Reviews (138)

Parting the waters of the medulla oblongata of mankind
Normally, movies that are written, directed and star the same person have some fatal flaw due to over-control and a lack of another voice of reason. However, in this case, Billy Bob Thorton put together a great movie.

Billy Bob's portrayal of "Karl", a retarded man who killed his mother and lover as a child, is one of the best characters ever on screen. With his high-water pants, bad haircut, underslung grin and gravelly voice, he's not someone you'll soon forget.

A finely acted film, even the smallest parts were well-done. Suprisingly, John Ritter (an actor who I can not normally watch), gave the finest performance of his career as a gay store manager. Dwight Yoakum was great as the abusive boyfriend, and Lucas Black was good as the kid. J.T Walsh, Robert Duvall, and James Hampton are also in it.

This is not a Disney type plot, and there is a fair amount of swearing and yelling, and some violence. It all is natural to the story however, and the dialogue is some of the best you'll hear anywhere.

I don't give out 5 stars to movies very often. Mmm-hmmm.

An terrific wonderful film, which is unforgettable.
When a man by his early forties living in a Mental Hostipal, who being release by the first time in thirty years by the name of Karl Childers (Billy Bob Thornton) for murdering her's mother lover and then his mother. Karl is a mentally challenge man, who never really experience the outside world. Once he's out to the World, Karl befriend with a sad-sensitive boy (Lucas Black), His Mother (Natalie Canerday) and a nice man (John Ritter), who take a liking in him. Karl hits reality with mean-spirited alcoholic abuser man (Dwight Yoakam) and his past comes to haunt him.

Writted and Directed by Billy Bob Thornton (All the Pretty Horses, Daddy and Then), which is based on his Play, which also he win for an Oscar for Best Adatped Screenplay. Thornton was also nominated for Best Actor. This independent film has First-Rate Performances by all. J.T. Walsh, James Hampton and Brent Briscoe appears in Small Roles-including Oscar-Winner:Robert Duvall. This film is touching, sad and funny also. This is a real one of a kind, unique film. A true classic of the 90's-A Winner. Grade:A+.

Billy Bob does everything but sell the popcorn
Billy Bob Thornton took his screenplay and directed himself in this unforgettable film.

Thornton's Karl Childers became one of the Icons of American cinema, and I still hear people doing Karl's gravel-throated mumble which gets an immediate look of recognition from the people around.

Karl is an essentially good man who is mentally challenged. He recognizes good and bad in others, and he seems to understand his place in the world, even if the intricacies of complex human relationships pass by him as unnoticed as the ozone layer.

As the movie opens we learn that Karl is being held in a State Mental Hospital many years after he has killed a couple of people he thought were doing wrong. I'd say more here, but I think it might spoil some of your enjoyment of the movie to learn more - so just watch the movie! We also learn that Karl is being released because they've "cured him".

He goes back to his home town with all his worldly belongings in a sack. A kindly Doctor from the institution gets him a job as a lawn-mower mechanic and he meets a little boy who is friendly to him.

This is a movie of characters, and simply describing them would not do the characters justice. Karl is a simple man with a pretty well-developed sense of right and wrong. The little boy has lost his father, and the boy's mother, Linda, (portrayed in a wonderfully understated performance by Natalie Canerday) has taken up with a hard drinking, bad-mouthing redneck played by Dwight Yoakam. The late John Ritter is almost unrecognizable playing the soft-spoken crew-cut manager of the store where Linda works. Ritter's Vaughan is devoted to Linda and the little boy, Frank (played by Lucas Black), but Vaughan is also a homosexual in a small town in the south, and his social status is precarious.

There are many serious and tender and hilarious and moving scenes, and most of them involve Billy Bob's Karl. For example, there is one scene where Vaughan invites Karl to the diner where Vaughan proceeds to pour his heart out to the uncomprehending Karl. Vaughan goes on about the difficulties he has had in life, and with his father, and being a homosexual. The entire time Karl sits silently, eating his "french-fried 'taters".

