| Sling Blade | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| 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 Americandrama film written, directed by and starringBilly Bob Thornton. Set inArkansas, it is the story of intellectually challenged Karl Childers and the friendship he develops with a boy and his mother. Karl was released from apsychiatric hospital where he had grown up due to having killed his mother and her lover when he was 12 years old. It also starsDwight Yoakam,J. T. Walsh,John Ritter,Lucas Black,Natalie Canerday,James Hampton, andRobert Duvall.
The film was adapted by Thornton from his previous one-man showSwine Before Pearls,[3] from which he also developed a screenplay for the 1994 short filmSome Folks Call It a Sling Blade, directed byGeorge Hickenlooper.Sling Blade became asleeper hit, launching Thornton into stardom. Thornton won theAcademy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay,[4] and he was also nominated forBest Actor. The music for the soundtrack was provided byFrench-Canadian musician/producerDaniel Lanois.
Sling Blade was filmed in 24 days,[5] on location inBenton, Arkansas,[6] produced by David L. Bushell and Brandon Rosser.[7]
Karl Childers is a developmentally disabledArkansas man whose parents physically and mentally abused him when he was young. He has been in the custody of the statemental hospital since the age of 12 after murdering his mother and her teenage lover, who was also his tormentor, with asling 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, which her abusive and alcoholic boyfriend, Doyle begrudgingly accepts. 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, calls9-1-1, 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 filmThe 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 byThe 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]
OnRotten TomatoesSling 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] OnMetacritic 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 theLos 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]
Quotations related toSling Blade at Wikiquote
