Kramer vs. Kramer

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.

Music for the film features New York guitarist Frederic Hand.

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 his career in advertising, and was just given his agency's biggest new account, 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 also 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 with Ted, and she chooses to let Billy stay with his father. The movie ends with the elevator doors closing on Joanna, as she heads upstairs to tell Billy that he'll be staying with Daddy.

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]. The film however has been critizied by many cinephiles and film historians because it defeated Coppola's Apocalypse Now and Fosse's All That Jazz for the best picture award that year (films that are better regarded among the cinephile set).

1980 Academy Awards

Wins

• Best Picture
• Best Director
• Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium
• Best Actor in a Leading Role - Dustin Hoffman
• Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Meryl Streep

Nominations

• Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Justin Henry
• Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Jane Alexander
• Best Cinematography
• Best Film Editing

Trivia

• The producers had originally wanted Kate Jackson for the role of Joanna. Since Jackson was starring in the television series, "Charlie's Angels", and could not get a leave of absence to star in the movie, Meryl Streep (who was not well known at the time) was cast instead.

• 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 improvised. 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.

• One acting trick that Meryl Streep uses is giving her character a secret of some sort; Joanna's secret is that she never loved Ted.

• 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, a satire of the then-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.

• In another Family Guy episode, "Mother Tucker", The ice cream scene from Kramer vs. Kramer is parodied with Tom in the role of Ted Kramer and Peter as Billy Kramer. However in the parody Tom starts spanking Peter, which does not happen in the actual movie and was just added for humor.

• In a famous scene, Hoffman struggles to make breakfast for his son, stumbling his way through the preparation of 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.^{[citation needed]}

• In the film I am Sam starring Sean Penn, the mentally challenged Sam appears in court in a fight to keep custody of his daughter. Sam quotes Dustin Hoffman's speech in the movie where he too is on the stand.

• Justin Henry became, and still is, the youngest person to ever be nominated for a competitive Academy Award, at age eight.

• Goof: During the interview scene, at 4 p.m. on December 22nd in New York City, raking light from the east brightly illuminates Central Park - fully carpeted with green leaves on all its trees.

Other uses

"Kramer vs Kramer" is also sometimes used in reference to the strained relationship between sitcom actor Michael Richards (who played Cosmo Kramer on the popular show Seinfeld) and Kenny Kramer, the real-life inspiration for the character. Kenny Kramer starred in a documentary named for the film, Kramer vs Kramer: Kenny to Cosmo, on the DVD release of the series.^[1]

The term was also used to refer to Kenny Kramer speaking out against Richards's use of racial epithets at the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood on November 17, 2006.

References

Wikipedia information about Kramer vs. Kramer This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Kramer vs. Kramer". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.