Vaughan finally pauses and says "You always seem to be deep in thought. Tell me, what are you thinking right now?"
Karl replies: "I was thinkin', I'm gonna take me some of these taters home with me."

This movie will stick with you long after you have seen it. Highly recommended.

A legendary performance for Billy Bob Thornton
Sling Blade starts out at a mental home where Karl, played by Thornton, is being released after 25 years. He killed his mother and a boyfriend after he caught them having sex and he didn't think it seemed right. But Karl is deemed to be safe for society and he is also a man with a good heart that when asked if he will do it again replies,"I don't reckon I got no reason to kill nobody." Karl, by the way is somewhat mentally challenged. So it is time to be released, and Karl returns to the town he used to call home with no place to go and no one to return to (except a father who will not recognize him).

Karl befriends a young boy named Frank, and the two are friends from the start. Both of them share some of the same emotional issues, but in Frank's case it is due to his mother's abusive boyfriend Doyle (played by Dwight Yoakam). Karl gets a job working on small engines at a local garage and lives there for a while, but Frank and his mother agree it would be good for Karl to live with them. From the first time Karl meets Doyle, he begins to see what a terrible person he is. Doyle is constantly belittling Frank and Vaughn (a friend of Frank's mother who is gay), and is verbally and physically abusive to Linda (Frank's mom). Karl appears to be a very simple man, but it is apparent that his mind is always at work analyzing the people around him. Doyle grows worse and worse, and Karl becomes increasingly fed up with him. Karl always remains calm no matter the situation, but we start to see that he is the only one who can make things better for Linda, Frank and Vaughn and that as the movie progresses Karl realizes something must be done. I will spare you the ending, but the final conflict revolves around Karl's love for Frank and Linda and with him making a choice, a choice that could send him back to the mental hospital.

This is an incredible movie that deserves all of the notariety is has collected since its release. It won many awards, and deservingly so. There is a little bit of dark comedy here, some tragedy (like when Karl is talking about his brother he had to bury when he was just born), but most of all it is a disturbing examination of internal conflict in one simple man that really is a good guy at heart. It is pretty disturbing at times, so you have been warned. The movie is nothing short of perfect though and it is definately one that you need to see in your lifetime.

A darker, more sinister Forrest Gump
Thornton portrays a man whose apparent stupidity masks a deeper understanding of morals and circumstance than the common man. Everyone treats him as, and calls him, a "retard", yet he sits in his own presence watching and learning...taking in his surroundings to figure out who is decent, and who isnn't. He just wants to get on with his life, yet, he befriends a young boy by happenstance who he can relate to through common toils and emotion, who he can share his innermost thoughts and dark history with, and who he can - within his own diminished capacity- protect in full with his own paternal....no fraternal....regards.

This movie will make you laugh, it will make you cry, it will make you cringe. But it won't let you go until you see it in its entirety, and question the fact - is it okay to kill if it's for a better cause?

A must-see. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Billy Bob Thornton's white-trash comedy has loads of appeal, beginning with a delightful cast playing the most dysfunctional Southern family outside a Faulkner novel. Thornton and Laura Dern play married couple Claude and Ruby Montgomery, whose true love is stymied by petty jealousies over her old boyfriends and his long-ago romance with Ruby's sister, Rose (Kelly Preston). When Claude's Uncle Hazel (Jim Varney) is arrested, the duo join their extended clan in Little Rock to provide support for him and his defense team (a stormy couple sharply played by Jamie Lee Curtis and Ben Affleck). But cooperation is an alien concept to this family; in no time they're bickering, drinking, and deflating dreams. Typical of Thornton, this is serious yet funny stuff, and the actors--including Andy Griffith, John Prine, Diane Ladd, and Brenda Blethyn--work that fine line between drama and comedy with admirable inspiration. --Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Don't waste your time on this turd!!!
This movie was god awful from start to finish. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of Thornton's other movies, especially "Bad Santa." But this flick is a piece of crap. I don't even think there was a script. They just said what came to mind. The only 2 things worth watching are Andy Griffith's un-Andy Griffith like portrayal of a man worried about his brother(Jim Varney) getting "cornholed" in jail and the first theatrical appearance of phone prankster Roy D. Mercer. Otherwise, the movie just plain sucks.

