Love Letters (1984)

Well-done slice of life about a radio personality named Anna (Jamie Lee Curtis) who is shocked to discover a box of love letters among her mother's things after the older woman passes away. The letters detail a passionate, intense affair.

Anna meets Oliver (James Keach) who is a big wig who may help her grow her career. There is an attraction between them that Anna wants to avoid at first. Eventually, an affair does take place. Anna wants to emulate the affair her mother had, but does not recognize that Oliver, who's a married man, has a different agenda.

There is some tension between Anna and her widowed dad (Matt Clark). The audience is given the sense that their relationship is not close, but the script doesn't hit them over the head with that. There was a scene when Anna's dad wakes up in the middle of the night, and it appears that he might mean harm to her, but the moment passes.

Amy Madigan stars as the best friend of Ms. Curtis' character. She played Kevin Costner's wife in Field of Dreams (1989). Bud Cort (Harold and Maude, 1971) plays a tech geek at the radio station. Bonnie Barlett plays Curtis' late mom in flashbacks. Matt Clark is a veteran of many western films, including Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid (1973). James Keach is the brother of actor Stacy Keach; he was also in The Long Riders (1980).

Harold and Maude (1971)

Harold (Bud Cort) is a morose young man who comes from an upscale family. His dad is deceased. Harold spends a lot of his time attempting suicide--attempts that his mother (Vivian Pickles) ignores because he does them so often. One day, he's engaged in conversation by an unconventional elderly woman named Maude (Ruth Gordon). He resists her efforts at friendship in the beginning, but she presses on, and he finds a kindred soul. Maude is spry and full of life. Harold falls in love with her, to the dismay of society in general.

This totally quirky story with its dark elements is ultimately life affirming. Ruth Gordon is utterly charming as Maude, a woman who seems to have always lived life on her own terms. Outside of being an actress, Ms. Gordon was also a writer. Ellen Geer, who would later appear on TV's "The Waltons" has a role, and Tom Skerritt who starred on "Picket Fences" is in this movie, too.