I saw this film in college for $1 in 1980 and never really appreciated it until now.<br /><br />It is amazing to note that this is the same Bette Midler who did all those Disney/Touchtone movies (Down and Out in Beverly Hills, etc.)! This is not a happy film. It has no happy ending. Most of the film is dark, adding to the dreariness of the story.<br /><br />But you just watch Bette watching Houston Dyer leave her because he couldn't put up with her life. Watch him as he pauses before he gets into the tractor trailer that he's just hitched a ride with, watch him as he looks back at her, almost reflecting, thinking, for just a moment, reconsidering his choice, and then makes the decision to live with the choice and get on the truck, going God only knows where, leaving her.<br /><br />Camera goes back to Bette, on the ground, wailing in agony, despair, and sadness.<br /><br />You just watch Bette singing "Stay With Me, Baby" at the end of the film at the concert when she goes back to her hometown. How many takes before they got it right? Once? 37? She's on her knees, she's cradling the microphone, her eyes are blackened with the makeup that has mingled with the tears. Watch David Keith applaud from offstage as he's watching her give the performance of her life and KNOW that that applause was ad-libbed, that he was completely knocked out by her performance.<br /><br />And then come back and tell me that this film was crap. I've seen Norma Rae and always believed that Sally Field deserved her Oscar but I no longer think that. Bette was robbed, plain and simple.