A Painted House (2003) (TV)

Director:

Alfonso Arau

Writers:

Patrick Sheane Duncan (teleplay)
John Grisham (novel)

Release Date:

27 April 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Family | Drama

Tagline:

Desperate Times, hard truths, unexpected dangers. One extraordinary summer will change a young boy and his family...forever.

Plot:

A young boy, his family, and the migrant workers they hire to work their cotton farm struggle against difficult odds to raise and sell the crop...

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Awards:

Nominated for Primetime Emmy. Another 1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Scott Glenn	...	Eli 'Pappy' Chandler
Arija Bareikis	...	Kathleen Chandler
Robert Sean Leonard	...	Jesse Chandler
Melinda Dillon	...	Gran Chandler
Logan Lerman	...	Luke Chandler
Audrey Marie Anderson	...	Tally Spruill
Geoffrey Lewis	...	Mr. Spruill
Pablo Schreiber	...	Hank Spruill
Michael Shamus Wiles	...	Stick Peters
Luis Garcia	...	Cowboy (as Luis Esteban Garcia)
Miguel Pérez	...	Miguel
Diane Delano	...	Mrs. Spruill
Luke Eberl	...	Trot Spruill
Sean Jones	...	Bo Spruill
Richard Crowe	...	Mr. Latcher

Also Known As:

John Grisham's A Painted House (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

USA:120 min (including commercials) | Brazil:97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Australia:PG | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Finland:K-11

Filming Locations:

Clarkedale, Arkansas, USA

Company:

Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)

Trivia:

The town scenes were filmed in Lepanto, AR and many residents of the city served as extras in the movies.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the soda fountain worker give the customer a fountain drink, the seltzer from the spigot comes out brown. Seltzer is clear. All fountain drinks, including Coca Cola, required a squirt of flavored syrup then the cup was held under the fountain spigot. The clerk would push the handle back for a pressurized squirt to mix the clear seltzer and syrup then would pull the handle forward to fill the glass.

Lacks the intensity of the book, but a decent tale to watch.

Overall entertaining, but you will not find the movie as captivating as the book. I thought that the film was entertaining, but never delivered the emotion and punch that I felt while reading the novel. The Spruill characters were believable, but I had imagined Hank to be a larger and more menacing physical specimen than the movie portrayed.