NEVER HEAD OF HEARD?
Watching movies in the 80's you would have bet the ranch that John Heard was going to become a leading man and a big star. He didn’t. Can it be that his appearance in a couple of silly movies finished off his shot at the big time? He started very strong.
In Cutter’s Way (1981) he is Alex Cutter. He and Jeff Bridges are fellow Vietnam vets who pursue a complicated conspiracy theory involving a murder suspect who is also a very powerful man. This was Heard’s break-out part and he is quite good. He got glowing reviews from most of the big reviewers. I can’t reveal much more of the plot without ruining the movie for you. 
While The Trip To Bountiful (1985) clearly belongs to Geraldine Page as Carrie Watts, John Heard is excellent as her overly protective son. Carrie longs to return to her ancestral home near the little town of Bountiful, Texas. Her son and daughter-in-law (Carlin Glynn) don’t want her to go alone. They also won’t take her because they know the town doesn’t exist anymore, done in by the war and the Depression. Ms. Page won the Oscar for her performance as the spunky matron. She strikes out on her own by bus and reaches a town close to her old home. A kindly sheriff takes her to the spot, now ramshackle and deserted. But- she did make it!
Big (1988) is the fanciful story of a boy who wants to become “big” and with the help of an antique fortune-telling machine, does exactly that. Tom Hanks stars as Josh Baskin, the little boy now in a grown man’s body. He goes to work for a toy company and is quite successful there. He and Susan Lawrence (Elizabeth Perkins) become an item. John Heard plays Susan’s jealous boyfriend and co-worker at the toy company. There are all kinds funny and fun instances because Josh is still a little boy at heart but appears to others as a grown-up. This charming film became a hit Broadway musical in 1996 and ran for a couple of years. 
Beaches (1988) is the story of two girls who become friends for life, despite ups and downs along the way. Bette Midler plays CC Bloom, a brassy star singer and Barbara Hershey plays Hillary Whitney, a conservative lawyer. John Heard is fine as John Pierce, who starts out as Hillary’s lover, then winds up with CC.
Heard’s bland good looks are perfect for the part of Macauley Culkin’s rather clueless Dad in the Home Alone (1990 & 1992) movies. As you probably know, the plot involves a little boy’s family somehow going off on vacation and forgetting to take him along. This unlikely scenario is repeated two years after the first one. I am not a big fan of these films which seem to minimize the dangers of a child left alone. The most interesting thing about them, in terms of this article, is that John Heard never got another big part. I’m wouldn’t think it was because of his appearance in these two movies, but for some reason he was more or less done at 42. He continued to get lots of work, but nothing of much significance. 
In Awakenings (1990) he plays Dr. Kaufman, a decidedly minor part. In Rambling Rose (1991) Buddy is the main character as a child. Heard plays Buddy as an adult. He is John Riley in Gladiator (1992) and I really can’t tell you what he does. He has bit parts in In The Line Of Fire (1993) and The Pelican Brief (1993). After that, it really goes downhill. John Heard had parts in another 50 movies and TV shows for the next 20 plus years and none of them are very good. So, go figure...
All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. I could only recommend Big for 10 and up. The rest are for grown-ups.