a finely crafted southern movie
I had been wondering if this would ever be released,and thankfully it happened.I don't know how Billy Bob Thorton assembled this great cast, but it was quite a feat to have this many greats on a picture.John Prine was a real treat in his first acting debut, and It's the last wink from Jim Varney you'll get to see.This picture is a hilarious look at things southern that will make you take note of simpler places in life and re-acess whats important in our everyday worlds.

Originally funny!
I gave this movie four stars because I laughed almost throughout. When I sit down to watch a comedy, I don't care about plot so much as I care about being entertained in an original way. Daddy & Them is funny because it echoes real life... not my life, but some people I've had the misfortune of getting trapped next to for seemingly unending periods. This movie has some of the most stupid conversation I've ever heard, played with flawlessly straight faces - and that's what's funny. I wish I could go over all the wonderfully funny parts, but that would spoil it for you :). It's definitely worth at least one viewing. I'm adding it to my DVD collection.

a must
This is an excellent movie-very funny. If you like the Big Lebowski, check this out.

If you're looking for laughs, give it a try.
I watched this film when it appeared on TV, with NO expectations, since I'd never heard of it. (It had a miminal theatrical release, mainly in a few film festivals where it won some rave reviews and high rankings in the audience-favorite votes.) Actually, I had negative expectations since Showtime's description made it sound like yet another "Hollywood Makes Fun of Hillbillies" movie. But I thought the cast listing made it worth a try, and I ended up laughing out loud repeatedly while watching it. I taped it and hesitantly showed it to a group of friends, all very sensitive to hillbilly stereotyping -- they all loved it. It's quirky enough that you'll probably love it or hate it, but I bought the DVD as soon as it was released, and plan on buying several more as gifts. Granted, it's not Shakespeare, but it has a wonderful set of characters, all very well acted, and just enough of a plot to let them shine. If you're looking for laughs, give it a try. And, as another reviewer noted, be sure to catch John Prine's song, "In Spite of Ourselves," during the credits at the end. It's such a hoot that I bought the Prine album on which it appears, even though I generally hate country music and it's a country album. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Billy Bob Thornton wrote, directed, and starred in this mesmerizing drama with haunting overtones of To Kill a Mockingbird. Thornton plays a mentally retarded man who has spent 20 years in a psychiatric hospital for killing his mother and her lover. Released into the community from which he came, he befriends and protects a lonely boy regularly harassed and abused by his mom's boyfriend (a terrific performance by Dwight Yoakam). The story is ultimately about sacrifice, but Thornton certainly doesn't get twinkly about it. Some of the best material concerns the hero's no-big-deal efforts to integrate into a "normal" life: working, eating fast food, earning admiration for his handyman skills, and attaining a semblance of community among other damaged souls. John Ritter has a great part as a gay shopkeeper who tries to assuage his own loneliness by spilling his guts out to Thornton's uncomprehending character. The DVD release presents the film in its original 1.85:1 widescreen aspect ratio. --Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (154)

All Right Then
If you are expecting a slow southern drama about a small-town misfit who is released from an asylum and trying to fit in again, then Sling Blade is a "must see" movie.Released by Miramax in 1996 and wrote, directed and starred by Billy Bob Thornton, this fictional drama is set in Arkansas , where a mildly retarded man named Karl Childers played by Thornton is about to be released after 25 years from an asylum for the criminally insane.This movie has a very slow pace which is in comparison to how Thornton is portraying Karl.Thornton receives an "Academy Award winner for Best Adapted Screen Play and for Best Actor in 1996" in this breath taking performance as Karl Childers.

