Max Holland: Sling Blade (1996) Movie Review

Sling Blade (1996) is an independent drama film that is written and directed by, as well as starring, Billy Bob Thornton. It also stars Dwight Yoakam, John Ritter, Natalie Canerday, James Hampton, Robert Duvall and a young Lucas Black, in supporting roles. It's basically a feel-good dramedy with dark, twisted and disturbing subject matter. The film is based on the 1994 short film "Some Folks Call it a Sling Blade", in which Thornton himself also wrote the script and starred in the leading role (you can watch the original short on YouTube).

The movie follows our protagonist Karl Childers (Billy Bob Thornton). Karl is a mentally challenged man who has been abused from childhood and has been in a mental hospital for 20+ years after an incident in which he murdered his mother with a sling blade (hence the film's title), after witnessing her having an affair with his father's boss' son. Karl also speaks in a mangled accent and has an unusual diet consisting primarily of french fries and biscuits (albeit with mustard), and he rarely sleeps. After 20+ years, Karl is released from the mental hospital as he's been deemed well and decides he has no reason to kill anyone. He settles back in his hometown of Benton, Arkansas, where he lands a job at a lawnmower shop and befriends a 12-year-old boy named Frank Wheately (Lucas Black).

Frank looks up to Karl as a father figure as the two develop a strong bond, have deep conversations and are even seen playing football together with some of Frank's friends from school. Frank initially lies to Karl that his father was runover by a train, but later admits the truth that it was suicide. Frank also lives with his widowed mother Linda Wheately (Natalie Canerday). Linda works at a local convenient store with her friend and manager Vaughan (John Ritter) and is currently dating a construction worker named Doyle Hargraves (Dwight Yoakam).

Doyle is not a very nice guy. In fact, he's very mean, as well as drunk and abusive towards Linda and Frank and makes fun of Karl for being retarded. He appears to be an aspiring musician and has a group of friends whom he jams with, and together they try to write songs. However, Doyle is mean, abusive and antagonistic even towards his musician friends and even goes as far as to abuse a handicapped person on a wheelchair. He's basically the villain of the movie as well as the main antagonist. Vaughan is a closeted, and later openly, gay man who sees Doyle for the monster he is and whom Doyle bullies for being gay. So, after Karl has stayed with the Wheatley's for a while, witnessing Doyle's actions and speaking with Vaughan, he comes up with a plan to save Linda and Frank's lives. You won't want to know about it here, but let's just say that Karl "realizes what needs to be done". That's about the best way some up the movie without spoiling anything.

I watched Sling Blade (1996) for the first time earlier this year after tracking down the DVD on Ebay, since it hasn't been available anywhere digitally (although it's recently been made available on a small streaming site called Red Coral Universe). I've seen Sling Blade (1996) about three times now and I have to say it's an excellent and very well-done film. It's got great acting, great directing and great writing as well as a very compelling story and compelling characters. It also has great cinematography and production value, considering that this was a small independent film made on a small budget of $1 million. Billy Bob Thornton did a great job writing and directing and he really nailed the leading role. Dwight Yoakam also did a great job playing a villain whom you'd want to hate with all your heart. This movie strikes me as one of those unique films, as I don't think there's been a movie like it before or even since. There's nothing I would've changed about Sling Blade (1996) and I'd even go as far as to calling it a cinematic masterpiece.

I give Sling Blade (1996) a solid 10/10.

So, have you seen Sling Blade (1996)? What did you think? Did you like it? Did you not like it? Did you think it was okay? Let me know in the comments.

You can check out my video review on YouTube: