The words of encouragement come as a surprise, and the scene is more tragic in revealing Phillip’s self-loathing than they are a charming moment of bonding.īutch’s growing interest in Phillip’s development is strengthened as he reveals his own troubled childhood. When Hayne encourages Phillip to have confidence after the boy reveals he’s been bullied, it's not positioned as an out-of-character moment of kindness on Butch’s behalf. His naivete isn’t exaggerated there are more blatant aspects of childhood that Butch is surprised to learn Phillip knows nothing about (such as Christmas or Halloween celebrations), but he’s also secluded from developing self-respect. Phillip was raised in a Jehovah's Witness community by his mother and sisters, and Butch gives him a broader worldview. You can’t blame Phillip though, because, as twisted as it sounds, you want the boy to escape with the hijacking, murdering, thieving jailbird too.RELATED: Actually, Western Icon Clint Eastwood Is Better Off When He's Not a Cowboy It is a powerful, almost hypnotizing effect.ĭon’t believe me? Well watch Phillip, who is given the choice to leave Butch behind, jump into his speeding car with a stolen Halloween costume under his shirt, and then tell me I’m wrong. Writer John Lee Hancock immerses the picture and its characters with an ever-emerging past that not only won’t go away, but formulates their destinies.
#A perfect world movie watch series
It is built, instead, on a series of unraveled secrets that allow for Butch and Phillip to be brought closer together as they trot towards the film’s devastating climax.
But they never do, thanks almost entirely to Costner’s lead performance as the lifelong criminal both grounded by his healed scars and unearthed by his deeper ones.Ī plot like this has many opportunities to turn into mush, but “A Perfect World” avoids sentimentality at all turns. You cannot possibly guess where their relationship is heading, and as it unfolds, the places where it could slip into the trap of banality become clear.
Another takes place as Butch explains how the car they have stolen is also a time machine. The first is that of Butch and Phillip at the heart of “A Perfect World.” Watching Butch tell Phillip, a Jehovah’s Witness, that he has a “red, white and blue American right to eat cotton candy and ride roller coasters” is one of the best moments in the movie. Theirs’ is the second most vibrant relationship of the film.
She’ll eventually call Red out for playing “hillbilly Sherlock Holmes” for a bunch of morons, earning his respect in the process. She’s new to the game, and while Red and the other men involved make sure she remembers that, she proves capable of handling herself. Leading the pursuit are Eastwood as Red Garnett, Chief of the Texas Rangers during an election year, and criminologist Sally Gerber, played by Laura Dern. The second felon is quickly taken out of the picture, and soon enough, the man and the boy are hightailing it across the never-ending back roads of Texas. Years later, he escapes with another convict and after breaking into a family’s home, they take Philip (T.J.
The adventure shared between captor and captive, which is really the focus of the movie, is understood and clearly presented thanks to a lifetime of experiences.Ĭostner’s character, Butch Haynes, was dealt a bad hand growing up, drifting into trouble and winding up with a sentence thought to be of help. Reigned by Eastwood, t hen 63 years old and fresh off of an Oscar victory with “Unforgiven, ” and starring Kevin Costner, who only two years earlier won his own Oscar for “Dances with Wolves, ” “A Perfect World” contains minimal action for a film based off of a manhunt, and has no time for recklessness. On all levels, this is a mature production. Both bitter and sweet, “A Perfect World” is a poignant viewing experience, one which offers us entertainment with its discreet wit and simple approach, but commandeers our respect with its spirit. Even its time and place – Texas, just weeks before President Kennedy’s assassination – reek of needless tragedy. But lurking underneath are the remnants of a haunting past which binds all of these acts and each of this world’s characters together. On the surface lies a collection of varying hijacks, murders, abductions, and robberies. In a perfect world, the events of Clint Eastwood’ s tactfully simple 1993 film could never happen.
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