What made Kramer vs. Kramer a hit?: In the 1970s, divorce rates were higher than they’d ever been. A downturn in the economy meant that working people had to work harder to make ends meet, while the women’s liberation movement opened up the eyes of women nationwide to opportunities that existed for them outside the home. But while a number of films had dealt with the subject of divorce, Kramer vs. Kramer was one of the first high-profile Hollywood releases on the subject. Due to its subject matter and the prestigious nature of the project, the film received a great deal of attention from the media, which aided the public’s awareness of it immensely.

Also, the presence of Dustin Hoffman in the lead role was intriguing to moviegoers. At the time, Hoffman was best known for putting his Method acting skills to work at playing quirky outsiders. By contrast, the character of Ted Kramer was very much a “regular guy”- an ad man working his way up the ranks of his company until his wife leaves him, forcing him to raise their child more or less alone. Whereas a more conventional star might have been less than convincing as a struggling father, Hoffman made the character vulnerable and down-to-Earth, which in turn made him sympathetic even when he gets frustrated with his son and the hand that life has dealt him. Combined, these two factors helped to make Kramer vs. Kramer not only the toast of the 1979 Academy Awards, but also the year’s biggest box-office draw.

What happened?: Coming at the tail end of the 1970s- the “last hurrah” of the heyday of Hollywood’s maverick filmmakers- the relatively modest Kramer vs. Kramer hasn’t sustained its initial critical love when compared to more ambitious and director-driven films of the era like Apocalypse Now and All That Jazz. That Kramer vs. Kramer bested those films for the Best Picture Oscar only added to the sentiment that the end of the seventies brought a golden age of Hollywood filmmaking to a screeching halt.

But Kramer vs. Kramer hasn’t fallen from grace so much as it’s lost much of its visibility. When a movie’s success is predicated on the hot-button issues it raises, it can often look dated once those issues have become commonplace. So it was with Kramer vs. Kramer, especially when it came to its single-father storyline. At the time of the film’s release, the idea of a man who puts his career on the back burner to raise a child on his own was new territory for Hollywood. But whereas the philosophy behind Ted Kramer’s lifestyle change once came off as a bold statement on parenthood, it now seems like only the proper thing to do under the circumstances. Good, but hardly groundbreaking.

Does Kramer vs. Kramer still work?: Yes, although not always in the ways director Robert Benton and novelist Avery Corman originally intended. The title of the film refers to the custody proceedings between Ted and his ex-wife Joanna (Meryl Streep) that comprise much of the film’s final third. Unfortunately, the case and the fallout from the decision is perhaps the least interesting aspect of the movie, mostly because it’s the most bound to plot conventions. This extends to the film’s final scenes, which set up a bittersweet ending until the need for a happy ending rears its ugly head. When Joanna shows up at Ted’s on the date she was scheduled to take her son Billy (Justin Henry) home with her only to announce that she thinks he should stay with his dad, it feels more like plot contrivance than a decision made by the character.

However, the film works nicely as a time capsule of the way gender roles were shifting in the late 1970s. As a college-educated woman who came of age during the counterculture movement of the late 1960s, Joanna holds no small amount of resentment for being relegated to the role of housewife while Ted furthers his career. It’s telling that once she’s returned to New York to be a mother again, she explains herself primarily in the language of self-help and psychoanalysis that was gaining traction in popular culture at the time. Meanwhile, Ted’s metamorphosis into a capable single parent prefigures the more gender-neutral parenting roles that have become the norm today.

However, Kramer vs. Kramer is at its best when it’s deals in a straightforward manner with its central relationship, between Ted and Billy. Ted is hardly a saint- he has something of a temper, which causes him to lose his patience. But Benton takes the time to show him making a new life for himself and his son. Much of the credit should go to Hoffman, who not only gives one of his least mannered performances, but also is able to create a completely believable relationship with then-seven-year-old Justin Henry. It’s because we buy the two of them as father and son that we care when it looks like the two may be separated. There’s a lovely moment that comes when Billy sees his mother for the first time when over a year. In his excitement, he sprints toward Joanna and doesn’t look back. Rather than showing a closeup of Hoffman’s reaction, Benton holds camera on him in long shot, and the surroundings dwarf Ted in a way that mirrors the insignificance he’s feeling.

Whereas in 1979 the big story of Kramer vs. Kramer was its portrayal of a man raising a child alone, today it’s more noteworthy as a cinematic portrayal of what it means to be a single parent, regardless of gender. From my experience dating a single mother, I’ve learned rearing a child by oneself requires a lot of sacrifice, and the scenes in which Ted’s work performance suffers as a result of his parental demands rang absolutely true for me. But I also appreciated the more low-key moments in which we see Ted and Billy forging a loving father-son relationship. I especially liked two scenes that involve Ted making French toast for Billy- the first taking place the day after Joanna has left, the second on the morning Billy’s scheduled to leave with her. The difference between these two scenes- one frantic, the other routine- says it all about how far they’ve come together.