52nd Academy Awards · 1980
Kramer vs. Kramer
Directed by Robert Benton
“There are three sides to this love story.”
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The story
Ted Kramer is a career man for whom his work comes before his family. His wife Joanna cannot take this anymore, so she decides to leave him. Ted is now faced with the tasks of housekeeping and taking care of himself and their young son Billy.
What critics & audiences say
Tomatometer90%Fresh#57 of 98 winnersIMDb7.8169K votes#49 of 98 winners
Metacritic77/ 100#69 of 93 winners
TMDB7.6/ 10
Famous lines
I came here to take my son home. And I realized he already is home.
what law is it that says that a woman is a better parent simply by virtue of her sex?
All my life I've felt like...somebody's wife or somebody's mother, somebody's daughter. Even all the time we were together I never knew who I was.
Really. How much courage does it take to walk out on your kid?
Billy Kramer: I HATE YOU!!!
Ted Kramer: … AND I HATE YOU BACK, YOU LITTLE SHIT!!!
No. I'm staying here with you. You can't get rid of me that easy.
Billy Kramer: What if you get run over by a truck and get killed?
Ted Kramer: Then Mommy will pick you up.
Billy has a home with me. I've made it the best I could. It's not perfect. I'm not a perfect parent.
Some things once they're done can't be undone.
Joanna Kramer: … How do I look?
Ted Kramer: You look terrific.
Quotes via Wikiquote
Fun facts
- In a restaurant scene, Dustin Hoffman smashed his wine glass against the wall without warning Meryl Streep, telling only the cameraman to keep rolling; shards landed in her hair, and she told him to let her know next time.Wikipedia · Controversy
- The scene where Billy defies Ted by eating ice cream instead of dinner was entirely improvised by Dustin Hoffman and 7-year-old Justin Henry.Wikipedia · Production
- Meryl Streep was first cast in the small role of Phyllis but forced her way into an audition for Joanna, whom she found unsympathetic on the page ('an ogre, a princess, an ass') and reshaped into a more sympathetic figure.Wikipedia · Production
- Kate Jackson was offered the role of Joanna but had to turn it down because producer Aaron Spelling couldn't rearrange the shooting schedule of Charlie's Angels.Wikipedia · Production
- Dustin Hoffman, going through his own divorce and wanting to quit film acting for the stage, initially turned down Ted Kramer; he later credited the film with rekindling his love of screen acting.Wikipedia · Production
- Cinematographer Néstor Almendros was hired expecting François Truffaut to direct, but Truffaut was busy with his own projects and suggested screenwriter Robert Benton direct it himself.Wikipedia · Production
- Made for under $8 million, Kramer vs. Kramer grossed more than $173 million and was the highest-grossing film of 1979 in the United States and Canada.Wikipedia · Introduction
- James Caan turned down the role of Ted Kramer because he feared the film would flop, Al Pacino felt it wasn't for him, and Jon Voight also passed.Wikipedia · Production
- Soon after release, lawyers and judges quoted in The New York Times and Time criticized the courtroom scenes as legally out of date, noting a modern judge would weigh psychological reports and the child's wishes.Wikipedia · Reception
- The film's use of the first movement of Vivaldi's Mandolin Concerto in C Major made the piece more familiar to classical music listeners.Wikipedia · Cultural influence