Kramer vs. Kramer
Kramer vs. Kramer is a 1979 American legal drama film written and directed by Robert Benton, based on Avery Corman's 1977 novel of the same name. The film stars Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Jane Alexander, and Justin Henry. It tells the story of a couple's divorce, its impact on their young son, and the subsequent evolution of their relationship and views on parenting. The film explores the psychology and fallout of divorce and touches upon prevailing or emerging social issues such as gender roles, women's rights, fathers' rights, work–life balance, and single parents . "Kramer vs. Kramer" was theatrically released on December 19, 1979, by Columbia Pictures. It was a major critical and commercial success, grossing over $173 million on an $8 million budget, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1979 in the United States and Canada and receiving a leading nine nominations at the 52nd Academy Awards, winning five (more than any other film nominated that year); Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (for Hoffman), Best Supporting Actress (for Streep), and Best Adapted Screenplay. Plot. 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 and their son Billy (Justin Henry). 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 accidentally 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 from California 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. His original salary was noted as "$33,000 a year", whereas he was forced to admit that his new salary was only "$28,200", after Joanna has told the court that her "present salary" as a sportswear designer is  $31,000 a year. The court awards custody to Joanna, a decision mostly based on the tender years doctrine. Devastated with the decision, Ted discusses appealing the case, but his lawyer warns that an appeal would be too expensive and 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 alone. When he arrives she tells Ted how much she loves and wants Billy, but she knows that his true home is with Ted, and therefore she will not take custody of him. She asks Ted if she can go up and 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, "Terrific." Production. Producer Stanley R. Jaffe and writer and director Robert Benton read Avery Corman's source novel and were so moved by the story that they decided to buy the rights and make it into a movie. And the only actor they envisioned in the lead role of Ted Kramer was Dustin Hoffman. Hoffman himself going through a divorce at that time , initially turned down the role. He has since stated that he wanted to quit film acting and return to the stage, due to his depression and distaste for Hollywood at that time. While Jaffe and Benton were courting Hoffman, James Caan was offered the role but turned it down as he was concerned that film was going to be a flop. Al Pacino was also offered the role but turned it down as he felt that the role wasn’t for him. Jon Voight also turned down the role. Finally, Hoffman met with Jaffe and Benton at a London hotel  during the making of "Agatha" and was convinced to change his mind and accept the role. Hoffman has since credited this film and Benton for rejuvenating his love for film acting and inspiring the emotional level supporting many scenes. Simultaneously, Hoffman was reminded of his own love for children and "..got closer being a father by playing a father." Benton and Jaffe selected Justin Henry to play Billy. Hoffman worked extensively with Henry, then 7 years old during each scene to put him at ease and Henry was encouraged by Benton to improvise to make his performance more natural. The  famous ice cream scene where Billy defies Ted by skipping dinner and eating ice cream was completely improvised by Hoffman and Henry. Hoffman contributed many personal moments and dialogue; Benton offered shared screenplay credit, but Hoffman turned it down. Kate Jackson was originally offered the role of Joanna Kramer ultimately 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. The part  was then offered to various other actresses including Faye Dunaway, Jane Fonda and Ali MacGraw, 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. 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. Streep was only contracted to work 12 days on the film. 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. The truth was that Strickland was so intimidated by Hoffman while filming their scenes together that she developed a stammer which made her lines difficult to follow. Strickland herself disputes this account, saying that she couldn't quickly memorize the improvised lines that Hoffman  gave her, which agitated him and led to her firing two days later. Cinematographer Néstor Almendros, a collaborator on numerous François Truffaut films, had been hired with the expectation that Truffaut would direct. Truffaut himself was seriously considered to do it, but he turned it down due to the fact that he was too busy with his own projects and suggested that screenwriter Robert Benton would direct the film himself instead. JoBeth Williams was hesitant about shucking her clothes, especially in the scene with little Justin Henry. "I was afraid my nudity would traumatize the little boy," she said. Controversy . 