Overview: Carrie Watts begrudgingly lives with her busy, overprotective son, Ludie, and pretentious daughter-in-law, Jessie Mae. No longer able to drive and forbidden to travel alone, she wishes for freedom from the confines of the house and begs her son to take her on a visit to her hometown of Bountiful. When he refuses, Mrs. Watts is undeterred and makes an escape to the local bus station herself!

DVD Verdict: This is Horton Foote's second film adaptation of his famous play 'The Trip to Bountiful.' Much is the same. In fact, it looks like the same sets and locations were used as the 1985 film. This new version is somewhat shorter and features a new cast, music, and direction.

I actually preferred this new cast to the 1985 one (strange since the lead Geraldine Page earned an Oscar for her performance, supported by one of my favorites John Heard). I was more emotionally affected this time around, and I found the film more endearing, less grating, and possibly a little less sappy.

Anyway, Cicely Tyson sure knows how to play elderly black ladies. We saw it in "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman," and now we see it again here.

Under Horton Foote's excellent writing, Tyson, as Carrie Watts, wants to see her old home in Bountiful, Texas before death takes her. She runs away from her son, played methodically by Blair Underwood and daughter-in-law, Vanessa Williams, the latter turning in a stellar supporting performance as a nagging, irritable person, suspicious and filled with contempt for her aging husband's mother. Her sole purpose for keeping her around is for the mighty pension check that Tyson provides for the family.

As expected, we see segregation down south at its peak in the film. Tyson is feisty as she sees life passing her by. A joy to watch, and while I rarely compliment the Lifetime Network on its programming choices, this is an uncharacteristically astute move using Tyson. This is a Widescreen Presentation (1.78:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs.