Themes: Discovering One's Heritage, Death of a Parent, Race Relations
Main Cast: Robert Duvall, James Earl Jones, Michael Beach, Irma P. Hall, Grace Zabriskie
Release Year: 1996
Country: US
Run Time: 109 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
In this family drama, a white Southerner discovers that his family history isn't what he thought it was -- with the fact that he's half-black only one of his many surprises. Earl Pilcher, Jr. (Robert Duvall) runs a gas station in Arkansas; he's a typical middle-aged Southern man who likes his pickup truck and loves his momma. Shortly after his mother's death, he receives some very unexpected news; she wasn't really his mother after all. It seems that years ago, Earl Sr. (James N. Harrell) raped the family's African-American maid, Willie Mae, who nine months later died while giving birth to Earl Jr. To avoid further scandal, Mrs. Pilcher simply raised Earl Jr. as her own. While the family has kept the matter a secret all these years, Earl Jr. has a half-brother living in Chicago, and it was his mother's wish that the two should some day meet and become friends. Earl travels to Chicago and tracks down Ray Murdock (James Earl Jones), a veteran police officer and Willie Mae's other son. Earl Jr. quickly learns that Ray has little interest in getting to know him better; he knows all the facts behind the matter, and he's always blamed Earl for the death of his mother. However, Earl Jr. isn't used to life in a big city up north, and after he's mugged and carjacked, Ray grudgingly takes in his half-brother, letting him stay in the home he shares with his son Virgil (Michael Beach) and Aunt T. (Irma P. Hall), who raised Ray as a boy. A Family Thing was written by Billy Bob Thornton shortly before his breakthrough as writer, director, and star of Sling Blade. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Director Richard Pearce and the writing team of Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson bring their respective skills with stories of rural (and specifically Southern) folk to this underrated comedy drama. Wisely, the writers and director stay focused on character development and never stray too far into the situation comedy realm in which the film's central ideas seem to have been hatched, so the material stays a cut above its high-concept roots. This puts the onus of the film's success on its cast, and thankfully it features a trio of magnificent, career-high performances. As a "cracker" shocked to learn his true heritage, Robert Duvall presages his turn in The Apostle (1997); James Earl Jones employs his own real-life childhood stuttering impediment to marvelous use; Irma P. Hall, whose character injects the film with regular, welcome doses of comic relief, is a scene stealer in the long, proud tradition of superb supporting character actors. MGM has released A Family Thing on video and DVD under its "Contemporary Classics" banner, and for once a studio's marketing scheme is right on target: The film is a delightful exploration of what "family" really means in an increasingly cross-cultural, racially undivided society. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Regina Taylor - Ann; Xander Berkeley - Sunburned Man; Wanda Christine - Woman at City Hall; James Harrell - Earl Pilcher, Sr.; Willo Hausman - Waitress; Roy Hytower - Man at Gas Station; Mary Jackson - Carrie; Don James - Junior Turner; Paula Marshall - Karen; Antoine Roshell - Young Man in Car; Rufus Thomas - Tommy; David Keith - Sonny; Meg Thalken - Doctor; David Spenser - The Nightclub Band; Tony Brown - The Nightclub Band
Credit
Jim Nedza - Art Director, Scott Ferguson - Associate Producer, Victoria Thomas - Casting, Brad Wilson - Co-producer, Joe Tompkins - Costume Designer, Craig Huston - First Assistant Director, Richard Pearce - Director, Mark Warner - Editor, Michael Hausman - Executive Producer, Jerry Goldsmith - Composer (Music Score), Charles Gross - Composer (Music Score), Charles Gross - Songwriter, Gerrit Dangremond - Camera Operator, Linda de Scenna - Production Designer, Fred Murphy - Cinematographer, Todd Black - Producer, Robert Duvall - Producer, Randa Haines - Producer, Gary Baugh - Set Designer, Ric Mcelvin - Set Designer, Glenn Williams - Sound/Sound Designer, Max Maxwell - Stunts, Stacy Logan - Stunts, Billy Bob Thornton - Screenwriter, Tom Epperson - Screenwriter
The film is a drama about a White AmericanSoutherner (Duvall) named Earl whose mother makes a shocking revelation in a letter, after her death. She reveals that Earl's biological mother was an African American who died while giving birth to him. His mother's dying wish is that he goes to Chicago to meet his half-brother, Ray (Jones). Ray blames Earl for his own mother's death and does not want to speak to him. But his loving Aunt T. (Hall) welcomes Earl and insists the family accept him.
Earl initially takes it badly, admonishing his aged father for "lying in bed with a nigger woman" and there is a shot in which he gets in to his truck and takes a good look in the mirror, squinting and speculating if it could be true. In any case he packs up his clothes and takes off for the big city. He meets Ray at city hall (where he is a police officer) and Ray, although he really wants nothing to do with Earl, agrees to meet him for lunch at a diner. There Ray reveals that he knew he had a half white brother all along and hates Earl's father (and Earl too by association) because he feels that he is what killed his mother. He says in so many words that he doesn't want or need a brother, and they go their separate ways. But when Earl leaves and drives off in his truck he encounters four black street toughs who rear end his truck. When Earl gets out to survey the (minimal) damage, he, being a trusting Southern "good ol' boy", leaves his keys in the ignition, and the toughs beat him up and steal his truck. He walks around in a daze and ends up in a hospital. The hospital staff finds Ray's information in Earl's pocket and calls Ray. He comes reluctantly, and the doctor tells him that Earl may have a concussion and needs to take it easy for a couple of days; no traveling is allowed. She also tells him that the hospital is full,so he will have to take Earl home to recuperate.
At Ray's home, Earl meets Aunt T (Hall), a kind and generous elderly woman who is blind. Aunt T. is Ray's aunt, and thus, Earl's aunt. Earl also meets Ray's son, Virgil (Beach), who doesn't appreciate a white southerner sleeping in his bed. At first, Earl's stay at the Murdock residence is rocky, and leads to Earl leaving, where he gets drunk at a Chicago bar, tossed out for bothering a black family, and decides to sleep under a bridge. The next day, Ray, on Aunt T.'s wishes, manages to find Earl, and settle their differences. As Virgils divorced wife (played by Regina Taylor), and their two daughters, visit, Earl learns that Virgil had a promising career in professional college football that was shattered by football injury. Ever since, his lost chance to become what he couldn't has hurt his family, because he would rather dwell in the past than accept his fate.
Ray and Earl bond together more as each finds similarities between them. Both served in the military (Earl as a firefighter in the United States Navy, and Ray in the U.S. Marines) during the Korean War, where they received life-long scars. Ray reveals he once threw a rock at Earl that could have killed him when they were both very young, because of Ray's hatred towards Earl's father. Later on, in a bar, Earl takes Virgil aside and explains to him that by remorsing his loss of a great football career, he isn't devoting himself to his ex-wife and children.
Once Earl is ready to go home, and the police unexpectedly find his truck operational (it was shot up in a bank robbery), Aunt T. had Earl and Ray sit down, where she tells Earl about his mother. According to Aunt T., Earl's father impregnated Earl and Ray's mother, who gave birth to Earl, but died soon after. Earl's white "mother" (whose death at the beginning of the film led Earl to seek out his brother Ray), was a great friend of Earl's mother, and promised to raise Earl. Aunt T. gives Earl a picture of his biological mother, which he keeps close by. Earl accepts his new family with pride, and he and Ray return to their hometown in order to find their mother's grave. As they share a drink in her tombstone, Earl decides to take Ray to his southern family and tell them the story, ending the movie by joking with Ray that when Earl's white nephew finds out he is part black, he will likely shoot the both of them.
