Themes: Haunted By the Past, Southern Gothic, Star-Crossed Lovers
Main Cast: Dennis Quaid, Meg Ryan, James Caan, Gwyneth Paltrow, Scott Wilson
Release Year: 1993
Country: US
Run Time: 124 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Small-time Texas businessman Arlis Sweeney (Dennis Quaid) can never shake the memory of his father's (James Caan) wasted life. What particularly sticks in his craw is the murder committed years earlier by his father and a teenaged accomplice. While going through the by-rote motions of his job (he supplies vending machines), Arlis strikes up a friendship with hardcase hitchhiker Kay Davies (Meg Ryan). Slowly, Kay helps Arlis put his life in order. And then, Arlis suddenly realizes where he's seen Kay before. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
This underrated gem from writer/director Steve Kloves recalls the dirge-like atmosphere and violent subject matter of In Cold Blood (1967). Like that Truman Capote novel and film, Kloves' tale revolves around a rural mass murder and its consequences, but an artificiality sometimes peeks through the veneer in snatches of dialogue and character business that don't ring quite true. Despite these bumps in the narrative road, some forgivable predictability and a pace that occasionally lags, this absorbing drama develops into a strong, riveting tale with a knockout of an ending. Flesh and Bone also boasts a quartet of solid leads. Real-life husband and wife at the time, Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan are sporadically too cute and perky for the material, but their genuine chemistry is evident and grounds the script's lapses in dialogue and character development. Meanwhile, James Caan sinks his teeth into another morally conflicted part, while Gwyneth Paltrow shines in the role that began her ascent to stardom. Kloves' film falls just short of its Shakespearean aspirations, but it's an intelligent, emotionally veracious drama worthy of a talented filmmaker. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Chris Rydell - Reese Davies; Joe Berryman - Plump Man; Lisa Blount; Angie Bolling - Woman with Crying Baby; Betsy Brantley - Peg; Gail Cronauer - Emma; Nik Hagler - Earl; James Harrell - Woody; John Hawkes - Groom; Ron Kuhlman - Clem Willets; Julia Mueller - Sarah Willets; Vic Polizos - Pudge Riley; Joe Stevens - Kyle; Barbara Alyn Woods - Cindy; Risa Bramon Garcia; Libby Villari - Waitress; Travis Baker - Sullen Kid; Ryan Bohls - Scotty Willets; Jerry Swindall - Young Arlis
Credit
Charles William Breen - Art Director, G. Mac Brown - Co-producer, Elizabeth McBride - Costume Designer, Steve Kloves - Director, Mia Goldman - Editor, Sydney Pollack - Executive Producer, Thomas Newman - Composer (Music Score), Danny Michael - Musical Direction/Supervision, Leonard Engelman - Makeup, Dorothy Pearl - Makeup, Jon Hutman - Production Designer, Philippe Rousselot - Cinematographer, Mark Rosenberg - Producer, Paula Weinstein - Producer, Samara Schaffer - Set Designer, Steve Kloves - Screenwriter
A young man witnesses his father brutally murder a family. Thirty years later he meets and falls in love with the baby that was spared.
The film explores the theme that a person is "born" to a life of being good or evil. Love-interest Kay sees only the good in Arlis, but Arlis believes he's of the same flesh and bone as his father. He lets himself hope for a life with Kay, but he is unable to get beyond his past after his father brings Kay to the scene of the family's murder. Arlis can kill, but he does so to save Kay. When Kay confronts her abusive husband, but doesn't shoot him, Arlis says she hasn't got it in her. When Arlis confronts his hired man Elliot, whom his father said was stealing from him, Elliot becomes ashamed and afraid because he feels his earlier prison time exposes the bad in him. Paltrow portrays an opportunistic thief with a willingness to lift the jewelry from the dead and a cold-hearted view of men.
