Alabama; 1969: The death of a clan's estranged wife and mother brings together two very different families. The scars of the past hide differences that will either tear them apart or expose truths that could lead to unexpected collisions.
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I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
Terrible title as it has little to do with the movie and a terribly tepid film directed and jointly written by Billy Bob Thornton.Robert Duvall is Jim Caldwell. A Great War veteran and a patriarch of a well to do Alabama family in the late 1960s, who spends his time visiting automobile accidents which the local police are happy to oblige him with.Duvall has three sons who served in World War 2. Skip (Billy Bob Thornton) and Carroll (Kevin Bacon) seem to spend their time drinking beer, smoking dope and arguing. Both have to deal with the scars of the war. Bacon is the wild one, even though he has a son at college, he is anti Vietnam war protester and regularly gets in trouble with the police that upsets his father. The conservative Jimbo (Robert Patrick) seems to to be only responsible one. Their sister Donna is married to an ex football star but seems to be promiscuous.The Caldwell's meet the Bedford family from England. The reason being that Jim's former wife has died and wants to be buried in Alabama. She has been living in England and was married to Kingsley Bedford (John Hurt) and he is accompanied by his two grown up children from his first marriage.Of course there is some hesitancy between the two families because of the strained past but as they get to know each other we find out that Hurt's children are also have a dysfunctional relationship with their father which results in the daughter getting involved in some kinkiness with Skip and the son having a liaison with Donna.The film is a shambles, it kind of rambles without much focus. There is some good acting especially from Duvall and Hurt whose characters bond as they go to see Mansfield's wreck in a store. However the film itself is a bit of a car crash.
It has absolutely nothing to do with Jayne and the car she was killed in is mentioned only because Robert Duvall's character {Jim Caldwell} is the retired patriarch of a wealthy Alabama family, who spends his spare time listening to police scanners and then going out to visit crash sites. He was a medic in WW1 and must be fascinated with grisly physical injuries. It's never mentioned how the Caldwell family made their money but they have enough that 2 of his sons, Skip {Thornton} & Carroll {Bacon}, live at home and don't have to work. They were each combat veterans in WW2 and now, almost 25 years after the war they seem to spend most of their time drinking beer and smoking dope. They have another brother, Jimbo, who was also a WW2 veteran who didn't see combat but is the responsible brother, who nevertheless is envious that he didn't get to fight as his brothers did. They also have a hot looking sister, Donna {Katherine LaNasa} who had been Miss Alabama years ago and is now married to Neal Baron, a former NFL player who now owns several car dealerships in Atlanta and drinks prodigious amount of beer. The Caldwell family learns that that Jim's estranged wife and their mother Naomi has passed away in England. Her husband of nearly 20 years, Kingsley Bedford {Hurt} and his 2 grown children from a previous marriage, Philip and Camilla and accompanying him to bury Naomi. And that's about it, as far as the plot. The 2 families mingle socially and romantically, as Skip and Camilla discover they both enjoy kinkiness and Donna has a tryst with Philip. Jim reconciles with Kingsley as he takes him to an auto museum to see Jayne's wrecked car. There are some subplots briefly explored. Bacon is about a 50 year old hippie who is leading demonstrations against the Vietnam war to the chagrin of the family. He wants his son to go to college to avoid getting drafted. One of Jim's grandkids is doing acid and spikes his ice tea. The three Caldwell brothers end up bonding together at the end with a joint and beer and jump into one of Skip's muscle cars to ride off into the sunset. Thankfully director and co-writer Thornton didn't have the finish by ending up in a gruesome accident that would bring the father out to visit.It's an uneven movie, but still has some pretty good acting, a few laughs. Not sure how many more movies Robert Duvall may have left in the tank, but this is the type of role he nails. Nice time period piece. The Caldwell's enjoy their Falstaff, a popular beer of the time, gone now for many years.
It's obvious that Director/Writer Billy Bob has a lot on His mind. Transferring those thoughts to the page might prove somewhat difficult. Imaging said thoughts on the Screen is even more of a challenge. Although it is a valiant effort, in the end it renders itself flat but occasionally interesting.There are far too many words in this misfire and a surprising lack of Style. 1969, at the height of very diverse opinions about the Vietnam War and Patriotism that did drive Families apart, would seem to be a fertile field for Thornton to let loose and express. But nothing here seems all that insightful or profound, more like a rambling, soft spoken rant on something about War, Family, Drugs, and Sex.It is not a bad Movie but falls very short from being anything more than a great many great Actors given a load of lethargic points to make and for the most part it all just seems sort of Ho Hum. Not the sort of thing that these deep and touching themes deserve.Jayne Mansfield's car does make a Cameo.
The movie has nothing to do with Jayne Mansfield or anything to do with the accident. Unfortunately I have to believe that Mariska Hargitay shutters every time she sees the title and has to relive the horrible day her mother died. Mariska does not deserve this type of low class joke Unfortunately, I expect this low class type of joke because this movie is connected with Billy Bob Thornton. Being from Texas I am ashamed that Billy Bob is identified with our great state. Too bad that the distributor or someone with authority did not correct this complete lack of respect in a movie title. Here is a good title for the next Billy Bob movie, John Kennedy's Brains are in my Car.