Welcome back to Movie Recaps. Today I will show you a drama film from 2005,
titled The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio. Spoilers ahead! Watch out and take care.
In 1956, in Defiance, Ohio, housewife Evelyn lives with her ten children and her alcoholic husband
Kelly. To help support the household, she uses a popular strategy among housewives at the time:
contesting. She enters as many jingle-writing contests as possible and she's quite good
at rhyming, but her real winning card is perseverance. By using her children's names,
she enters each contest multiple times, which makes for much greater chances of winning. Kelly,
on the other hand, works as a machinist in a factory, but his salary isn't very good
and he spends a lot on booze. One day, the family receives bad news: they're being evicted because
the landlord's daughter is getting married and he wants the house back. They only have three weeks
to figure something out, but Kelly tells their children not to worry because Evelyn always thinks
of something. Fortunately, a solution does come to them: one of Evelyn's many jingles wins five
thousand dollars. The family celebrates such luck and even the neighbors come over to congratulate
them, although Kelly seems to be annoyed when he's told he's fortunate to have such a smart wife.
The couple uses this money to get a loan to buy a house. Evelyn wants to sign the papers too,
and while it's not uncommon for both husband and wife to sign, they're told it's not necessary,
so only Kelly signs, claiming it's his duty because he's the one that works for the family and
will be paying the mortgage. This bothers Evelyn because she always helps with her little prizes
and it's her money that allows them to get this in the first place, but she keeps her mouth shut. The
family moves to a new home, and Evelyn receives one more prize: a big freezer. Kelly hates it,
claiming it takes too much space and will consume lots of electricity, but he's actually hiding the
fact he's bothered by the pressure of having to fill it. Sometime later, Kelly gets drunk while
listening to a baseball match on the radio. His team is losing so keeps yelling in anger,
causing the neighbors to yell back, asking him to keep it quiet. This only makes Kelly more furious
and he begins breaking things around the kitchen, particularly concentrating on damaging the
freezer. Evelyn and the kids go to wait outside and search for the police to get their help.
However, the cops just end up having a drink and discussing the match with Kelly, then they tell
Evelyn her husband just needs to sleep it off. The local priest also comes over since Evelyn is in
need of counsel, but he only tells her that Kelly is carrying a huge weight on his shoulders because
he has to support a big family, so Evelyn needs to work harder to make a good home for her husband.
Things weren't always this bad. Evelyn used to be an aspiring scribe and worked as the resident wit
for a newspaper. When she met Kelly, he was a singer in a successful band and they were
always having fun together. Unfortunately, a car accident gave Kelly a wound on his throat,
causing him to lose his singing voice. He took a job at a factory to support the family, but he's
been depressed since then, and that's why Evelyn continues to be understanding and patient with him
to this day. The day after the incident, Evelyn reminds Kelly that she needs money for milk,
and their daughter Tuff calls him out for spending so much in the liquor store. Feeling embarrassed,
Kelly promises he'll start bringing one item from the grocery store each day until he fills up the
entire freezer. The money he leaves Evelyn before he leaves isn't enough for the milk,
so she begins searching all the pockets in the house, but it's still not enough.
Fortunately, the mailman arrives right after the milkman with a letter containing another cash
prize that Evelyn uses to pay for the milk. The next big prize Evelyn wins is a shopping spree,
so she asks each member of the family what kind of food they've always wanted to try.
The kids name things like candy, and Kelly admits he's always wanted to try shrimp cocktail.
When the day of the spree comes, Evelyn has a few strategies already planned: she's told the butcher
what she wants so he's already wrapped it for her, the store clerks that are supposed to only guide
her will help her push things into the cart, and her kids will keep track of time to tell her how
many minutes she has left so she can prioritize different sections of the store. Kelly even brings
some oil for the cart wheels so they don't fail her while she runs. The spree is a big success and
Evelyn manages to overfill the cart with expensive food. Kelly cries at the sight, but when they get
home, he gets in a bad mood again when he sees Evelyn got to fill the freezer before he could,
which he takes as a threat to his role as the provider. While the family happily enjoys trying
out lots of new things, Kelly gets angrier by the second and begins throwing things out of
the freezer in search of a burger. He even goes as far as grabbing a bunch of stuff and throwing
it out in the garden, but since Evelyn just ignores him and keeps up her optimistic attitude,
Kelly gives up and ends up grabbing a can of spam and eating alone by the counter.
