That slow panning shot of the interior of the shed is heart shattering. After knowing how he was raised and how it affected him into adulthood, actually seeing it still there years later is so depressing. This dilapidated shack, probably in not much worse shape than when Carl was a child. Knowing he spent most of his developing years just sitting on that dirt floor. The music is perfect too. Its just so sad.
Really powerful scene. Karl starts it off by trying to have a relationship with his dad, but quickly realizes how sad and pathetic he is. Karl truly is the bigger man.
Maybe he (his father) was turned into hell after his wife gave life to two mentally challenged sons. Perhaps he did not work for that...perhaps he could not handle it mentally. Perhaps he was mentally ill in a way that does not appear immediately to most people. If any movie....this should not be about black and white morals.
@Szederp it's implied he was abused (sleeping in a hole he dug out in the shed.) Some theorize that his mental disability could be due to the fact that he was kicked in the head or something.
Theres a history of abusers causing permanent mental damage through physical abuse. Very possible/likely, esp with what his father says when he walks in
Thats a good way to describe the scene. I just noticed when I watched this scene again, the two support arches (or whatever you call them) for the train bridge look like wings. Thats the way I see it, at least
When the camera fixes on the hole carved into the ground, you can feel the years of senseless neglect and cruelty. This entire scene is biblical in its spiritual weight.
His response was horrible, but its possible hes correct, "aint no kin". Remember what he caught his mother doing. Was that the first time? Probably not.
Karl did what he thought he needed to by killing Doyle so frank can be free. Karol already seen this once before he is secretly smartest guy at things he is good at which that is very true for people with disabilities everything about his character what Billy Bob Thornton did is magnificent who knows how long it took him learn lawn Mowers but he is great at it
How could anyone ever forget this movie? It may have a simple story, but the deep themes are done so well. Every scene contributes to the story and the characters, not one bad scene. That's why this is a perfect movie.
I saw this at the movies when it came out. I was 25 and it blew me away. The huge sound of the music in the theater added to the intensity of the scenes.
This movie is so superb that Billy Bob Thornton need never direct another movie. Like Orson Welles, his place in cinema history is secure with this one masterpiece. For Robert Duvall, despite his long and brilliant career, "Tender Mercies" and "The Apostle" are the two movie classics that he will be best remembered for-----with "Lonesome Dove" making him a TV legend as well!
01:32 The appliance to his left is a washer from the 50's, probably a Maytag. The round drum washes the clothes as a normal upright washer, but is filled and drained manually.The bar across the top is a wringer. Two rollers are turned by motor and clothes are passed piece by piece between them, wringing out the water which falls back in the drum.
@@mikedoss9777Ive only seen one used once. In my grandmothers house. She had nearly all the same stuff in her house from the 50s-60s until she passed. I bet collectors were excited when they sold it all out. Gleaming, like new appliances from long ago. Fridge had as much chrome on it as an old Buick. And its worth noting... they worked that long too.
I finally figured out what his dad is mumbling to himself when Carl walks in: "Kick yer head in... bout 25 years ago yer dead I guess... wher'd you go to? But old brotha that's kinda sad, cuz I was drunk when I did it... Cuz I had to... hehe hehe..."
@@qwertyuiop32935 Look up Daniel Lanois. He's the brilliant musician behind this and the soundtrack to Red Dead Redemption 2, if you've ever played it. He's made albums, soundtracks, worked a little with U2 and has a good amount of content on TH-cam. Worth the dive.
It's very difficult to limit this comment to a few sentences - or even sections. What an utterly electifying experience it was to watch this movie. Here in 2023, the world is busy going crazy, and while that's going on, important lessons about fatherhood, life, religion, people, culture, morals, predujice and purity that's all wrapped up into movies like this.. Gone.... Happy I was around to get the opportunity to watch it!
One of the most melancholic scenes from Hollywood, depicting the life in American South. I believe Carl's manners and ethics are far superior than an average person.
it just broke my heart and...eyes got teary, the moment he opened the door of that shack that he used to live in 25 years ago, with all that junk along with the torn apart bed spread and the spring box still around that hole he used to sleep in. The music of Daniel Lanoise was spot on such a sad scene with great facial and walking impressions of Billy Bob.
The soundtrack for the film was written and played by the Canadian genius Daniel Lanois. His song "The Maker" plays during the closing credits of the film.
The first time I watched this scene with captions on, I noticed that Robert Duvall’s incoherent rambling lines were actually captioned. I never cared much before, because it just sounds like nonsense. I feel like at a glance, it’s supposed to illustrate his dementia and feeble-mindedness in his old age. But when I read his actual lines, I can’t help but think it’s Carl’s head he’s talking about kicking in while drunk. The whole movie, we never actually know Carl’s diagnosis other than he’s mentally challenged in some way. It could have been that he was born that way. At least, that’s the most natural assumption. He even demonstrates great abilities in certain areas, similar to those with autism. But these few lines force you to consider the real possibility that Carl’s mental challenges are a result of brain injury sustained from a violent beating as a child. It makes this scene all the more saddening and heartbreaking. Maybe that was obvious to some, but I didn’t piece that together for a long time.
I think it’s a reference to Carl’s little brother that he beat to death n has been going insane (probably from dementia n whatnot too) for the last 25 years. That’s why he says later “that u shouldn’t have done that to my little brother-he would have had fun sometimes” but I could be wrong too
@@CriscDogs22 The brother that is referenced is the newborn baby that they threw out and made Carl bury while it was still alive, after they presumably aborted it somehow on their own. Any kind of beating is never referenced other than here though. It could have happened to Carl while he was only 2 or 3 years old, which would explain why he doesn't talk about it, because he doesn't remember.
