Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade (1994)

Director:

George Hickenlooper

Writer:

Billy Bob Thornton (writer)

Release Date:

23 November 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Short | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

Twenty-five years after commiting a double murder, Karl Childers is going to be released from an institution for the criminally insane...

Plot Keywords:

Nudity | Cross Dresser | Sexist | Mental Hospital | Cult Favorite

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Billy Bob Thornton	...	Karl Childers
Molly Ringwald	...	Teresa Tatum
J.T. Walsh	...	Charles Bushman
Jefferson Mays	...	Gerry Woolridge
Suzanne Cryer	...	Frances
Abby Abernathy
Brent Briscoe
Otto Coelho		(as Otto Coecho)
Abe Dalool
Ron Livingston
Aaron Wheeler
Bill Boll
Chester Dent
Bill Sprague
Joey Bilow

Runtime:

UK:25 min | USA:25 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:18 (Ontario)

Goofs:

Continuity: In the first scene, Charles Bushman moves some checkers around while another man sits in a trance-like state. At this point both of the seated man's hands are on the table. However, when Charles moves away from the table, one of the seated man's hands is now resting on his leg, below the table.

Movie Connections:

References Star Wars (1977)

All great stories have a beginning!

Pretty much everything has been said by previous reviewers here. It is probably pertinent to add that but for the success of this little independent number, the full length SLING BLADE most probably would never have gotten made three years later.

Obviously a labor of love for creator Billy Bob Thornton. He presents a markedly different Karl Childers here. As retardedly backward but infinitely more menacing. It was probably on reflection that the character was made more "marketable" and sympathetic the second time around. Both films are such an absorbing focus on what is essentially a simple man turned (by dint of social expectation) feral by circumstances totally outside his control. The villain of the piece of course was Karl's father, played in a marvellous one-off cameo by Robert Duvall in the feature-length film.

In SOME FOLKS CALL IT A SLING BLADE, the reporter is played by Molly Ringwald. Many seem not to have approved of her interpretation of the part, preferring the cutesy high-school reporter in the 1996 release. I thought she handled it well, after all she was dealing with a quite different "Karl Childers.'

Either way, this makes for a fascinating back-up to SLING BLADE. If anything, it adds to one's understanding of the man himself.