Karl, played by Thornton, was imprisoned for a youthful act of terrible vengeance. Stumbling upon his mother naked on the floor with one of the towns men on top of her, and believing that she was being raped, he killed the man with a few thrashings of a sling blade. After killing the man and looking at his mother he realized that the man was her lover and Karl, filled with red rage, killed his mother as well.Now 25 years later he returns to the community where he stumbles upon a young boy named Frank Wheatley (Lucas Black) who has lost his father and likes to listen to Karl's rasp voice andhis "all right then" phrases that he makes. With both Karl and Frank feeling like outcast they are drawn together and become good friends, and before long Karl moves in with Frank and his mother, Linda (Natalie Canerday), and finds a job fixing lawnmowers.Not to long after Karl moving in with the Wheatley home, he realized that Linda's boyfriend, Doyle (Dwight Yoakam), abuses both her and Frank.Doyle is always putting Frank down for being different and calls Karl a "humped-over retard", between each of the drinks of beer he swigs down.You also learn about Linda's friend and protector, a gay grocery store manager (John Ritter) whose self appointed goal is to protect the Wheatley family from Doyle's drunken outrages, and to keep his gay life in the closet in this small southern town.

In addition to figures such as Jim Jarmusch showing up in a cameo as a Tastee Cream counter clerk and J.T. Walsh captive role, musicians such as Vic Chesnutt and Ian Moore make appearances as members of Doyle's terrible backyard band. I give this movie 4 stars even though it could be argued that Sling Blade could be taken under the cutting board, but it does not take away from the great performance of the movie which runs approximately 1 hour 34 minutes.

Neglect and ignorance breeds violence

The film Sling Blade was written, directed, and starred Billy Bob Thornton as a mentally retarded man who was neglected and teased as a child.Most of Karl Childers (Billy Bob Thornton) childhood was one of torment at the hands of cruel school children, and neglect from ignorant parents.Karl thinks his mother is being raped and kills her assailant, only to find that his beloved mother was a willing participant in the encounter.He becomes enraged and strikes her down with a sling blade.Karl spends the next two decades in a state institution for the criminally insane.He has been a model patient, and is eventually deemed fit for release back into society.Only his body has grown during his incarceration, while his mind has remained that of a child.His first encounter outside of the hospital is with a young boy Frank (Lucas Black) and his mother Linda (Natalie Canerday), who take him into their home and treat him with dignity and kindness.Karl instantly loves his new family, but his happiness is quickly extinguished when Doyle (Dwight Yoakam) enters Karl's life.Doyle is a violent alcoholic redneck who destroys any hope for Carl, Frank and Linda to have any sort of happiness.These are the main players in this tragic story, but (John Ritter) Vaughn Cunningham plays a supporting role as Linda's homosexual boss and close friend.We also catch a glimpse of Karl's father Frank Childers (Robert Duval) in a small, mostly insignificant role as well.The movie starts out slow and really never speeds up as it progresses.I think that the movie would not work any other way than being slowly told since the main character is slow as well.Sling Blade ends as it begins, with tragic consequences for everyone involved, and leaves me wondering why people are so cruel to others who are different.I would definitely recommend the movie.I enjoyed the movie and I found it worth the time I invested in watching it.The characters were well developed, and I was able to become emotionally attached to Karl's character as well as Frank, his mother, and Vaughan while they tried in vain to coexist with Doyle and his abusive ways.

Good guys finish last?
Billy Bob Thornton wrote, directed, and starred in this slow moving drama with scary similarities to the movie To Kill a Mockingbird. Thornton plays Karl, a mentally retarded man who has spent 20 years in a psychiatric hospital for killing his mother and her lover with a sling blade (Thus the name of the movie). Released into the community from which he came, he befriends and protects a lonely boy regularly harassed and abused by his mom's boyfriend Doyle (Dwight Yoakam). The story is ultimately about sacrifice; Karl is forced to make a choice between what he feels in his heart, and what he feels is biblically wrong. Some of the best material involves Karl's no-big-deal efforts to integrate into a "normal" life: working, eating fast food (mostly French fries), earning admiration for his handyman skills, and attaining a semblance of community among other damaged souls. John Ritter has a great part as a gay shopkeeper who tries to alleviate his own loneliness by spilling his guts out to Thornton's uncomprehending character. There is also a meaningless scene where Karl confronts his father (Robert Duvall, who is a great actor that must have needed a quick paycheck, as he really played a very insignificant role).

