, and her "pouting," which really amounts to tuning out Jessie Mae's nagging.

Of greater concern is Mrs. Watts's propensity for running away from home. Feeling pretty much imprisoned in the claustrophobic apartment, Carrie longs for the pastoral environment of her youth, in her hometown of Bountiful, about three hours away by car but--under the present circumstances--as distant as the moon. Nevertheless, every so often Mrs. Watts takes it into her head to try to make her way back to Bountiful. Ludie and Jessie Mae have always caught up with her at the train station, but this time, she decides to take the bus. She's able to elude her son and daughter-in-law at the Houston bus station, and before long she is at long last on her way, heading to Bountiful after two decades away.

The play, with deft economy, charts the situation, the trip, and what happens when Mrs. Watts get there. I hate to spoil things by giving away the details, so suffice to say that on the way to Bountiful, Mrs. Watts meets up with a very kind-hearted and polite young woman named Thelma who offers a good deal of support and company on her journey; and that when she finally arrives at the Harrison bus station (for no buses go in to Bountiful anymore, the town having receded in size since Carrie's time there), the adventure is only just beginning for Mrs. Watts. In the end, it starts to look like Wolfe was right, you can't go home again; and then it appears that perhaps you can--indeed, perhaps you must. This quixotic trip supplies something like the life force for both Carrie and her son: the cure, when you lose your way, is to remember where you came from.

What's beautiful about Foote's writing is the careful layering of details to reveal, oh so eloquently, a character and a way of life that is quintessentially American. Almost in passing, we're called upon to consider the tragic consequences of urbanization to an agrarian people; the uselessness that comes with leisure, privilege, and boredom; the congenial but ultimately entirely detached attitude of a populace whose twin credos are to Love Thy Neighbor and to Mind Their Own Business.

[Meggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Trip to Bountiful has a lovely lead character in Mrs. Watts, who is struggling with health issues (and possibly memory issues) and wants to revisit her hometown. Her son is sad, avoidant of conflict and not willing to stand up to his frankly awful wife, and while I can understand *some* of the daughter-in-law's concerns (especially in regards to the possible memory issues) she's a truly unlikeable character.

There's some really nice bits in here about the past and family and beloved locations, but the ending struck me as beyond bittersweet and heading towards the truly tragic. A local theatre is doing this play next year, and it will be interesting to see how audiences respond!

[Bobby Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to rate this play highly, because it's so well written. But I don't know if I like it. Jessie Mae is irritating from page one, and it irks me that this consummately selfish person gets what she wants in the end. I'm very glad Mrs. Watts manages to visit her home one last time before she dies, but it saddens me to think of this sweet old lady living the rest of her life trapped in a small apartment with her harpy of a daughter-in-law.

[Marissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I’ve waited a long time. Just to get to Bountiful. Twenty years I’ve been walkin’ the streets of the city, lost and grieving. And as I’ve grown older and my time approaches, I’ve made one promise to myself, to see my home again… before I die…”

Such is the premise of Horton Foote’s elegiac drama The Trip to Bountiful. Mrs. Carrie Watts lives in a cramped apartment in Houston with her kind but weak-willed son Ludie and her frivolous, overbearing daughter-in-law Jessie Mae. For years, she has been trying to sneak away to her East Texas hometown, Bountiful, and each time, her relatives catch her before she can leave Houston. But one day…

The Trip to Bountiful is largely a touching character study, but there is a surprising amount of suspense as we watch to see how Mrs. Watts will make her escape. I also liked how Mrs. Watts is kind of an opaque figure during Act One (which is dominated by Jessie Mae’s chattering) but comes into her own when she sets out on her journey.

Admittedly, it’s disconcerting to see that according to the stage directions, Mrs. Watts is only 60. She seems much older than the 60-year-old women I know nowadays; indeed, in recent productions, the role is often taken by a more elderly actress. (Cicely Tyson was 88 when she played Mrs. Watts on Broadway in 2013!) At any rate, it is a lovely role for an older lady who can project an unpretentious, middle-American dignity. It is not a “diva” role; quite the opposite.

Another Southern writer famously said “You can’t go home again.” The Trip to Bountiful complicates that statement: when Mrs. Watts returns to Bountiful, she finds it diminished, abandoned, a ghost town. But nonetheless, it is still home.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartbreaking and absorbing story of an elderly widow, Carrie Watts who longs to return to the home she grew up as a girl in Bountiful. Her determination to make the journey against the wishes of her son and daughter in-law demonstrates her strong will to fulfill her dream to go home for the last time. I saw the movie some years ago and was captivated by Geraldine Page’s performance.

[Sarah Alma Angelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently watched a production of The Trip to Bountiful (it still counts as reading, IMO!) and was pleasantly surprised. Going in, I was quick to judge that it would be boring, but the character arcs, especially Carrie's journey, were strong and unexpectedly moving. The combination of good acting and subtle yet powerful writing made for an enjoyable experience.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a heartbreaking and heartwarming play. Is it great? Not really. Is it wonderful? YES! This is a poignant story about an older woman stuck living in the city with her son and his wife. I hated the wife, btw. She just wants to see her former home one last time. It is sad, sweet and moving. To say anything else would spoil it.
Recommended

[Misti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Female lead with lots of bit male parts and a Debbie Downer.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic! Check out the film!!!

[Marji Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it. The play was great too

[Mark Peters · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you put fewer than 5 stars, you didn't get it. No judgement, just saying.

[mengwe · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow such a beautiful story

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful and poignant tale of memory and desire - bearing out the truth that "you can't go home again."

[Gem ✿Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ✿ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a quaint play that examined relationships and longings of the heart. It has, as I'm sure the writer intended, a feel of southern yesteryear.

Mrs. Watts has, by her own admission and much to her horror, has become a cantankerous mother-in-law to Jessie Mae while maintaining a loving respectful relationship with her son, Ludie. Her relationship with Jessie Mae is, in my opinion, Jessie Mae's own doing because of her self centeredness and completely lack of empathy. I repeatedly became aggravated with her son for not putting his foot down with regards to Jessie Mae's attitude and behavior toward his mother.

Mrs. Watts longs to return to Bountiful, the place where she was born and raised, the place of her ancestry. Denied by her son and daughter-in-law, Mrs. Watts will not be dissuaded. She sets out and encounters some lovely people in her travels, most noticeably Thelma and the local Sheriff. Her interactions with these individuals help to restore her dignity. When she arrives at her destination she finds the sense of peace she has been in search of. And as importantly, her son finally insists that his wife curb her attitude with his mother.

[Rachelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished the stage-play and found that my reactions were quite different 30+ years after seeing the movie. In 1985, I remember that I thought Jessie Mae self absorbed and unkind, but I didn't necessarily understand Mrs. Watts's compelling drive to go to Bountiful. Nothing like age and experience to give you a different perspective! Reading the play, I was rooting for Mrs. Watts to get out of that claustrophobic apartment and on that bus to Bountiful anyway she could.

Even though the play was written in the 1950's the story has timeless themes of elderly parents living with their adult children and all the complications that brings. Mrs. Watts is just trying to make sense of her life, losses, choices and what it all means as she approaches her death. Jessie Mae and Luddie are focused on their marriage and Ludie's career. But one day they too will have a "Bountiful" when they have only a few years ahead of them to live...we all will.

[Letitia · Rating 2 out of 5]

So ludicrous, so plodding, so boring...

[Alison · Rating 2 out of 5]

Painful, heartbreaking, striving to be life affirming and missing the mark.