@@rondorthecruel124 damn I totally forgot that!! Been too long since I watched this movie in full. Thanks for reminding me but can’t believe forgot that! Lol
I figured Carl's intellectual disability is from the years of neglect and abuse. Beatings, lack of stimulation, malnutrition. That explains why he's pretty capable in some ways.
I finally figured out what his dad is mumbling to himself when Carl walks in: "Kick yer head in... bout 25 years ago yer dead I guess... wher'd you go to? But old brotha that's kinda sad, cuz I was drunk when I did it... Cuz I had to... hehe hehe..." *Creepy*
Him being drunk when he did his crime is the reason I believe his father, deep down, lives in absolute torment and anxiety. As depicted with him tweaking out from anxiety right before Karl walks in.
For a guy who doesn't know the difference between a large french fry portion or a small, he has an impeccable sense of direction since being locked up for the better part of 40 years with mind numbing medication
Arkansas is a tiny, tiny place. When he calls 911 he doesn't even give an address, he identifies the location by the name of the family the house is associated with.
Anybody in the Benton, Arkansas area know where this house is located? In the commentary, Billy Bob said it was an empty house they found on the highway.
I don't know where that house is, but they are everywhere to this day in Arkansas. I have family in Benton and when we visited in the 80's my relatives lived in falling down shacks with a late model car out front and a gigantic satellite dish in the yard. One of my uncles would walk from Benton to Little Rock to pay the money to get put on the ballot for Governor every election.
yeah, french fried taters funny and all that but this movie is pure genius near spiritual, the acting, directing, camera shots are on a level I can't properly explain
When he says "you ought not done that to ya boy." The father looks over and it satisfies me because it truly shows that Karl's words pierced his father, the way he looks over at Karl. His father wouldnt admit it, or acknowledge it, but he KNEW Karl was right. That was a victory for Karl in this movie. Karl recognized that his childhood was not his fault, that his father had done wrong. I love Karl so much. What an incredible character.
If you grew up outside of a large city in the SE, in a smaller town, you knew a “Carl” because every small town had one. Sometimes “Carl” had a little, poor family, and sometimes not. But he was always there, and everyone knew him. Remember that, even today, the rural SE is very different from larger cities in the South. Drive 45 minutes outside the city limits of a large, southern city like Atlanta, and you’re in another world.
Right you are. I grew up in Benton Arkansas, where this movie was filmed and not too far from where Billy Bob Thornton is from. Every small town in the south has a "Carl" of some form and plenty of "Doyles". It's like a completely different society and time when you're in major cities, even southern major cities.
That's true. In VA, NC, and SC, aside from the major cities, it's pretty much nothing but rural areas and it seems like you've gone through a time machine that took you back about 20 or 30 years when you're only an hour or so outside of the major areas.
The whole state of Arkansas is less than half the population of metro Atlanta. Biggest metro in Arkansas is about 750,000 and the largest city is 200,000 (Little Rock).
@@twiceonsundays Virginia is a blue state and North Carolina is almost there. Meanwhile Arkansas is the reddest of the red. And the three states you mention have significantly larger populations than Arkansas, which is barely three million. I ran into a lady from SC (in SC) who told me she lived in Arkansas for a time but left "because there was nothing to do" and I agreed with her. All these Californians fleeing east on I-40 only stop for food and gas in Arkansas and Mississippi on their way to Nashville or wherever they are moving to. They aren't moving to Arkansas and Mississippi. Not in droves anyway. Also let's not forget that Mississippi ranks dead last and Arkansas next to last in many measures like median household income. In fact, the state motto when I was growing up was "thank God for Mississippi."
In real life Thornton and Duvall were very close. Thornton publicly expressed his deep appreciation for Duvall's guidance in putting this painful scene together without going over the top. Keeping it subtle and simple, it has more emotional power.
Some people think there weren't many bad people in the "olden days." There were some. There was quite a bit of bad parenting and poverty. That's why we need social workers, so that children don't fall through the cracks.
There weren't. Compare the stuff kids are doing today, 13 year old girls stabbing their friend in the woods, the two 10 year old boys that abducted and killed and sodomized a 2 year old boy,just for the heck of it. The mother who cooked her infant in an oven...things like that didn't happen in the 50's and 60's. It would have been headline news. Now these are nearly weekly occurances.
@@Suddenlyits1960 What I said was, 'there were bad people back then.' It may be true that there were fewer wacky, depraved crimes back then. Even per capita (there are more people now). But there was also a strong "don't report/don't discuss" sentiment back then. Lots of bad things swept under the rug. Rural police departments with few good investigators. They would bow to pressure from community leaders who didn't want shame brought on "their town."
@@Suddenlyits1960 Brother, the past is no stranger to the wicked. Even in the 50s, serial killers captured the headlines, various injustices were aflame, and small acts of hatred held their silent grip, in dark corners of the country. And be mindful to separate your golden age from that before it, they endured enough poverty and war to sober a generation from crime and death.
"Weird bullets. And you, where you go to? Then you're here. What were you? I kicked your head in 25 years ago, you're dead, I guess. Where'd you go to? I know Mother, that's kinda sad. I was drunk when I did it. What was I up to? Hmm Hmm." His dad is either in a semi-drunken stupor, or he's showing early signs of being senile and he's having conversations with people who aren't there, and it kinda sounds like he is recounting killing someone in the past.