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. In a 1979 "Time" magazine interview, Streep claimed that Hoffman groped her breast on their first meeting. When Streep advocated for herself, wanting to portray Joanna as more sympathetic and vulnerable than she was written, she received pushback from him. Attributing the behavior to his commitment to being a method actor, he would also hurl insults and obscenities at Streep, taunting her with the name of her recently deceased fiancé, John  Cazale, claiming this was designed to draw a better performance out of her. He 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." In 2018, Streep told "The New York Times" that Hoffman had slapped her hard without warning while filming a scene: "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." Reception. "Kramer vs. Kramer" received positive reviews from critics. It holds an 85% approval rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes based on 54 reviews, with an average score of 8.00/10. 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." 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." Vincent Canby of "The New York Times" called it a "fine, witty, moving, most intelligent adaptation of Avery Corman's best-selling novel," with Streep giving "one of the major performances of the year" and Hoffman "splendid in one of the two or three best roles of his career." Gene Siskel of the "Chicago Tribune  gave the film four stars out of four and wrote, Kramer vs. Kramer' never loses its low-key, realistic touch. You will sit at the end of the film wondering why we don't see more pictures like this. After all, its story is not all that unusual. He thought that Hoffman gave "one of his most memorable performances" and "should win the Academy Award next April." "Variety" wrote, "Stories on screen about men leaving women, and women leaving men have been abundant as of late, but hardly any has grappled with the issue in such a forthright and honest  fashion as 'Kramer' ... While a nasty court battle ensues, the human focus is never abandoned, and it's to the credit of not only Benton and Jaffe, but especially Hoffman and Streep, that both leading characters emerge as credible and sympathetic." Charles Champlin of the "Los Angeles Times" declared it "as nearly perfect a film as can be" and "a motion picture with an emotional wallop second to none this year." Gary Arnold of "The Washington Post" called the film "a triumph of partisan pathos, a celebration of father-son bonding that astutely succeeds where tearjerkers like "The Champ" so  mawkishly failed." Stanley Kauffmann of "The New Republic" wrote "All the people go through expected difficulties the way that runners take the hurdles in a track event: no surprise in it, it's just a question of how they do it. But the actors make it more." Shortly after the film's release, "The New York Times" and "Time" magazine published separate articles in which members of the bar and bench criticized the court battle scenes as "legally out of date." According to the legal experts interviewed for the articles, a modern judge would have made use of psychological reports  and also considered the wishes of the child; another criticism was that the option of joint custody was never explored. In 2003, "The New York Times" placed the film on its "Best 1000 Movies Ever" list. The film grossed $5,559,722 in its opening week from 534 theatres. It went on to gross $106.3 million in the United States and Canada. In its first 13 weeks overseas, it had grossed over $67 million. Cultural impact. "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. The film made use of the first movement of Antonio Vivaldi's Mandolin Concerto in C Major, making the piece more familiar among classical music listeners. The song, "Mon fils, ma bataille", about a painful divorce and a father's struggle to keep custody of his child, was inspired by Daniel Balavoine's parents' divorce, his guitarist Colin Swinburne's divorce and also by the film Kramer vs. Kramer (1980). In 1988, the holocaust denier and post-revisionist  Alain Guionnet published "Josef Kramer vs. Josef Kramer", a pastiche of the movie "Kramer vs. Kramer", on former commandant of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp Josef Kramer. Kramer carried out the gassings of 87 Jews selected at Auschwitz to become a skeleton collection at the Reichsuniversität Straßburg, for August Hirt. Adaptation. In 1990, the film was remade in Turkish as "Oğulcan", directed and acted by Cüneyt Arkın, in Hindi as "Akele Hum Akele Tum" in 1995, starring Aamir Khan and Manisha Koirala and in Urdu as "Zindagi Kitni Haseen Hay" in 2016 starring Sajal Ali and  Feroze Khan.