Sling Blade | |
---|---|
Directed by | Billy Bob Thornton |
Screenplay by | Billy Bob Thornton |
Based on | Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade by Billy Bob Thornton |
Produced by | Larry Meistrich David L. Bushell Brandon Rosser |
Starring |
|
Cinematography | Barry Markowitz |
Edited by | Hughes Winborne |
Music by | Daniel Lanois |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Miramax Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 135 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $1.2 million [1] |
Box office | $34.1 million [2] |
Sling Blade is a 1996 American drama film written, directed by and starring Billy Bob Thornton. Set in Arkansas, it is the story of intellectually challenged Karl Childers and the friendship he develops with a boy and his mother. Karl was released from a psychiatric hospital where he had grown up due to having killed his mother and her lover when he was 12 years old. It also 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 Swine Before Pearls, [3] from which he also developed a screenplay for the 1994 short film Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade , directed by George Hickenlooper. Sling Blade became a sleeper hit, launching Thornton into stardom. Thornton won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, [4] and he was also nominated for Best Actor. The music for the soundtrack was provided by French-Canadian musician/producer Daniel Lanois.
Sling Blade was filmed in 24 days, [5] on location in Benton, Arkansas, [6] produced by David L. Bushell and Brandon Rosser. [7]
Karl Childers is a developmentally disabled Arkansas man whose parents physically and mentally abused him when he was young. He has been in the custody of the state mental hospital since the age of 12 after murdering his mother and her teenage lover, who was also his tormentor, with a sling blade. Karl believed his mother was being raped and killed the teen in her defense. When he realized his mother was a willing participant in the affair, Karl killed her as well.
As a passive person, Karl spends his days quietly staring out a window at an open field and wringing his hands together. He is often forced by Charles, a fellow patient, to listen to his stories about unsolved crimes of murder and rape. Charles was, unbeknownst to the hospital, a serial killer. The state determines that Karl is no longer dangerous and releases him. Karl wants to stay, but is told that he has to leave. He goes back to his hometown, where he finds work as a small engine mechanic.
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 gay best friend and boss, Vaughan. Vaughan is concerned about Karl's history, but Linda asks him to move into her garage, angering her abusive and alcoholic boyfriend, Doyle. Vaughan tells Karl that he fears Doyle could hurt or kill Linda and Frank one day.
Karl becomes a role model to Frank, who misses his deceased 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 did not want his baby brother so his father made him dispose of the body. Karl found the baby was still moving, but buried him alive anyway. Karl later visits his sickly father and tries to reconcile, but is rejected. He scolds his father for his past cruelty to him and to his brother and says that he thought many times about killing him, but no longer sees the need as he is an old man and will be dead soon enough.
During Doyle's latest drunken outburst, where he refuses to leave Linda's house, Frank fights back. Linda later reconciles with Doyle, who announces that he is moving in with them. 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. Doyle insists that he is in charge and orders Karl to leave.
Realizing that an unhappy childhood or worse awaits Frank, Karl persuades him and Linda to spend the night at Vaughan's house. Karl tells Frank that he loves him, and gives him a brotherly hug. Karl then asks Vaughan to promise to look after Frank and Linda. Later that evening, he returns to the Wheatley home carrying a sharpened lawn mower blade, and finds Doyle drunk and alone in the living room. After asking Doyle how to call for the police, Karl kills him, calls 9-1-1, and then sits down at the kitchen table to eat biscuits with mustard, a childhood favorite, while waiting for the police to arrive.
Karl is returned to the state hospital, but is now more assertive. Charles begins telling him more private stories about unsolved crimes involving sexual violence, and then questions him about his relationship with Frank. This angers Karl, and he turns on Charles and tells him to never speak to him again. As Charles walks away, Karl resumes looking out of the window toward the open field, a slight grin on his face.
Thornton conceived 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 to fund the film. [8] [1] He expanded the monologue into a short film, Some Folks Call it a Sling Blade, directed by George Hickenlooper and starring Thornton, Molly Ringwald, and J.T. Walsh.
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. [9]
The film grossed $24,444,121 in the United States against a $1 million production budget. [10] It grossed a further $9.7 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $34 million. [2]
On Rotten Tomatoes Sling Blade has a 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." [11] On Metacritic it has a score of 84% based on reviews from 26 critics. [12]
The Washington Post called it a "masterpiece of Southern storytelling". [13] 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". [14] The New York Times critic Janet Maslin praised the performances but said that "it drifts gradually toward climactic events that seem convenient and contrived". [15]
Billy Bob Thornton is an American film actor, filmmaker, singer and songwriter. He received international attention after writing, directing and starring in the independent drama film Sling Blade (1996), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. For his role in A Simple Plan (1998) he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He is also known for his film roles in One False Move (1992), Tombstone (1993), Dead Man (1995), U Turn (1997), Primary Colors (1998), Armageddon (1998), Monster's Ball (2001), The Man Who Wasn't There (2001), Intolerable Cruelty (2003), Bad Santa (2003) and Friday Night Lights (2004).