Laying in a dirt floor, in a shack with no heat 😮, is how he grew up, this storyline and the acting made it so real,i cant believe he didnt get an award for this movie
Despite A L L the years , and time passing , Carl still remembers where his little brother is buried , probably also abused . . Hard scene to stomach , knowing a A human was forced / made to sleep out in a shed , on the cold , hard ground , no warmth , no human caring , no nice words.
It's a bit exaggerated. I live in the heart of the south (in a fairly small town) and I drive by mansions quite a lot. But, yes, there are definitely poor areas, just as there are in every U.S. state.
And yet people do anything they can to come live here? Get a clue. Poor people in America and Europe are still historically wealthy. You just have no idea what it was like in the past, or even large swaths of the world today.
@@hunterhunter106 Ding ding ding. People complain about being poor even as they have cars, phones, food, and can afford to door dash items to their house. Poor people in history were starving, diseased, and dying. Many places in the world are still like this. People in prosperous countries have zero context as to the cruel nature of actual poverty and deprivation.
@@Wowzersdude-k5cyou are way off. At the time this film was set, Arkansas ranked #49 in almost every ranking of US States, and when I was a kid the unofficial state motto was "Thank God for Mississippi" because they are almost always #50. Historically, the Mississippi Delta region is the most impoverished, crime ridden and uneducated region of the country, outpacing even Appalachia until perhaps recently. And the film is set in central Arkansas, just west of the Delta. I'm from Jefferson County which is just SE of Little Rock and it (Jefferson County) borders a Delta county...
I simply need this piece of music in my life. The film is literally perfect. Genius. Real. The music. Everything. “That like That Doyle, that’s some good shit. Alright! Haaaawwww!”
I live in a rather small town in Indiana. There’s like maybe 5 or 6 street lights. Anyways, I love the town. Ppl are friendly, polite….everything big city’s aren’t but there are pockets of houses where there is obvious serious neglect. Ppl who when the mower stops running it’s just left right where it quit at. House n yard in complete disrepair…anything and everything by those who quit taking care of themselves or the place they call home. Sad
It's 2024 and they make movies today that cost tens of millions ..and they don't come close to this classic..not sure what this budget was..but it just a simple movie with great acting
The way Duvall absent mindedly looks like he knows he needs to do something or get his shit together but he looks around and there's no one there to help him and nothing around that he cares about. God i hope that never happens to me.
I googled and found this: "Frank is the baby brother Karl may have had if he hadn't buried his real baby brother alive in a shoebox in the backyard." Gruesome.
Film rarely captures nightmare worlds so effectively. Sometimes David Lynch gets it right, frequently at the risk of story or maybe narrative. This film goes right into the ID and let's us see evil and darkness, offering a strange kind of resolution if not transcendence. Like Ingmar Bergman transplanted into violent backwoods South.
There are small towns with houses like this all over the country, not just in Arkansas. I live in Arkansas and have been to almost every state in the US and I've come across several houses similar to this in small towns. West Virginia is one of many states that has Arkansas beat in that category.
I like to analyze the hell out of this entire scene, and one thing that sticks out: Karl goes into the house, he's heading down the hall, then he stops and looks in this one room and we hear the distorted voice of his father (I assume). Slow the video down to 0.25, it's creepy. Is there some significance about that particular area?
@@MattFNC No, because according to Karl, he saw it through the screened in porch, and in Some Folks Call it a Sling Blade, it was said to be in the kitchen.
"You'll be dead soon enough, and the world'll be shut of ya" My Dad said as much as of one of his relatives. An incredibly evil man. My Dad pissed on his grave for what he done.
This is set in central Arkansas, not too far west of the Mississippi Delta. Fun fact: the Mississippi Delta region is historically even more impoverished, backwards and uneducated than Appalachia...
"Weird bullet. Where'd you go to? Then you're here. What were you? I kicked your head in 25 years ago, you're dead, I guess. Where'd you go to? I know Mother, that's kinda sad. I was drunk when I did it. What was I up to? Hmm Hmm, Hmm Hmm."
My theory is his father kicked his son in the head as a child. It caused developmental damage, and that's when he was banished to the shed..... The father, I believe, lives in torment as a result of his crimes.
Notice the framed painting of "The Last Supper" revealed once Carl moves to leave. From what I gather, Carl is a Christ-like figure, very pure and honest. Not an inkling of deception. Many around him surround themselves with the icons of Jesus begging for salvation yet constantly judge others. Carl is redeemed and beyond that mental prison. Plus, his name has parallels to Carl Jung, so he is also very adept at understanding the psychology of others. 🎉
Only just seen this film. Can tell it will stay with me. If any Americans are interested in some high quality evocative cinema/TV that they probably won't have seen before, the feeling this scene left me with reminded me of some of the works of an English director by the name of Shane Meadows, in particular Dead Man's Shoes, the final episode of the TV series sequel that followed his film This Is England, and the TV series The Virtues. Thematically any similarities are relatively small, Dead Man's Shoes is about a boy with an unspecified mental condition who falls in with a crowd of lowlives who bully him mercilessly and his brother's reaction to it - very funny in parts for a film on that subject, and does a great job at making the petpetrators human rather than caricatures - and The Virtues is about a struggling alcoholic who relapses when his young son moves to Australia and travels back from England to the town in Ireland he fled from as a child to track down his younger sister and piece together his past and what made him like he is. This is England has even less similarities but there is the relationship between a troubled grown man and a young boy who lost his father at the fore I suppose when a violent, racist individual comes home from prison and causes a divide in a previously happy group of young skinheads in a deprived town in 80's England, then the three series of the TV programme sequel follows the aftermath of the film. I'd encourage anybody who likes good film to try to find a way to watch his stuff. Don't look up scenes on TH-cam though as they'll likely give away big plot points and massively detract from the experience of watching them properly if you decide to.
