Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)

I have sat on this review for some time now, because I have not really felt how I had reacted to the movie. Dustin Hoffman plays a young aspiring add executive Ted Kramer. He just lands the largest bid of his career when he finds out that his wife Joanna Kramer, played by Meryl Streep is leaving him and his son. Joanna is leaving to find herself and to do things that make her happy. Ted, on the other hand, has to sacrifice his career and time to do what is best for his son. After the divorce is finalized, Joanna comes back after eighteen months to claim her son. Ted is stuck fighting this custody battle in court; and he quickly learns that it will be an uphill battle to retain his rights as primary parent for the boy. For the longest time this movie was in my Que, and I did not want to watch it because of the depressing nature of the story. I also had to prepare myself to watch it through the eyes of the era, when it was mostly about the maternal rights for children versus what was actually right or wrong. As movies go this is not great cinema, but it is a wonderful story of sacrifice and dedication. This is on all sorts of top 100 lists, but it will not make it on to mine, because I had to transcend too much of my own biases and current histories in the legal world to find this an enjoyable film. On Netflix this movie is only rated PG, but there is a scene with female nudity front and back; it was a funny scene but could have been shot and edited to fit the PG rating format. 2 1/2 stars for me.