A partially handicapped man named Karl is released from a mental hospital, about 20 years after murdering his mother and another person. Karl is often questioned if he will ever kill again, and he shrugs in response saying there is no reason to. Now out of the mental institution, Karl settles in his old, small hometown, occupying himself by fixing motors. After meeting a young boy named Frank, who befriends him, Karl is invited to stay at Frank's house with his mother Linda, who views Karl as a strange but kind and generous man. However, Linda's abusive boyfriend, Doyle, sees things differently in the way rules ought to be run- normally insulting Linda's homosexual friend Vaughan as well as Karl's disabilities, and having wild parties with his friends. As Karl's relationship with Frank grows, he is watchful of Doyle's cruel actions.
Written by
commanderblue
Plot Synopsis:
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The movie opens in an asylum, where Charles (J.T. Walsh) talks to Karl (Billy Bob Thornton) about cars and women. Two student reporters Marsha (Sarah Boss) and Theresa (Kathy Sue Brown) arrive to interview Karl, who has committed murder, and is due to be released soon. They are introduced to the warden, Jerry (James Hampton), who explains that Karl is sensitive about having his picture taken. The interview is conducted in near darkness, with Karl speaking almost to himself.
Karl describes his childhood, where he was isolated from his family. He was picked on by other kids, and spent time working on lawnmowers. He says his mother was being raped by local man Jessie Dixon, and kills Jessie with a sling blade. When his mother objected to the killing, Karl killed her. When asked if he'll kill again, he says he has no reason to.
Karl is released, and returns to his hometown. He tours the town, carrying his books and bible from. He helps a boy, Frank (Lucas Black) carry laundry home, and Frank invites Karl to play football. Karl is uncomfortable with being free, and tries to return to the asylum. Jerry fixes Karl up with a job at a small repair shop. Since Karl has nowhere to go, Jerry invites him to his house for the night, but his family is obviously nervous.
Jerry introduces Karl to Bill Cox (Rick Dial), who owns the repair shop, and Scooter (Brent Briscoe). Karl completes a day of work, and Bill locks him inside the shop for the night. The next day, Bill gives Karl a key and an advance on his paycheck, so he can buy supplies. Karl arrives at Frank's house, and Frank takes him to his mother's store. Karl meets Frank's mom Linda (Natalie Canerday) and manager Vaughan (John Ritter). Linda allows Karl to stay in their garage, and Frank and Karl begin their friendship. Karl refuses to tell Frank about the murders. Frank tells Karl that Vaughan is gay, and Linda's boyfriend Doyle is mean to her, but since his father committed suicide, she is lonely.
Doyle (Dwight Yoakum) is doubtful about Karl staying in the garage, and abuses Vaughan verbally. Vaughan and Linda leave, and Doyle verbally abuses Karl and Frank's father. Frank helps Karl get settled, and they share a joke.
The next day, Vaughan takes Karl to lunch and tells him he's gay. He also tells Karl that Doyle might hurt Frank. That night, Doyle has a band party with his buddies at Linda's house. They go to the county line for beer, bringing Karl and Vaughan, and they trade jokes with the police. Back at the house, the band laments about a lack of gigs, and Doyle becomes enraged, throwing the band out. Linda confronts him, and Doyle threatens her. After Doyle leaves, Frank talks to Linda, telling her he's nervous all the time. Karl tries to cheer Linda up with a joke. Karl tells Linda why he was incarcerated, and tells her he would never hurt her or Frank.
Linda arranges a dinner with Melinda (Christine Renee Ward), whom she hopes will like Karl. Vaughan and his friend Albert (Tim Holder) are also there. Melinda and Karl go for a walk.
The following day, Melinda brings Karl flowers. Conversation is stilted, but Karl watches her leave. Later, Karl shares a story with Frank: his father made Karl throw away a baby boy. Karl buried it instead. They talk about life and death, and Frank says the bible says people who commit suicide or kill others go to Hades.