Wish I knew the name of this track. Assuming it was written by Daniel Lanois, who scored most of the film...but sadly it's missing from the soundtrack album. Such a shame!
Bad Santa,and Bad Santa 2, is something anyone a fan to him should watch, he is completely different in those movies, after watching them s couple times I was swearing cussing like him
"little feller"...
one of the best movies ever made.
Absolutely heartbreaking
Sure is man.....aint no good movies or nothing on cable nowandays.
No bigger than a squirrel!!!!! Mmmmmmm!!!!
This is one dark scene . Haunting. Thornton and Duvall nailed it.
When Duval clicks his dentures ..
I had to turn my head during the grave sean , 😢
I will never forget this movie. It stays with you
I've only seen it twice and it has stayed with me.
@@cw9790Likewise, ……..
Exactly my sentiments! Tommy Lee Jones was amazing in it!
@@abcrustics5252 he ain't in this movie, boy..... mmmhhmmmm....
That slow panning shot of the interior of the shed is heart shattering. After knowing how he was raised and how it affected him into adulthood, actually seeing it still there years later is so depressing. This dilapidated shack, probably in not much worse shape than when Carl was a child. Knowing he spent most of his developing years just sitting on that dirt floor. The music is perfect too. Its just so sad.
Really powerful scene. Karl starts it off by trying to have a relationship with his dad, but quickly realizes how sad and pathetic he is. Karl truly is the bigger man.
Maybe he (his father) was turned into hell after his wife gave life to two mentally challenged sons. Perhaps he did not work for that...perhaps he could not handle it mentally. Perhaps he was mentally ill in a way that does not appear immediately to most people. If any movie....this should not be about black and white morals.
Carl he don't spell his name like that Marx feller! He's a registered Republican too. So don't get him mix up with them funny people.
@Szederp it's implied he was abused (sleeping in a hole he dug out in the shed.)
Some theorize that his mental disability could be due to the fact that he was kicked in the head or something.
@@carywest9256He did spell it Karl. You’re an idiot
Theres a history of abusers causing permanent mental damage through physical abuse. Very possible/likely, esp with what his father says when he walks in
I never noticed before how angelically magnificent Karl is portrayed in the last scene here where he is up on that bridge.
He's on his own cross.
Some say the waters cold...
Thats a good way to describe the scene. I just noticed when I watched this scene again, the two support arches (or whatever you call them) for the train bridge look like wings. Thats the way I see it, at least
@@mysterfrosty ...and deep too.!!!!
I'd say it's one of the best movies ever created...it's unforgettable and I think that's what makes a movie great
When the camera fixes on the hole carved into the ground, you can feel the years of senseless neglect and cruelty. This entire scene is biblical in its spiritual weight.
I know 😢💔
"He ought had a chance to growed up... he'd had fun sometimes"
With Carl....his bigger brother👊
This scene just slays me.......
Carl Childers: PRO-LIFE THUG.
He just wanted some acknowledgement from his dad, but of course an abuser would never give that
It's fucking sad. Too many never get acknowledgment.
An generation of abusive monsters
Thats how it goes......no one ever talks someone into anything.........
His response was horrible, but its possible hes correct, "aint no kin". Remember what he caught his mother doing. Was that the first time? Probably not.
Karl did what he thought he needed to by killing Doyle so frank can be free. Karol already seen this once before he is secretly smartest guy at things he is good at which that is very true for people with disabilities everything about his character what Billy Bob Thornton did is magnificent who knows how long it took him learn lawn Mowers but he is great at it
How could anyone ever forget this movie?
It may have a simple story, but the deep themes are done so well. Every scene contributes to the story and the characters, not one bad scene. That's why this is a perfect movie.
This will be forever one of the most magic scenes in cinematic history
I saw this at the movies when it came out. I was 25 and it blew me away. The huge sound of the music in the theater added to the intensity of the scenes.
My heart broke for him , no little boy should have to go through this 😢😢😢
That's why this movie haunted me for days
Just when you think the acting masterclass can't get any better, Robert Duvall shows up.
This movie is so superb that Billy Bob Thornton need never direct another movie. Like Orson Welles, his place in cinema history is secure with this one masterpiece. For Robert Duvall, despite his long and brilliant career, "Tender Mercies" and "The Apostle" are the two movie classics that he will be best remembered for-----with "Lonesome Dove" making him a TV legend as well!
Such an awesome actor ! Love to watch his movies. Absolutely should have got the Academy Award for playing Karl !
Duvall, total A-list actor just randomly showing up as Carl's Dad, only a few minutes long. Yet he completely sets the scene.
Billy Bob repaid him with a cameo in The Apostle.
01:32 The appliance to his left is a washer from the 50's, probably a Maytag. The round drum washes the clothes as a normal upright washer, but is filled and drained manually.The bar across the top is a wringer. Two rollers are turned by motor and clothes are passed piece by piece between them, wringing out the water which falls back in the drum.
Nice catch! Thanks for the info.
