Kramer vs. Kramer

In this Best Picture winner, a woman who walked out on her husband and child returns to reclaim her son in a custody battle., Career obsessed Tom’s wife Joanna bluntly informs him that she’s leaving him, and over the course of several months, Ted teaches himself to be a better father while juggling a hectic work schedule. But the newfound balance is thrown off when Joanna returns, asking for custody of their son., Oscar-winning drama about a bitter custody battle which arises when a woman returns to claim her young son after previously walking out on her family. The father, who loses his job while trying to care for the boy, devotes his energies to fighting a lawsuit filed by his estranged wife. He has a top attorney in his corner, but will he be able to persuade the court that the boy should be with his father?, Ted Kramer is on the brink of a career advance when his wife leaves him. Balancing his ambition with caring for his little son Billy isn’t easy, but Ted copes… until Joanna shows up again, and this time, she wants Billy back., Ted Kramer is on the brink of a career advance when his wife leaves him. Balancing his ambition with caring for his little son Billy isn’t easy, but Ted copes… until Joanna shows up again, and this time, she wants Billy back. Ground-breaking 70s drama which won five Academy Awards., Robert Benton’s Oscar-winning account of a child-custody case., Joanna Kramer (Meryl Streep) walks out on her advertising-art-director husband Michael (Dustin Hoffman). Though he is obviously insensitive to everyone’s feelings but his own, Michael has not lost his wife because of this; she simply wants to go out and “find herself”. Also left behind is the Kramers’ 6-year-old son Billy (Justin Henry), whom Michael barely knows. At first, both father and son resent each other’s company, but before long they have formed a strong bond of love and mutual respect. So devoted a father does Michael become that he begins neglecting his work and loses his job. Suddenly, Joanna reenters his life, announcing that she now has a well-paying job herself, and wants full custody of Billy. During the subsequent court battle, Michael takes a job far beneath his talents to prove that he’s a worthy parent. Still, he loses the case, though the film ends on a note of hope. In adapting Avery Corman’s novel, writer/director Robert Benton wisely altered the character of Joanna Kramer from a spiteful shrew to a well-meaning but confused woman who merely wants what she thinks is best for herself and her child. Benton also sagaciously removed a secondary romance between Michael Kramer and his platonic lady friend Margaret Phelps (Jane Alexander). By refusing to truckle to the Obvious, Benton transformed Kramer vs. Kramer from a standard marital-breakup tale to a film of rare depth and honesty. An incredible moneymaker, Kramer vs. Kramer also did well for itself at Oscar time, winning awards for Best Picture, Best Actor (Hoffman), Best Supporting Actress (Streep-but who was she supporting?), Best Screenplay and Best Director.