The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio

The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio, adapted from a memoir by Terry Ryan, tells the true story of the author’s mother, Evelyn (Julianne Moore), who reared 10 children through a domestic nightmare. Evelyn’s bitter, self-loathing¹ husband, Kelly (Woody Harrelson), a would-be band singer whose show-business hopes were dashed when an accident destroyed his voice, works at a dead-end in job as a machinist and squanders² his meager paycheck on booze³.

Using her skills as a jingle⁴ writer, Evelyn enters and wins the television contests that proliferated in the 50’s and early 60’s, when contestants were invited to describe the benefits of a product, often in catchy⁵ rhymed verse. Evelyn’s winnings in cash and products keep the family afloat.

Every now and then, Evelyn addresses the camera. And every so often one of her jingles comes to life like a genie⁶ released from a bottle, as a smiling group of women in 50’s costume materialize to harmonize and whirl before your eyes before they retreat into the heavenly supermarket whence they came.

In the film’s most delightful scene, Evelyn wins an opportunity to charge through a supermarket and pile everything she can grab within 10 minutes into a giant shopping cart. Like a military strategist, she carefully plots her invasion. Once in the store, she makes certain to grab exotic gourmet items she could never ordinarily afford like caviar⁷ and capers and, at Kelly’s request, shrimp cocktail. When she brings home the loot, her husband is too resentful of her success to sample the treat she has thoughtfully remembered to take for him.

In the film’s most revealing and touching moment, the teenage Terry badgers⁸ her mother to admit she has had a miserable life. Evelyn rebuffs her by declaring how she treasures the moments like the one she is just now sharing with her daughter on a rare trip out of the state. This talent for living in the now attests to Evelyn’s astonishing spiritual strength.

As you watch Evelyn endure Kelly’s rages, sulks⁹ and such outrageously irresponsible acts, you admire her ability to deflect his fury with her sweetness and her courage to confront him when necessary without flying into a fury. But you also hold your breath each time he arrives home from work, red-faced, glowering¹⁰ and itching for a fight. Mr. Harrelson, instead of portraying Kelly as monster, plays him as a loving but broken man, wallowing¹¹ in shame and self-hatred but trying in his pitiful way to be a responsible father and breadwinner.

Gently, affectionately and with wit, this lovely movie gives the 1950’s its due, but not for a moment does it go overboard and make you want to go back there.