We had one when I was a child in the mid 80s. It would pinch you fingers if you weren’t careful and caught my sister’s hair in it once.
@@mikedoss9777Ive only seen one used once. In my grandmothers house. She had nearly all the same stuff in her house from the 50s-60s until she passed. I bet collectors were excited when they sold it all out. Gleaming, like new appliances from long ago. Fridge had as much chrome on it as an old Buick. And its worth noting... they worked that long too.
I got my arm caught in the wringer of a machine similar to that one. I was 5 years old. Not many safety features in those days.
We had one when I was a toddler. My sister got her arm pulled into the wringers. Still has the scar.
He loved his brother so much.
......he weren't no bigger than a squirrel....watchu talkin 'bout?...
Class act way of moving on. Many of us have had toxic family we needed to just clap back at and move on. The healing is the best revenge.
Very, very wisely said....
Robert Duvalls mouth movements in this scene always disturbed me
I finally figured out what his dad is mumbling to himself when Carl walks in:
"Kick yer head in... bout 25 years ago yer dead I guess... wher'd you go to? But old brotha that's kinda sad, cuz I was drunk when I did it... Cuz I had to... hehe hehe..."
@@Space_Ghost_Huntercrazy ol coot
@@Space_Ghost_Hunter he was talking to an imaginary dog named Bullet, a Duvall himself claimed in an interview.
@@ExplorerDS6789 now that you mention it I did hear the word bullet while looking at the window fan and dog barking beneath music
My father acts EXACTLY like that sadly!!
The ambient music at the start is amazing
yes.!!!!!
Can anyone get the title?? I’m dying to find it
@@qwertyuiop32935 Look up Daniel Lanois. He's the brilliant musician behind this and the soundtrack to Red Dead Redemption 2, if you've ever played it. He's made albums, soundtracks, worked a little with U2 and has a good amount of content on TH-cam. Worth the dive.
@@qwertyuiop32935Omni (Revived) by Daniel Lanois
@@qwertyuiop32935 Omni (revived) by Daniel Lanois
One of the best movies ever made.
From someone who experienced the horror: this movie freed my soul.
It's very difficult to limit this comment to a few sentences - or even sections.
What an utterly electifying experience it was to watch this movie. Here in 2023, the world is busy going crazy, and while that's going on, important lessons about fatherhood, life, religion, people, culture, morals, predujice and purity that's all wrapped up into movies like this.. Gone.... Happy I was around to get the opportunity to watch it!
Karl’s father denies him 3 times.
Great observation. At the conclusion of his visit he also ascends in a way, standing high above this on a trestle.
Carl could have been another man's progeny
Even so, @@bentonja668 this man took part in Karl's abuse.
The music….. it’s so good… this scene is heartbreaking….❤️❤️
One of the most melancholic scenes from Hollywood, depicting the life in American South. I believe Carl's manners and ethics are far superior than an average person.
it just broke my heart and...eyes got teary, the moment he opened the door of that shack that he used to live in 25 years ago, with all that junk along with the torn apart bed spread and the spring box still around that hole he used to sleep in. The music of Daniel Lanoise was spot on such a sad scene with great facial and walking impressions of Billy Bob.
@@FromUSofA his parents lied to him about them stories they told him lmfao 😂 😂 😂 😂"I ain't got no boy" " you ain't no kin to me" lmfao 😂 😂 😂
Superior, really?
Exaggerated to the max.
@@johnbailey-dn8hkI live at the foot hills of the Appalachian mountains northeast ga,it shore does hit home
More like life in rural America. Lots of similarities
The Soundtrack alone is a masterpiece
Haunting
The soundtrack for the film was written and played by the Canadian genius Daniel Lanois. His song "The Maker" plays during the closing credits of the film.
I'm surprised that more comments here aren't related to this. Amazing music.
What’s the title of this song and how can I find it??
The first time I watched this scene with captions on, I noticed that Robert Duvall’s incoherent rambling lines were actually captioned. I never cared much before, because it just sounds like nonsense. I feel like at a glance, it’s supposed to illustrate his dementia and feeble-mindedness in his old age. But when I read his actual lines, I can’t help but think it’s Carl’s head he’s talking about kicking in while drunk.
The whole movie, we never actually know Carl’s diagnosis other than he’s mentally challenged in some way. It could have been that he was born that way. At least, that’s the most natural assumption. He even demonstrates great abilities in certain areas, similar to those with autism.
But these few lines force you to consider the real possibility that Carl’s mental challenges are a result of brain injury sustained from a violent beating as a child. It makes this scene all the more saddening and heartbreaking.
Maybe that was obvious to some, but I didn’t piece that together for a long time.
I think it’s a reference to Carl’s little brother that he beat to death n has been going insane (probably from dementia n whatnot too) for the last 25 years. That’s why he says later “that u shouldn’t have done that to my little brother-he would have had fun sometimes” but I could be wrong too
@@CriscDogs22 The brother that is referenced is the newborn baby that they threw out and made Carl bury while it was still alive, after they presumably aborted it somehow on their own. Any kind of beating is never referenced other than here though. It could have happened to Carl while he was only 2 or 3 years old, which would explain why he doesn't talk about it, because he doesn't remember.
@@rondorthecruel124 damn I totally forgot that!! Been too long since I watched this movie in full. Thanks for reminding me but can’t believe forgot that! Lol
Absolutely. The father killed the brother but he attempted to do the same to Carl. But Carl survived. With brain injury.