Frank is in love with a girl named Karen, but she doesn't want to be seen with him. When they come home, Doyle is back, apologizing for his behavior. He says he'll be coming over more, trying to be a better person. Frank doesn't buy it. Karl cheers Frank up by playing football with him.
Later, Karl returns to his old house where he grew up. He finds his father (Robert Duvall), who is senile, and refuses to recognize Karl as his son. Karl confronts his father about killing his little brother, then goes to see his brother's grave.
That night, Karl comes into Linda's room, where she and Doyle are in bed. He tells Linda he wants to be baptized. He's carrying a hammer and says we woke up holding it. The following day, Karl is baptized in a river. When they return, Doyle sends Linda to fetch dinner, then he tells Frank to obey him, and to get rid of Karl. Doyle tries to hit Frank, but Karl stops him. As Karl leaves, he sees Linda and thanks her for being good to him.
Karl finds Frank hiding in the woods, and gives Frank his books. Frank realizes Karl is leaving, and Karl tells Frank to stay away from Doyle for the night. Karl then goes to Vaughan and tells him to take care of Frank, leaving him with his earnings from the repair shop.
At night, Karl is seen staring at Doyle's house and sharpening a lawnmower blade. He kills Doyle, after asking how to call the police. Karl then calls the police and waits for them to take him into custody, eating leftover fried chicken.
Later, Karl listens to Charles talking again - back in the asylum. Karl tells Charles he doesn't want to listen anymore. End.
The last spoken word in the movie by Doyle, Vaughan, Frank, and Linda is the same: "Karl?"
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Billy Wilder once told Billy Bob Thornton that he was "too ugly" to be an actor, and that he should write a screenplay for himself, where he could exploit his "less than perfect" features. After this movie launched Thornton's career, Thornton publicly discussed his conversation with Wilder, which was at a cocktail party where Thornton was working as a waiter. Thornton got a call from Wilder, who invited him over to his house. Wilder said he didn't recall the conversation with Thornton, but was glad that he heeded his advice. As a gift, Wilder gave Thornton a paperback copy of this movie's script with his autograph, and a personal message inscribed on it.
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In order to make his walk more awkward and consistent, Billy Bob Thornton placed crushed glass in his shoes.
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When Doyle (Dwight Yoakam) tells Linda (Natalie Canerday) that "retards" make him sick, he adds that the same is true for antique furniture and midgets. Billy Bob Thornton has been quoted as saying that two of his phobias are antique furniture and midgets.
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According to Billy Bob Thornton, in a February 7, 1997 interview on The Howard Stern Show, Karl living behind a shed, is based on a boy where he grew up, who could not walk or talk very well, so his parents kept him in the shed. Billy says the story is that the boy's mother was scared by a snake when she was pregnant, so they felt he was like a child of the devil. They kept him locked up and fed him like a dog. It turned out the boy had polio.
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According to Billy Bob Thornton, he invented Karl's unique facial expressions and speech patterns, plus ad-libbed the entire "sling blade" speech at the beginning of the film, while looking at himself in a make-up room mirror, waiting to film his scene as a train conductor in The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains (1987). His scene was later cut from that film.
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According to the DVD Commentary, Billy Bob Thornton considers this film to be the greatest movie he has ever made.
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Billy Bob Thornton said he wrote the role of Vaughan Cunningham specifically for his good friend John Ritter.
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A remake of the short film Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade (1994). Both were written by, and starred, Billy Bob Thornton.
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Billy Bob Thornton had written the script in long hand, at his family's house in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
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When the film was in pre-production, Billy Bob Thornton envisioned John Ritter's character as having dyed blonde hair, thinking that Vaughan was a man who was transferred out of St. Louis for his job, where the film was set, and based his hairstyle on what he saw men sporting in GQ Magazine. Thornton, Ritter, and the film's hairstylist began experimenting with hairstyles on Ritter at the hotel where the cast and crew stayed. According to Thornton, Ritter was insistent that the hairstyle wasn't too drastic, as he had to go back to Los Angeles to shoot a Public Service Announcement. But when the hairstylist came up with, and applied the hairstyle that Ritter's Vaughan character would sport in the film, Thornton immediately approved. However, when Ritter finally got a look at his hair in the hotel room's bathroom mirror, he was infuriated at Thornton. Thornton said that when Ritter went back home to shoot the Public Service Announcement, he was wearing a baseball cap.
