A Family Thing

A moving portrayal of the problems of racism - from both sides. The central characters a portrayed with incredible depth. Aunt T (Irma P. Hall) sums up the futility of racism - the films central theme - with the line "being blind does not give me the opportunity to judge a person by their color" (paraphrased). That being said, the film gets it's message across without preaching. An excellent film.

Irma P. Hall should have won the Oscar for this performance. I can't believe she wasn't even nominated. Duvall and Jones were also wonderful. An actor's treat!

Another delightful collaboration of Robert Duvall and Billy Bob Thornton. How refreshing it is to be treated to non-Hollywood type characters that the viewer can identify with. Jones and Duvall are splendid, but like another reviewer says, the show stealer is Irma P. Hall.

I like Robert Duvall. He has made some great films over the years - A Civil Action, The Apostle, Tender Mercies, The Great Santini, Apocalypse Now and the Godfather, to name a few. Even his small films are great, like Assassination Tango.

This film, co-written by Billy Bob Thornton, is a gem that shines in a sea of excellence. The discovery that his real mother was black, was a shock to Earl Pilcher Jr. (Duvall), and he heads off from Arkansas to Chicago to find his brother Ray, played by James Earl Jones, another great actor known by most people as Darth Vader.

Ray already knows everything and is not anxious to revive old memories. The interaction between the two is mesmerizing and funny. It is what movies are all about.

Irma P. Hall (The Ladykillers, A Lesson Before Dying) is captivating as Aunt T. and has some of the best lines in the film. It is worth your time just to see her.

What a memorable experience!

I saw this movie back when it first came to video. I didn't know anything about it, but I put it in anyway and sat back with an open mind. What followed for the next two hours was a fascinating story of a bigoted, Mississipi tractor salesman who finds out that he is half black. While this might not sound like a big deal, let me explain a bit. I grew up down in the delta, near the location that this movie was filmed. It is a big deal down there. Unfortunately, the majority isn't quite as color-blind as they are in other parts of the united states and bigotry is still a pretty common thing. I'm sad to say that there is still a little bit of a barrier there, and if more people were to see this movie, then I'm sure things would be a little bit different.

You see, Robert Duvall plays a fellow (not the most open-minded of sorts) named Earl. In the opening, we get to see the events that make up a typical day for Earl (coffee drinking, shooting the breeze, and selling tractors). We also learn that Earl's Mom isn't in the best health as she passes away ten minutes into the film. She also leaves a note behind telling Earl that she isn't his real mother. His real mother was black and Earl is the result of an affair that costs his blood mother her life. Since Earl came out looking white, he was raised up like nothing ever happened.

I can see it as a shock. One, Earl appears to be in his mid-fifties. (that's quite a big shock to a guy in the prime of his life) two, he discovers that not only is he a b**tard child to a mother he never knew, he also has an older half-brother. After all of this, Earl needs to take a road-trip to get himself together and maybe meet the brother he never knew. What follows next is a journey (both physical and spiritual) that will show ol'Earl a thing or two about life and love.

Written by Tom Epperson and none other than Ol' Billy Bob Thornton himself, "A Family Thing" is one of the best feel good movies I have ever seen. I highly reccommend it. It's pretty rare that a movie comes along that is good enough to change one's life. This oughta be required viewing for high-school students. What a film. 10/10