I figured Carl's intellectual disability is from the years of neglect and abuse. Beatings, lack of stimulation, malnutrition.
That explains why he's pretty capable in some ways.
This movie feels dated in all the right ways.
Like when I dated your xister
Mmmhhh
@@mrzip3206sister*
@@mrzip3206 what's an xister? do you mean sister?
this movie flows...not a bad scene or line...i remember being so disappointed when it ended...
He was going for his gun, but he couldn't find it
God be ye real daddy son, God watches you everyday for always
I finally figured out what his dad is mumbling to himself when Carl walks in:
"Kick yer head in... bout 25 years ago yer dead I guess... wher'd you go to? But old brotha that's kinda sad, cuz I was drunk when I did it... Cuz I had to... hehe hehe..."
*Creepy*
Wow I never paid attention to that..... 😮
Him being drunk when he did his crime is the reason I believe his father, deep down, lives in absolute torment and anxiety. As depicted with him tweaking out from anxiety right before Karl walks in.
I love how when he entered the house, the only color he saw was red.
As much as I love Geoffrey Rush performance in Shine, Billy Bob Thornton should’ve deserved the Best Actor Oscar for this.
This movie is so deep....
.....and cold....
For a guy who doesn't know the difference between a large french fry portion or a small, he has an impeccable sense of direction since being locked up for the better part of 40 years with mind numbing medication
Arkansas is a tiny, tiny place. When he calls 911 he doesn't even give an address, he identifies the location by the name of the family the house is associated with.
Anybody in the Benton, Arkansas area know where this house is located? In the commentary, Billy Bob said it was an empty house they found on the highway.
Its on the corner of elm street and some other street....
@@mysterfrosty Elm Street? Huh, yeah, I imagine Freddy Krueger's house would look something like this
@@ExplorerDS6789 you didn't get the joke..... 🤣
I don't know where that house is, but they are everywhere to this day in Arkansas. I have family in Benton and when we visited in the 80's my relatives lived in falling down shacks with a late model car out front and a gigantic satellite dish in the yard. One of my uncles would walk from Benton to Little Rock to pay the money to get put on the ballot for Governor every election.
yeah, french fried taters funny and all that but this movie is pure genius near spiritual, the acting, directing, camera shots are on a level I can't properly explain
agreed.!!!!!
It was so kind of them to give us something to feel good and laugh about because this movie just about DESTROYED me.
When he says "you ought not done that to ya boy." The father looks over and it satisfies me because it truly shows that Karl's words pierced his father, the way he looks over at Karl.
His father wouldnt admit it, or acknowledge it, but he KNEW Karl was right.
That was a victory for Karl in this movie. Karl recognized that his childhood was not his fault, that his father had done wrong.
I love Karl so much. What an incredible character.
Tom Hagen was NEVER really the same since parting ways with the Corleone family...☹
That damn consigliere
😂😂😂
Naw, they took away the Chevys on his NASCAR team and started racing Fords
❤❤❤ "Nice one "!
If you grew up outside of a large city in the SE, in a smaller town, you knew a “Carl” because every small town had one. Sometimes “Carl” had a little, poor family, and sometimes not. But he was always there, and everyone knew him. Remember that, even today, the rural SE is very different from larger cities in the South. Drive 45 minutes outside the city limits of a large, southern city like Atlanta, and you’re in another world.
Right you are. I grew up in Benton Arkansas, where this movie was filmed and not too far from where Billy Bob Thornton is from. Every small town in the south has a "Carl" of some form and plenty of "Doyles". It's like a completely different society and time when you're in major cities, even southern major cities.
That's true. In VA, NC, and SC, aside from the major cities, it's pretty much nothing but rural areas and it seems like you've gone through a time machine that took you back about 20 or 30 years when you're only an hour or so outside of the major areas.
The whole state of Arkansas is less than half the population of metro Atlanta. Biggest metro in Arkansas is about 750,000 and the largest city is 200,000 (Little Rock).
@@twiceonsundays Virginia is a blue state and North Carolina is almost there. Meanwhile Arkansas is the reddest of the red. And the three states you mention have significantly larger populations than Arkansas, which is barely three million. I ran into a lady from SC (in SC) who told me she lived in Arkansas for a time but left "because there was nothing to do" and I agreed with her. All these Californians fleeing east on I-40 only stop for food and gas in Arkansas and Mississippi on their way to Nashville or wherever they are moving to. They aren't moving to Arkansas and Mississippi. Not in droves anyway. Also let's not forget that Mississippi ranks dead last and Arkansas next to last in many measures like median household income. In fact, the state motto when I was growing up was "thank God for Mississippi."
Wow.
In real life Thornton and Duvall were very close. Thornton publicly expressed his deep appreciation for Duvall's guidance in putting this painful scene together without going over the top. Keeping it subtle and simple, it has more emotional power.
very sad scene from the movie.. Theabuse that carl went threw very sad
It made him the man he is today...
The word "masterpiece" gets thrown around a lot these days. For _Sling Blade_ the word actually applies.
Some people think there weren't many bad people in the "olden days." There were some. There was quite a bit of bad parenting and poverty. That's why we need social workers, so that children don't fall through the cracks.
Maybe, or maybe not..Aint no guarantee just because high paid shrinks come to visit...
There weren't. Compare the stuff kids are doing today, 13 year old girls stabbing their friend in the woods, the two 10 year old boys that abducted and killed and sodomized a 2 year old boy,just for the heck of it. The mother who cooked her infant in an oven...things like that didn't happen in the 50's and 60's. It would have been headline news. Now these are nearly weekly occurances.