After watching the film, I must admit I felt a little ambivalent about Karl's final decision. Without giving away the ending, I felt that Karl was forced to make a decision because Frank's (Lucas Black) mother refused to make one. She is involved in an abusive relationship and keeps both her and her son's life in peril because she doesn't want to be lonely. The plot is so similar to other movies I've seen, that I knew what the ending was going to be from the beginning.

I thought the movie was worth renting, but didn't like it well enough to add it to my movie collection.

Slow On Purpose
Billy Bob Thornton does an excellent job writing, directing and starring in this movie.You will not even recognize him as he becomes a retarded southerner, (Carl Childers), just getting out of the State correctional facility.The way that Thornton explains the childhood of Carl in the beginning of the movie gives the audience a good picture of what he has been through.He befriends a young boy (JT Walsh) who like himself has struggled through a troublesome childhood.When Carl gets out of the State Hospital he is introduced into another dysfunctional family.The boy whom he had befriended invites him to stay with his family so that he does not feel nervous all of the time. The new family consists of the boy's widowed mother, her best friend also her boss who is played by John Ritter and her new boyfriend, Doyle (Dwight Yokam) who is a very mean construction worker.Yokam and Ritter also do excellent jobs in their roles.Yokam plays the part of an unstable single alcoholic whom is destined to abuse everyone he is associated with.Ritter is a local grocery store manager who is trying to hide the fact that he is a homosexual.Toward the end of the movie you can predict what is going to happen by the turn of events that take place. Carl gets Baptized and then things around the household start to get out of control.He goes to all of the people who have been straight with him and asked them of favors.What happens next is quite predictable but the manner in which it takes place is out of the ordinary.This movie is not a very fast paced movie and there are many slow spots.The reasoning behind this is the main character is also very slow and he is setting the pace.I would rate this movie a four out of five and would watch it again due to its incredible acting and excellent screenplay.

Thornton makes a brilliant "debut"
When I first saw Sling Blade back in 1996, I was immensely moved by Thornton's portrayal of a mentally retarded man trying to assimilate into the world from which he was cast years ago for killing his mother and her lover. It was, to me, a perfect movie from beginning to end. The movement was precise; all of the situations (unfortunately) highly believable, and the acting, from Thornton to John Ritter to Lucas Black was terrific. Lucas Black, incidentally, seems to be making the transition from child star to adult actor quite well. So many "cute kids" that can act like "cute kids" grow into ungainly adults who can't act like adults. He's breaking that mold, and perhaps it's because he was never under the intense scrutiny that others like Macaulay Culkin were.

Anyway, I'm digressing in a huge way.

Having seen this recently on cable, I was surprised at how strongly certain images remained from my first viewing. Frank (Lucas Black) tossing huge bags of laundry out of the Laundromat, the cot that Karl (Thornton) slept on, originally, in the back of the garage he worked at, the horrible scene where Doyle (played to oily perfection by Dwight Yoakam) flew into a drunken rage and shoved Linda (Frank's mom, Natalie Canerday), whereupon Frank viciously attacked Doyle by throwing everything he could get his hands on at him. That was such a brilliant and moving scene. As was the scene where Karl grabbed Doyle's hand and said something like, "Don't you lay a hand on that boy".

However, while watching it, I realized that I had missed a rather major plot line, the entire reason that Karl and Frank bonded the way the way they did. I'm chalking it up to being nine years dumber than I am today, but that's just a convenient excuse. I missed it, and, uh, all I can say about that is "duh!".