Evelyn takes pity on him and gives him his shrimp cocktail before inviting him to sit with them,
which makes Kelly cry again. Four years pass, and Evelyn keeps on winning a variety of prizes that
helps her support the family. They keep some of the stuff, like clothes, food, and even a
free window installation; but the things like the pony they sell to help them pay the bills.
The three oldest kids grow up and leave home: the eldest daughter goes to nursing school,
and the two oldest boys get signed to play ball with the Detroit Tigers, making Evelyn very
proud. It's now 1960, and Kelly is having another bad night. While extremely drunk,
he begins complaining about the hole they live in, saying that's why the kids left. Evelyn
is too busy getting her next jingles ready, so Kelly replies to her rhymes with some of his own,
except his are full of insults. He also accuses his family of being too happy all the time,
but everyone just laughs, thinking his rhymes are just jokes. One afternoon, Kelly comes back early
from work after spending money on more alcohol. When the milkman comes by, they don't have any
money to pay him, so Evelyn has to convince him to leave them some milk until next week when she'll
finally be able to pay again. The milkman agrees to give them another chance, but if he doesn't get
the money next week, he'll cut Evelyn's house off his route for good. When Evelyn comes back inside
with the milk bottles, Kelly begins yelling at her, saying he works hard while she just stays
home writing rhymes. In his anger, he grabs Evelyn and makes her trip, which smashes all the bottles.
The broken glass hurts Evelyn, so Kelly begins crying and apologizing, offering to drive Evelyn
to the hospital. Tuff cuts in and stops him, reminding him he was the one that hurt her. The
other children go ask a neighbor for help, and the lady next door is the one that takes Evelyn to see
a doctor. It's night by the time Evelyn returns with her hands all bandaged up. Kelly welcomes
her with tea ready for her, but first Evelyn wants a change of clothes. Since she can't use
her hands yet, Kelly helps her change, so Evelyn takes the chance to explain how much it hurt
that he insulted her contesting when it helps the household so much. Kelly admits he's proud of her,
it's just his coworkers keep teasing him because his wife is the real provider of the family.
The next prize they win is a car that they'll sell and an all-expenses-paid weekend trip to New York.
But while Evelyn's getting everything ready for the trip, they receive more bad news:
they get a call from the police station because they caught one of her kids stealing money from a
lady's purse. Evelyn bails him out and when they return home, Kelly is furious and hits the boy.
Now all the family is scared to be alone with their father, so Evelyn decides not to go to New
York. To make for his mistake, her son accepts to join the army as an alternative to going to jail,
he also offers to teach her mother to drive. Evelyn turns down the offer,
explaining they don't have enough gas for it. Some days later, Evelyn receives a letter
from a group of contesting housewives from Payne that want Evelyn to join them in their meetings.
It's only eighty-five miles away, but Kelly refuses to drive her there: even if they do
get the money for the gas, he doesn't want to spend his precious Saturday sitting in a car while
Evelyn has fun with her new friends. Another one of Evelyn's sons gets a bit of his mother's luck
and wins twenty-five gallons of gas in a football pool. However, he and Kelly begin arguing over
who is the real owner of the gas because they participated together multiple times using the
siblings' names and they don't agree on who knew about the pool in the first place. Evelyn cuts the
argument short by making them share the gas, each of them getting half, which angers Kelly. Her son
is grateful and accepts to drive Evelyn to the meeting, but before they leave, another problem
arises. One of the kids brings her a bunch of flowers as a goodbye present, but he stole those
from the neighbors' gardens. Now Evelyn must stay and spend the day apologizing to every neighbor,
finding a way to pay back for the damage caused. Three years pass and it's now 1963.
Tuff has learned to drive, so she's the one that will finally drive Evelyn to her meeting
with her penpals. In the middle of the trip, the car starts overheating and this worries Tuff,
but Evelyn urges her to keep going until they find a mechanic shop. When they find one,
the mechanic tells them it'll take over an hour to fix, so Evelyn accepts to wait. Tuff is sure Kelly
knew some parts were malfunctioning and didn't replace them on purpose, but Evelyn doesn't think
he's mean, just careless. Her daughter wonders if Evelyn wishes she never married Kelly because
she's been stuck in that house without a life of her own, but Evelyn assures her she doesn't
have any regrets because she loves her kids. A few hours later, Evelyn finally makes it to
her meeting and has a wonderful time with her fellow contesting housewives, sharing rhymes,
reviewing each other's work, and discussing the fact contests will disappear in a year.
