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Sling Blade
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Wikipedia article
'Sling Blade' is a 1996 American drama film written and directed by Billy Bob Thornton, who also stars in the lead role. Set in Arkansas (filmed in Benton, Arkansas) the film tells the story of a man named Karl Childers who has an intellectual disability and is released from a psychiatric hospital, where he has lived since killing his mother and her lover when he was 12 years old, and the friendship he develops with a young boy and his mother. In addition to Thornton, it stars Dwight Yoakam, J. T. Walsh, John Ritter, Lucas Black, Natalie Canerday, James Hampton, and Robert Duvall.
The film was adapted by Thornton from his previous one-man show entitled 'Swine Before Pearls,' from which he developed a screenplay for the 1994 short film 'Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade', directed by George Hickenlooper. 'Sling Blade' proved to be a sleeper hit, launching Thornton into stardom. It won the Academy Award for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay, and Thornton was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role. The music for the soundtrack was provided by French Canadian artist/producer Daniel Lanois.
'Sling Blade' was filmed over the course of 24 days on location in Benton, Arkansas, and was produced by David L. Bushell and Brandon Rosser.
Plot
Karl Childers is an intellectually disabled Arkansas man whose parents raised him in abusive conditions. He has been in the custody of the state mental hospital since the age of 12 after he murdered his mother and her lover with a sling blade. In the mid-1990s, the state decides that he is no longer dangerous and releases him to his small home town, where he takes up work fixing engines.
Karl befriends 12-year-old Frank Wheatley and shares details of his past, including the killings. Frank introduces Karl to his mother, Linda, and her friend and boss, Vaughan. Despite Vaughan's concerns about Karl's history, Linda allows him to move into her garage, angering Linda's abusive, alcoholic boyfriend Doyle. Vaughan tells Karl that he fears Doyle could hurt or kill Linda and Frank.
Karl becomes a father figure to Frank, who misses his real father and despises Doyle. As they grow closer, Karl tells Frank that he is haunted by an incident that happened when he was six or eight years old. His parents performed an abortion of his unwanted baby brother and gave him the body to dispose of. Karl found the infant still moving and buried it alive. Karl later visits his father, who has become a sickly hermit, and scolds him for his cruelty.
After Doyle refuses to leave Linda's house during one of his outbursts, Frank attacks him by throwing objects at him. Linda later reconciles with Doyle, who announces that they will marry and he will subsequently become the patriarch of the house. He tells Karl that he is no longer welcome. When Frank protests, Doyle grabs him, but Karl intervenes and warns him never to touch Frank again.
Realizing that an unhappy childhood or worse awaits Frank, Karl persuades him and Linda to spend the night at Vaughan's house. He then kills Doyle with a lawn mower blade and surrenders to the police. Returned to the state hospital, he is less passive than he was during his previous institutionalization. He silences a sexual predator who had previously forced him to listen to stories about his crimes, then looks out of a window towards an open field.
Cast
* Billy Bob Thornton as Karl Childers
* Dwight Yoakam as Doyle Hargraves
* J. T. Walsh as Charles Bushman
* John Ritter as Vaughan Cunningham
* Lucas Black as Frank Wheatley
* Natalie Canerday as Linda Wheatley
* James Hampton as Jerry Woolridge
* Robert Duvall as Frank Childers
* Jim Jarmusch as Deke, the Frostee Cream employee
* Rick Dial as Bill Cox
* Vic Chesnutt as Terence
* Brent Briscoe as Scooter Hodges
* Mickey Jones as Johnson
* Col. Bruce Hampton as Morris
Production
Thornton first came up with the character of Karl while working on the film 'The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains'. He developed the idea into a monologue which became a one man show, which he used to raise the funds to make the film.
The film was made with a production budget of $1 million financed by The Shooting Gallery, and was sold to Miramax for $10 million, which at the time was a record price for an independent film.
Release
The film grossed $24,444,121 in the United States against a $1 million production budget. It grossed a further $9.7 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $34 million.
Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a "Certified Fresh" rating of 97% based on reviews from 58 critics with an average rating of 8.40/10. The site's consensus states "You will see what's coming, but the masterful performances, especially Thornton's, will leave you riveted." On Metacritic it has a score of 84% based on reviews from 26 critics.
'The Washington Post' called it a "masterpiece of Southern storytelling." Kevin Thomas wrote in the 'Los Angeles Times' that the film is "a mesmerizing parable of good and evil and a splendid example of Southern storytelling at its most poetic and imaginative". 'The New York Times' critic Janet Maslin praised the performances but said that "it drifts gradually toward climactic events that seem convenient and contrived".
Accolades
References
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