@@Suddenlyits1960 What I said was, 'there were bad people back then.' It may be true that there were fewer wacky, depraved crimes back then. Even per capita (there are more people now). But there was also a strong "don't report/don't discuss" sentiment back then. Lots of bad things swept under the rug. Rural police departments with few good investigators. They would bow to pressure from community leaders who didn't want shame brought on "their town."
@@Suddenlyits1960 Brother, the past is no stranger to the wicked. Even in the 50s, serial killers captured the headlines, various injustices were aflame, and small acts of hatred held their silent grip, in dark corners of the country. And be mindful to separate your golden age from that before it, they endured enough poverty and war to sober a generation from crime and death.
What? There was tons of bad people all throughout time even worse people
"Weird bullets. And you, where you go to? Then you're here. What were you? I kicked your head in 25 years ago, you're dead, I guess. Where'd you go to? I know Mother, that's kinda sad. I was drunk when I did it. What was I up to? Hmm Hmm."
His dad is either in a semi-drunken stupor, or he's showing early signs of being senile and he's having conversations with people who aren't there, and it kinda sounds like he is recounting killing someone in the past.
the dog
Laying in a dirt floor, in a shack with no heat 😮, is how he grew up, this storyline and the acting made it so real,i cant believe he didnt get an award for this movie
Beautiful film
Omni by Daniel Lanois, beautiful
Thank you for this. And well said. His music is also featured in the video game Red Dead Redemption II, which is how I even recognized his name!
Elite level movie
This movie speaks on so many levels of the Bible. Outstanding!!
Despite A L L the years , and time passing ,
Carl still remembers where his little brother is buried , probably also abused .
.
Hard scene to stomach ,
knowing a A human was forced / made to sleep out in a shed , on the cold , hard ground
, no warmth , no human caring , no nice words.
Given his mothers "activities" its possible Mr. Childer's statement might be true.
"You aint no kin to me"
never thought of it like that.... maybe his brother too.....
Excellent point
He took part in Karl's abuse. He owed Karl that last word.
That or he used it to justify his abuse. I think the mother probably started cheating on him after what he did to their last kid.
I don't think another live has ever depicted the intensity of huge poverty in America as Sling Blade did.
It's a bit exaggerated. I live in the heart of the south (in a fairly small town) and I drive by mansions quite a lot. But, yes, there are definitely poor areas, just as there are in every U.S. state.
Horrors of neoliberalism
And yet people do anything they can to come live here? Get a clue. Poor people in America and Europe are still historically wealthy. You just have no idea what it was like in the past, or even large swaths of the world today.
@@hunterhunter106 Ding ding ding. People complain about being poor even as they have cars, phones, food, and can afford to door dash items to their house.
Poor people in history were starving, diseased, and dying. Many places in the world are still like this. People in prosperous countries have zero context as to the cruel nature of actual poverty and deprivation.
@@Wowzersdude-k5cyou are way off. At the time this film was set, Arkansas ranked #49 in almost every ranking of US States, and when I was a kid the unofficial state motto was "Thank God for Mississippi" because they are almost always #50. Historically, the Mississippi Delta region is the most impoverished, crime ridden and uneducated region of the country, outpacing even Appalachia until perhaps recently. And the film is set in central Arkansas, just west of the Delta. I'm from Jefferson County which is just SE of Little Rock and it (Jefferson County) borders a Delta county...
I studied on it too Carl....quiet a bit.
Carl was still respectful and even offered to care for his dads lawn. Awesome human being.
I simply need this piece of music in my life. The film is literally perfect. Genius. Real.
The music. Everything.
“That like That Doyle, that’s some good shit. Alright! Haaaawwww!”
So VERY strong in so many ways....
I live in a rather small town in Indiana. There’s like maybe 5 or 6 street lights. Anyways, I love the town. Ppl are friendly, polite….everything big city’s aren’t but there are pockets of houses where there is obvious serious neglect. Ppl who when the mower stops running it’s just left right where it quit at. House n yard in complete disrepair…anything and everything by those who quit taking care of themselves or the place they call home. Sad
It's 2024 and they make movies today that cost tens of millions ..and they don't come close to this classic..not sure what this budget was..but it just a simple movie with great acting
1 million budget
grossed 24.4 million worldwide
An amazing movie...one of the best ever made
We just talked about this movie in my office for the last two hours of the day. What a great piece of movie dude.
My dad has passed, we were estranged, so our confrontation was via email. At least I got some closure 👍
I got my closure when I left, never heard from him again. He passed 2 years ago.
The way Duvall absent mindedly looks like he knows he needs to do something or get his shit together but he looks around and there's no one there to help him and nothing around that he cares about. God i hope that never happens to me.
Sad Story pulls my heart strings I hate to see someone get put through that situation
I googled and found this: "Frank is the baby brother Karl may have had if he hadn't buried his real baby brother alive in a shoebox in the backyard." Gruesome.
I can only imagine what a piece of work Karl's mother was. Probably worse than his father.
yep
Sad thing is that they’re are a lot of Carls in this world.
"It was a little old baby, not no bigger'n a squirrel."
Film rarely captures nightmare worlds so effectively. Sometimes David Lynch gets it right, frequently at the risk of story or maybe narrative. This film goes right into the ID and let's us see evil and darkness, offering a strange kind of resolution if not transcendence. Like Ingmar Bergman transplanted into violent backwoods South.