What I missed is rather simple, and may come as no surprise to anyone reading this. Karl, under direction from his parents, drowned his younger brother and buried him alive. Retarded and young as he was, he didn't have a complete grasp on the situation, but over the years, he came to realize that what he did was wrong. On Frank's end, his father killed himself. Rather simple here. Karl found the little brother he wanted as well as his perceptive abilities could grasp, and Frank found the father he desperately missed and needed. Without that core, the movie really lacks coherency. So for me to have missed that and still enjoyed the film immensely - well, like I said earlier, duh. My only complaint about the missing father figure was that John Ritter's character, who was gay, could easily have been a father figure to Frank. Being gay didn't disqualify him. Let's get serious - if being gay disqualifies, even in young Frank's mind, wouldn't a socially inept retarded person be disqualified too? That's a minor problem, though.

Going back to powerful images, anyone who has seen this film is not likely to forget the ending, where Karl calmly goes from place to place, extracting promises from various people so that he and Doyle will be alone later that night. Karl calmly asks Doyle how to reach the police, and once Doyle tells him, Karl calmly stands up, kills him with what I guess is a sling blade (I admit ignorance here), then calls the police, reports a murder, and says that with the second blow he nearly cleaved Doyle's head in two. After reporting the murder, he sits down and finishes eating dinner.

Later, upon being readmitted to the mental institution, we are confronted with the most disgusting of criminals - and I'm not even certain why this particular criminal was institutionalized, unless he had a great lawyer - the child molester. This man is talking to Karl about his "exploits", which are revolting, and asks if Karl had met anyone on the "outside". Karl says he met a boy, and the molester indicates that he doesn't go that way, but was sure that Karl had a good time with him. Karl replies, and I'm paraphrasing liberally, "Don't you never say nothin' `bout that boy. As a matter of fact, I'd appreciate it if you don't say `nothing to me at all."

Retarded, yes. Immoral? That's a more difficult question. The Bible told him that killing was wrong, but obviously he somehow worked out that in certain matters killing was OK (he said to his father that he would kill him where he sat, but he saw that his father was doing a fine job of it himself).

This was the first time I'd seen Billy Bob Thornton, although he'd appeared in and/or written seventeen films prior. Having never seen him, I had no idea how remarkable his acting was. After seeing him in other films, his performance here put Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man to shame.
... Read more

Reviews (57)

Disappointing film gets extra star for photography
How could All the Pretty Horses miss? It is based on a respected book by award-winning author Cormac McCarthy. Its director, Billy Bob Thornton, and its star, Matt Damon, are also award winners. Yet the movie falls short. One reason is that it follows the novel too faithfully, and the result is a screenplay that jumps around. It cuts from one incident to another too abruptly. This technique works in a book but not in a movie. The other reason is that the movie, with its vast panoramas of the earth and sky, is one that is best seen on the big screen. Much of the impact is lost when viewed on television.

Though it takes place in 1949, All the Pretty Horses is still very much a Western. Young John Grady Cole [Matt Damon] sees his world change forever when his mother decides to sell the ranch that's been in the family for generations. All Cole ever wanted to be was a rancher and a cowboy. He convinces his best friend Lacey [Henry Thomas] to go with him to Mexico to find work there. [Cole speaks fluent Spanish.] Soon after they have ridden over the border, they encounter Jimmy Blevins [Lucas Black], a teenager who is riding a horse he obviously couldn't have afforded to buy. He claims it is his, but, fearing the kid is trouble, Cole and Lacey try unsuccessfully to shake him. When Blevins' horse is stolen, they decide to help him steal it back. Afterwards, they lose track of Blevins for a while. They wind up working on a vast cattle ranch. Cole wins the approval of the owner when he proves to be an expert in breaking mustang horses. Cole also catches the eye of Alejandra [Penelope Cruz], the landowner's beautiful daughter. They fall in love, and this and other events get Cole, Lacey and Jimmy into very deep trouble.

