Paris Trout

Dennis Hopper, Barbara Hershey and Ed Harris: now there's three last names- beginning with H-in their prime in the 1980s actors for you. Here's a bigger oddity: nary a profane word spoken by either Hopper or Harris in this movie!

There also is very little violence. However, when it occurs, it is shocking. Hopper plays his normal evil person and is convincing, as always. The film is fascinating for the first half but then bogs down with the romance between Hershey and Harris. It picks up again at the end.

The scenery here of the rural South of the 1940s is very pretty. This is an odd film; almost hard to classify, but certainly worth a look. As you can tell by the number of reviews, it's not a well-known film. I saw it twice and enjoyed it both times.

This is what films are supposed to be about. Not dripping with profanity, computerized special effects, sped-up chase scenes. It is one of the most faithful book-to-screen renditions in existence although naturally some of the scenes from the book had to be trimmed in order to make the film conform to typical length. But no problem--the skill of the actors and director create the essential thrust of the film. This book concerns true events that happened not far from where I live, and people hereabouts still speak of those events. As for the comment that the fox/rabies/little girl portion of the plot seems disconnected, not true. The fox, the manner in which the kind townspeople respond to her being bitten, the diametrically-opposed behavior of Trout toward the same little girl, and the manner in which the lives of all humans in small towns are interwoven, make for superb writing and film-making. You will never forget either film nor book. Scenes from both will always crop up, especially the bottles--the scene with Hershey and later the contents of the safes.

"Paris Trout" translates to the screen better than any work by John Grisham. The 1949 southern small town atmosphere is flawless, but it is the tremendous character development, lacking in Grisham's films, that drives "Paris Trout". Barbara Hershey as the suffering wife, and Ed Harris as the disillusioned lawyer are terrific. Dennis Hopper was born to play the evil character Paris Trout, and he delivers an "Oscar" worthy performance. Living in a fool's paradise, Paris makes his own rules, and attempts to control everyone else. This behavior leads to murder, and eventually insanity. A true product of his environment, Paris cannot deal with losing control. The consequences of his loss are both sad and fascinating. - MERK

I saw this in a theater and later found out it was actually a HBO movie in the U.S. but had been amazed by how well done it was. The acting is superb - Dennis Hopper does evil men like almost no-one else, Barbara Hershey and Ed Harris are good in whatever they do. It starts out as a harrowing racial drama but soon grows larger into a tale of authority and the evils of power over those who are weaker unless society and its laws protect them. A powerful and disturbing movie. 9/10

Well-crafted cable drama is troubling as an entertainment per se, but is still skillfully-made and worth-seeing for the leading performance by Dennis Hopper. Adapted from Pete Dexter's prize-winning book about racist businessman in 1949 Georgia who is tried for the murder of a black child, this atmospheric movie captures a particular time and place with style, and Hopper's acting is award-worthy (he doesn't accentuate the Southern bigotry bit with camp fervor--instead he's menacing and quite creepy). As directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal, the film is well-mounted and provocative, but with a story and characters so despicable, it does run the risk of turning off many viewers before it even gets to the second-act. **1/2 from ****