Sling Blade

Drama

Billy Bob Thornton	Karl Childers
Dwight Yoakam	Doyle Hargraves
Lucas Black	Frank Wheatley
Natalie Canerday	Linda Wheatley
Robert Duvall	Frank Childers
John Ritter	Vaughan Cunningham
J.T. Walsh	Charles Bushman
James Hampton	Dr. Jerry Woolridge
Rick Dial	Bill Cox
Brent Briscoe	Scooter Hodges
Jim Jarmusch	Dairy Queen Boy

Director	Billy Bob Thornton; Thornton, Billy Bob
Producer	David L. Bushell; Larry Meistrich
Writer	Billy Bob Thornton

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