Matt Damon gives a thoughtful and nuanced performance. Though he is certainly is a star, he does not work for me as a romantic lead. His scenes with Penelope Cruz are well played, but they lack the chemistry necessary to make us believe this is a relationship the two lovers are willing to give up anything for. Lucas Black, who has worked for Billy Bob Thornton before as the young boy is Sling Blade, is exceptional as Jimmy. He reminds me of the young Leonardo Dicaprio. I hope he choses his future projects more carefully than Leo D. has lately.

I wish I could give All the Pretty Horses a higher grade because it is an obvious labor of love. The plot continuity is just too ragged to justify doing so. Still, it is a handsome picture and not at all a bad way to spend an evening.

A sleeper
Not only did I like the movie, it introduced me to a great writer, Cormac McCarthy. Cormac McCarthy is a modern realist, my American Lit class first brought my attention to this author and the happenstance of picking this movie off the shelf brought a screenplay based on his book to my viewing "pleasure." It's an interesting movie, some call it a typical picture, but I was taken in and thought the story superb. Get past the negativity of the reviews here and see it for yourself. Comac McCarthy deserves recognition for his craft. Matt Damon did a respectable job in the effort and Penelope Cruz (Correlli's Mandolin) put her on my radar screen. I liked it, what more can I say. Oh by the way, I thought this was going to be a "horsey movie" not a tragedy.

Ouch
I have watched this movie somehow from the beginning to the very end and I have only one comment about it : It was an extremely boring movie that told the story of two young men checking the depths of an unknown river with both legs - by going to Mexico.

Really a disappointment
Billy Bob really botched this one. Cormac McCarthy's amazing and epic book deserved much better. Overall, the acting is spotty, and why he would choose someone from Boston to play Grady Cole, a Texan, is beyond me. Barry Pepper would have been a better choice for the lead. Anybody would have been better than an overrated Matt Damon. The outdoor scenes are all shot during the middle of the day, in pale lighting, and the mystique of the southwestern desert landscape that Cormac so eloquently captures on print is lost on film. The cinematography leans more toward a made-for-TV look than film. Marty Stuart provides a slick, polished country music gloss to the soundtrack, when a better band like Calexico, from Tucson, could have provided more haunting and appropriate accompaniments. Hopefully someday a more promising director like Alejandro González Iñárritu or Christopher Nolan will get the rights and give the book the treatment it deserves. Stick to B-movies and Bad Santa sequels Billy Bob!

Surprisingly Authentic
Given how disappointingly liberal, preachy, trite and predictable so many of Hollywood's dramas are, this film presents both tremendous moral balance and a wonderful ease of presentation, all the while offering up one surprise after another. It's as if this film was shot nearly at the time it was to have happened; so clean, real, and spare is the spiritual atmosphere surrounding the characters. Whether the lead characters' authentic, highly believable progress through the story, a simply fantastic performance by young Lucas Black, or the spot-on cameo by a very able Bruce Dern, this film exposes Western sensibilities (even in the mid 20th century) to perfection - Billy Bob Thornton deserves credit for making a beautiful sleeper of a film far too realistic, too believable, and too traditional to ever win a second glance from the Hollywood crowd. See it, and if you're like me, own it for it's simply riveting social and historical placement. ... Read more

Reviews (57)

Disappointing film gets extra star for photography
How could All the Pretty Horses miss? It is based on a respected book by award-winning author Cormac McCarthy. Its director, Billy Bob Thornton, and its star, Matt Damon, are also award winners. Yet the movie falls short. One reason is that it follows the novel too faithfully, and the result is a screenplay that jumps around. It cuts from one incident to another too abruptly. This technique works in a book but not in a movie. The other reason is that the movie, with its vast panoramas of the earth and sky, is one that is best seen on the big screen. Much of the impact is lost when viewed on television.