The English Patient is a 1996 epic romantic war drama directed by Anthony Minghella from his own script based on the 1992 novel by Michael Ondaatje, and produced by Saul Zaentz. The film stars Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas alongside Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe and Colin Firth in supporting roles.
Babe is a 1995 comedy-drama film directed by Chris Noonan, produced by George Miller and written by both. It is an adaptation of Dick King-Smith's 1983 novel The Sheep-Pig, which tells the story of a farm pig who wants to do the work of a sheepdog. The film is narrated by Roscoe Lee Browne and the main animal characters are played by both real animals and animatronic puppets.
As Good as It Gets is a 1997 American romantic comedy film directed by James L. Brooks from a screenplay he co-wrote with Mark Andrus. It stars Jack Nicholson as a misanthropic, bigoted and obsessive–compulsive novelist, Helen Hunt as a single mother with a chronically ill son, and Greg Kinnear as a gay artist.
In & Out is a 1997 American comedy film directed by Frank Oz, written by Paul Rudnick, and starring Kevin Kline, Tom Selleck, Joan Cusack, Matt Dillon, Debbie Reynolds, Bob Newhart, Shalom Harlow, and Wilford Brimley. Cusack was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.
Dwight David Yoakam is an American country singer-songwriter, actor, and filmmaker. He first achieved mainstream attention in 1986 with the release of his debut album Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.. Yoakam had considerable success throughout the late 1980s onward, with a total of ten studio albums for Reprise Records. Later projects have been released on Audium, New West, Warner, and Sugar Hill Records.
Daniel Roland Lanois is a Canadian record producer and musician.
Marvin's Room is a 1996 American drama film directed by Jerry Zaks. The script was written by John Guare and based on the play of the same name by Scott McPherson, who died in 1992. McPherson had completed a screenplay for a film version before he died; however, Guare was hired to update it when the film eventually started production years later.
Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade is a 1994 short film written by Billy Bob Thornton, directed by George Hickenlooper and starring Thornton, Molly Ringwald, and J. T. Walsh.
The Gift is a 2000 American supernatural thriller film directed by Sam Raimi, and starring Cate Blanchett, Keanu Reeves, Giovanni Ribisi, Hilary Swank, Katie Holmes, and Greg Kinnear. It centers on a single mother in rural Georgia who becomes involved in a local missing person case after she experiences a psychic vision. The screenplay was written by Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson based on the alleged psychic experiences of Thornton's mother.
Mighty Aphrodite is a 1995 American comedy film written, directed by, and co-starring Woody Allen, alongside Mira Sorvino, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Rapaport, and F. Murray Abraham. The screenplay was vaguely inspired by the story of Pygmalion and is about Lenny Weinrib's (Allen) search for his genius adopted son's biological mother, ultimately finding that she is a dim-witted prostitute named Linda Ash (Sorvino).
George Loening Hickenlooper III was an American narrative and documentary filmmaker.
The 9th Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, given on 10 March 1997, honored the finest achievements in 1996 filmmaking.
Natalie Canerday is an American actress.
A sling blade or kaiser blade is a hand tool comprising a heavy, hooked steel blade at the end of a long handle that is usually made of wood. The blade is double-edged, and both sides are usually kept sharp. The tool is used to cut brush, briar, and undergrowth. Its use is somewhat similar to that of an axe, and it is sometimes viewed as a type of axe. Other common names for the tool are bush knife, ditch bank blade, briar axe, and surveyor's brush axe. On the East Coast of the United States some farmers call it a bush axe. The Plover, Wisconsin dialect refers to it as a ditch witch. Also historically used as a wildland firefighting tool to cut fireline, known as a brush hook. It is also sometimes referred to as a bush hook in south eastern North Carolina. Its use in wildland fire has been substantially superseded by the chainsaw.
Dead Man Walking is a 1995 American crime drama film starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn, and co-produced and directed by Tim Robbins, who adapted the screenplay from the 1993 non-fiction book of the same name. It marked Peter Sarsgaard’s film debut.
The 1st Golden Satellite Awards, given by the International Press Academy, were awarded on January 15, 1997. The ceremony was hosted by Stacy Keach.
Down Terrace is a 2009 British crime film directed by Ben Wheatley and starring Robin Hill, Robert Hill and Julia Deakin.
American musician Dwight Yoakam has starred in a number of films and television series ranging from 1992 to the present.