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Fellow independent filmmaker Jim Jarmusch appears as the "Frostee Cream" worker in the beginning. His name tag reads "Deke", the name of the film's Electrical Best Boy.
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All of the members of Doyle's mediocre band in the movie, including Doyle, are played by real-life accomplished and talented musicians.
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Robert Duvall appearing as Karl's father, was a kind turn to Billy Bob Thornton, who played a small role in Duvall's The Apostle (1997) for free in exchange.
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Cameo by Colonel Bruce Hampton Retired, of Aquarium Rescue Unit and Code Talkers during Doyle's band scene. Colonel Bruce is the tambourine player, and can be seen blowing his trademark "Smokeless Smoke Ring" in a close-up shot.
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Harvey Weinstein, then co-Chairman of Miramax, only saw the first thirty minutes of this movie when he agreed to pay ten million dollars for the rights to the film. He later regretted this, and forced Billy Bob Thornton to cut about twenty minutes from the movie.
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Although Karl's father's (Robert Duvall's) name is never mentioned, in the original short, Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade (1994), it is mentioned that his father's name is Franklin.
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Molly Ringwald played the newspaper reporter in Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade (1994). Sarah Boss replaced her for this movie.
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Karl says "alright then" nineteen times.
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Billy Bob Thornton was the runner-up for Best New Filmmaker in the Film Critics Awards, for the role of Karl.
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Karl was named after Billy Bob Thornton's special needs cousin, who died a month before Billy Bob wrote the movie.
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Other than Karl, the last line of all of the principal characters is "Karl?"
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Nominated for fourteen awards, and only lost five.
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In most of the group shots, the camera holds static on the actors and actresses for the duration of the take, without panning or cutting away, for the traditional series of reverse angle shots.
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By his description, Karl's "sling blade" matches a bush axe or ditch-bank axe, a kind of long-handled machete with a short broad blade (and easily lethal), though the term is also used for sickles and weed-cutters. "Kaiser blade" has murkier roots, but likely is slang for similar tools favored by remnant communities of Pennsylvania Dutch, who were actually mostly German in origin (thus "kaiser").
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Billy Bob Thornton and Lucas Black played football eight years after they do in this movie, as Coach Gary Gaines and Quarterback Mike Winchell in Friday Night Lights (2004).
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Only the second film not nominated for Best Picture to win the the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
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Less than ten women, who were not extras, were in the film.
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Lucas Black and Robert Duvall appeared in Get Low (2009) and Seven Days in Utopia (2011).
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Billy Bob Thornton and Robert Duvall appeared in The Apostle (1997), Jayne Mansfield's Car (2012), and The Judge (2014).
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Karl Childress played by Billy Bob Thornton is a very similar character to Jackson Fentry in "Tomorrow" (1972) played by Robert Duvall, who plays Karl's father in this movie.
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Vaughan (John Ritter) is holding a copy of the book "A Confederacy of Dunces" in his final scene. The book revolves around a Southern character that is unable to fit into society.
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In his autobiography "The Billy Bob Tapes", Billy Bob Thornton had become good friends with John Ritter when they were shooting the sitcom Hearts Afire (1992). This friendship inspired Thornton to cast Ritter as the first person in his film. According to Thornton, his first scene with Ritter was in the caf when Vaughan (Ritter) tells Karl (Thornton) that he's gay. Thornton said that none of the film's cast had watched him in character as Karl. So when he got into character, Ritter burst out laughing, as he thought Thornton was joking. Thornton explained that it was the character, an explanation which Ritter said was going to be difficult for Ritter to act, as he knew Thornton too well. Thornton said they were able to shoot the scene, but its difficulty was due to Ritter trying to keep a straight face throughout the shoot.