Though it takes place in 1949, All the Pretty Horses is still very much a Western. Young John Grady Cole [Matt Damon] sees his world change forever when his mother decides to sell the ranch that's been in the family for generations. All Cole ever wanted to be was a rancher and a cowboy. He convinces his best friend Lacey [Henry Thomas] to go with him to Mexico to find work there. [Cole speaks fluent Spanish.] Soon after they have ridden over the border, they encounter Jimmy Blevins [Lucas Black], a teenager who is riding a horse he obviously couldn't have afforded to buy. He claims it is his, but, fearing the kid is trouble, Cole and Lacey try unsuccessfully to shake him. When Blevins' horse is stolen, they decide to help him steal it back. Afterwards, they lose track of Blevins for a while. They wind up working on a vast cattle ranch. Cole wins the approval of the owner when he proves to be an expert in breaking mustang horses. Cole also catches the eye of Alejandra [Penelope Cruz], the landowner's beautiful daughter. They fall in love, and this and other events get Cole, Lacey and Jimmy into very deep trouble.

Matt Damon gives a thoughtful and nuanced performance. Though he is certainly is a star, he does not work for me as a romantic lead. His scenes with Penelope Cruz are well played, but they lack the chemistry necessary to make us believe this is a relationship the two lovers are willing to give up anything for. Lucas Black, who has worked for Billy Bob Thornton before as the young boy is Sling Blade, is exceptional as Jimmy. He reminds me of the young Leonardo Dicaprio. I hope he choses his future projects more carefully than Leo D. has lately.

I wish I could give All the Pretty Horses a higher grade because it is an obvious labor of love. The plot continuity is just too ragged to justify doing so. Still, it is a handsome picture and not at all a bad way to spend an evening.

A sleeper
Not only did I like the movie, it introduced me to a great writer, Cormac McCarthy. Cormac McCarthy is a modern realist, my American Lit class first brought my attention to this author and the happenstance of picking this movie off the shelf brought a screenplay based on his book to my viewing "pleasure." It's an interesting movie, some call it a typical picture, but I was taken in and thought the story superb. Get past the negativity of the reviews here and see it for yourself. Comac McCarthy deserves recognition for his craft. Matt Damon did a respectable job in the effort and Penelope Cruz (Correlli's Mandolin) put her on my radar screen. I liked it, what more can I say. Oh by the way, I thought this was going to be a "horsey movie" not a tragedy.

Ouch
I have watched this movie somehow from the beginning to the very end and I have only one comment about it : It was an extremely boring movie that told the story of two young men checking the depths of an unknown river with both legs - by going to Mexico.

Really a disappointment
Billy Bob really botched this one. Cormac McCarthy's amazing and epic book deserved much better. Overall, the acting is spotty, and why he would choose someone from Boston to play Grady Cole, a Texan, is beyond me. Barry Pepper would have been a better choice for the lead. Anybody would have been better than an overrated Matt Damon. The outdoor scenes are all shot during the middle of the day, in pale lighting, and the mystique of the southwestern desert landscape that Cormac so eloquently captures on print is lost on film. The cinematography leans more toward a made-for-TV look than film. Marty Stuart provides a slick, polished country music gloss to the soundtrack, when a better band like Calexico, from Tucson, could have provided more haunting and appropriate accompaniments. Hopefully someday a more promising director like Alejandro González Iñárritu or Christopher Nolan will get the rights and give the book the treatment it deserves. Stick to B-movies and Bad Santa sequels Billy Bob!

Surprisingly Authentic
Given how disappointingly liberal, preachy, trite and predictable so many of Hollywood's dramas are, this film presents both tremendous moral balance and a wonderful ease of presentation, all the while offering up one surprise after another. It's as if this film was shot nearly at the time it was to have happened; so clean, real, and spare is the spiritual atmosphere surrounding the characters. Whether the lead characters' authentic, highly believable progress through the story, a simply fantastic performance by young Lucas Black, or the spot-on cameo by a very able Bruce Dern, this film exposes Western sensibilities (even in the mid 20th century) to perfection - Billy Bob Thornton deserves credit for making a beautiful sleeper of a film far too realistic, too believable, and too traditional to ever win a second glance from the Hollywood crowd. See it, and if you're like me, own it for it's simply riveting social and historical placement. ... Read more