They're so nice that the leader has saved the last contest entry form for Evelyn,
because Dr. Pepper is offering good money for this one and she's the one that needs it the most.
It's gotten late by the time Evelyn and Tuff return home, and they find the front door locked.
When they go around the back, they find all the kids in the garden - Kelly had taken them to the
movies, but then he got tired of them and left them all outside. The back door is also locked so
Evelyn begins yelling for her husband, who opens the door and has the nerve to call out Evelyn
for being a bit late. In his anger, he grabs Evelyn's arm, causing the kids the jump on him
and pull him back to defend their mother. Evelyn finally snaps and throws a bowl of jelly at Kelly,
which she makes sure he'll clean instead of the kids. Regardless of this mess, Kelly still has
some surprises ready for the family: he's bought steaks for dinner, and a brand new desk for Evelyn
so she can finally have her own place to work. Sometime later, Evelyn gets bad news yet again:
a phone call from the loaner tells her they're late on their second mortgage.
Evelyn doesn't understand because they never took a second one, and this is how she learns Kelly did
it behind her back three years ago. Now they owe four thousand dollars due in thirty days. Evelyn
tells her kids that they're losing the house because she thinks it's better that they hear it
from her, and when Kelly gets home, he informs her there's no money left. He tries to justify himself
saying he just wanted to feel like he could have a couple of bucks in his pocket and they could go
back to renting now. This hurts Evelyn to hear and she reminds her husband this is her house.
During dinner, Evelyn tells the kids that they've been doing arrangements in case they can't find a
good place, so some of them may end up living with their aunts and uncles, which makes everyone cry.
When Evelyn takes out the last item from the freezer, the time comes for her to finally
disconnect it. After finding the kids praying for some help, Evelyn opens the door for the milkman
who accepts to leave the milk and take the payment next week. He also offers to bring his laundry
so Evelyn could pay him with work, but she takes it as an insult to her pride and turns him down.
Afterward, they get a call from the people at Dr. Pepper, informing her they'll be coming
by for an interview. Evelyn makes her family clean the entire house to look presentable and
with their last dollar, they buy a few Dr. Pepper bottles so they can show they consume the product.
The interview goes well, but the winner won't be announced until a few weeks later, so the
family accepts they'll be losing the house. Kelly tries to stay positive and tells them to wait,
but the kids get angry with him and remind him he's the one that lost all their money. The fight
is the last straw for Evelyn and she finally has a breakdown, so she runs to her room to cry. Kelly
goes after her and tries to comfort her, saying she always thinks of something, so Evelyn snaps
at him, saying she isn't a saint and it's now his turn to do something. As days pass, Evelyn cooks
smaller meals, using the few ingredients left in the pantry and the family finally begins packing
all their stuff up. When the phone rings, Evelyn is hopeless and ready to hang up, but a huge
surprise awaits them: she's won the Dr. Pepper contest. The prize includes a trip to Switzerland,
a car, and a little over three thousand dollars. The whole family begins celebrating except for
Tuff, who runs to her room in tears. After telling Kelly to keep an eye on the others, Evelyn goes
to check on Tuff and hears her out when she says Kelly will never change. Evelyn doesn't disagree,
but tells her not to worry, because Tuff has her whole life ahead of her to do whatever she wants,
so this won't be her life for long. Sadly, Evelyn never goes to Switzerland,
she cashes in the prize to pay off the mortgage. However, she does get to have a little vacation
when Dr. Pepper invites her to Texas to be the queen of the company for a day. This is the first
time Evelyn gets to enjoy herself while someone else does the dishes and the bed. She never wins
another contest or travels again after that, but she still lives a happy life watching her children
grow up and leave the house to see the world on their own. Years later, Kelly is the first one
to die, and Evelyn discovers he had deposited all his pension checks in a secret account for her,
so she never has to worry about money again. When Evelyn dies too later, all ten of her kids come
to the house to see her off and take care of the family's belonging. Tuff, who has become a writer,
keeps her mother's typewriter. The real kids all grew up to have good lives. Most of them got
married and had children and grandchildren while keeping very good jobs. It was the real Tuff that,
while working as a writer, published a book about her mother's story that later became this movie.