Come back to this movie a lot. Billy Bob's masterpiece. I belive Daniel Lanois did the soundtrack.
You know you’re in Arkansas when you see a tin roof
There are small towns with houses like this all over the country, not just in Arkansas. I live in Arkansas and have been to almost every state in the US and I've come across several houses similar to this in small towns. West Virginia is one of many states that has Arkansas beat in that category.
@@CountryboyAR nah, it’s Arkansas
US States ranked by median household income (2021 figures)
47. Arkansas $52.5k
48. Louisiana $52k
49. West Virginia $51.2k
50. Mississippi $48.7k
I like to analyze the hell out of this entire scene, and one thing that sticks out: Karl goes into the house, he's heading down the hall, then he stops and looks in this one room and we hear the distorted voice of his father (I assume). Slow the video down to 0.25, it's creepy. Is there some significance about that particular area?
It's probably the room where he killed his mom.
@@MattFNC No, because according to Karl, he saw it through the screened in porch, and in Some Folks Call it a Sling Blade, it was said to be in the kitchen.
I forgot that Robert Duvall was in it I heard it somewhere then I found this clip. Good film with a lot of good acting
I would be Carl's friend👍 he's a good man😊.
"You'll be dead soon enough, and the world'll be shut of ya"
My Dad said as much as of one of his relatives. An incredibly evil man. My Dad pissed on his grave for what he done.
"shed of you" I'm from Arkansas and it was a common expression back in the day. "Get shed of" means "to get rid of"
@@bentonja668 You know, that makes more sense. Shed like skin.
No film will e'er depict the minutia of Appalachia, its traumas and solemn borne pains and endearing beauty so well as Slingblade
This is set in central Arkansas, not too far west of the Mississippi Delta. Fun fact: the Mississippi Delta region is historically even more impoverished, backwards and uneducated than Appalachia...
Amazing film
Well then, may I say this 6 minute scene touched my soul so hard that I cried, especially when I saw the hole Carl had to sleep in ❤❤❤
"Weird bullet. Where'd you go to? Then you're here. What were you? I kicked your head in 25 years ago, you're dead, I guess. Where'd you go to? I know Mother, that's kinda sad. I was drunk when I did it. What was I up to? Hmm Hmm, Hmm Hmm."
My theory is his father kicked his son in the head as a child. It caused developmental damage, and that's when he was banished to the shed.....
The father, I believe, lives in torment as a result of his crimes.
Christ what a depressing scene... The world is fucked up
This is the scene that has had me in absolute torment for about 2 days. It's so impactful that I have to get over the pain of it.
I think that had he been raised right he’d been ok
Carl is the "most ok" of the main adult characters
Notice the framed painting of "The Last Supper" revealed once Carl moves to leave. From what I gather, Carl is a Christ-like figure, very pure and honest. Not an inkling of deception. Many around him surround themselves with the icons of Jesus begging for salvation yet constantly judge others. Carl is redeemed and beyond that mental prison. Plus, his name has parallels to Carl Jung, so he is also very adept at understanding the psychology of others. 🎉
I also noticed the sun shining on his mouth only while speaking to his dad. Meaning his word is bond.
"Judge" is the wrong word. We actually mean "condemn."
This 6 minute scene was my favorite part of the movie ❤❤
"aight then"
This scene paralyzed me emotionally. I've never been more devastated from a film in my life.
Powerful scene @ 4:07
It is a nation treasure film. Thornton completely transforms into another person. An absolute amazing performance. Cheers.
Only just seen this film. Can tell it will stay with me. If any Americans are interested in some high quality evocative cinema/TV that they probably won't have seen before, the feeling this scene left me with reminded me of some of the works of an English director by the name of Shane Meadows, in particular Dead Man's Shoes, the final episode of the TV series sequel that followed his film This Is England, and the TV series The Virtues. Thematically any similarities are relatively small, Dead Man's Shoes is about a boy with an unspecified mental condition who falls in with a crowd of lowlives who bully him mercilessly and his brother's reaction to it - very funny in parts for a film on that subject, and does a great job at making the petpetrators human rather than caricatures - and The Virtues is about a struggling alcoholic who relapses when his young son moves to Australia and travels back from England to the town in Ireland he fled from as a child to track down his younger sister and piece together his past and what made him like he is. This is England has even less similarities but there is the relationship between a troubled grown man and a young boy who lost his father at the fore I suppose when a violent, racist individual comes home from prison and causes a divide in a previously happy group of young skinheads in a deprived town in 80's England, then the three series of the TV programme sequel follows the aftermath of the film. I'd encourage anybody who likes good film to try to find a way to watch his stuff. Don't look up scenes on TH-cam though as they'll likely give away big plot points and massively detract from the experience of watching them properly if you decide to.
Wish I knew the name of this track. Assuming it was written by Daniel Lanois, who scored most of the film...but sadly it's missing from the soundtrack album. Such a shame!
The hole in the ground. So sad and pitiful.
Bad Santa,and Bad Santa 2, is something anyone a fan to him should watch, he is completely different in those movies, after watching them s couple times I was swearing cussing like him
Mustard on biscuits, his only real crime. 😆
Anyone know the name of the track at the beginning of this scene? I know the one at the end is Omni, but can’t seem to find that choir song anywhere.
Incredible…… Just incredible this movie.
Anyone know the song?
Music is mesmerizing
Overwhelming!
What is that whispered speech between 1:50 and 2:05? Is that what his father says?
1996 SLING BLADE