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Dwight Yoakam's character is killed by Billy Bob Thornton's character in Don't Look Back (1996) and this movie.
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In the scene where Karl kills Doyle with the blade, in the reflection in the mirror, you see neither any blood castoff, nor blood on the blade.
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There is only one blade shown in this film. It is the lawn mower blade Karl sharpens up and uses to kill Doyle.
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Billy Bob Thornton appeared in two episodes of Evening Shade (1990), starring Burt Reynolds. James Hampton played the prison warden in this movie. He starred with Reynolds as a fellow prisoner in The Longest Yard (1974).
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Shadow visible in front of a tree when Jerry and Karl are walking.
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The paper cap and name tag of the Frostee Cream Boy are misspelled "Frosty Cream".
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When Karl is talking to the Frostee Cream Boy, there are no cars on the road behind him. But whenever the camera is aimed at the Frostee Cream, there is a lot of traffic on the road reflected in the window. Billy Bob Thornton points out in the DVD commentary that this is because the local police had another pressing issue the day they filmed Jim Jarmusch, and they couldn't be there to stop traffic.
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The morning after Karl slept at the warden's house the scene opens with an exterior view of a one-story house. The next shot is in the interior and shows a set of stairs that are obviously going up to a second floor.
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Frank goes down to the lake with Karl wearing blue dungarees. In the first shot, the buckle on his left shoulder is on top of his shoulder blade. Down by the lake, it's moved to much further back.
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When Karl is on Jerry's daughter's bed, the stuffed pig changes direction.
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When Randy, one of the guitarists, reacts to Doyle's demands to leave, Randy is seen from behind putting on his coat. However, when he walks out the door, the coat is draped over his arm.
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While Karl talks to his father about his little brother, the father's left arm changes position between shots.
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When Jerry and Karl walk up to Bill Cox's repair shop for the first time, the Steadicam operator's reflection can easily be seen in the right front hubcap of Jerry's car. He is visible during the entire shot, which lasts about 10 seconds.
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When Karl and scooter are looking under the "hood" of a push mower, Karl suggests checking the points. Lawnboys were two strokes and as such, had no points.
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Linda works at Hoochie's Dollar Store and is shown price tagging merchandise. You wouldn't need to put a price tag on anything if everything cost the same amount, in this case, a dollar.
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When Doyle drives to the county line to get more alcohol, they're in a "crew cab dually pickup", yet Doyle, Karl, and Vaughan ride in the front seats, the rest of the crew rides in the bed, and no-one rides in the back seats.
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mental institution|small town|neo noir|sadistic psychopath|tragedy|based on play|friend|murder|repair shop|homosexual|man wearing glasses|book strap|torturer|sociopath|written and directed by cast member|autism|drunkenness|cult film|trestle|story|religious art|rejection|rain|pond|mother son relationship|joke|child abuse|lawnmower|revenge|physical abuse|gay interest|father son relationship|redneck|knife|closeted homosexual|death threat|southern|based on short film|father figure|gay slur|lake|reporter|baptism|friendship|interview|band|alcoholism|mental retardation|arkansas|trailer trash|homophobia|independent film|title spoken by character|
Argentina: Resplandor en la noche
Austria: Sling Blade
Bulgaria (Bulgarian title): ‘€Šна‡Š‚
Brazil: Na Corda Bamba
Canada (French title): La justice au coeur
Germany: Sling Blade - Auf Messers Schneide
Denmark: Sling Blade
Spain: El otro lado de la vida
Spain (Catalan title): L'altre costat de la vida
Finland (video box title): Sling Blade
Greece (transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title): Koftero lepidi
Hungary: Pengelen
Italy: Lama tagliente
Lithuania: Skustuvo asmenys
Lithuania: Skustuvo ašmenys
Mexico: Resplandor en la noche
Norway: Sling Blade
Poland: Blizny przeszlosci
Portugal: O Arremesso
Serbia: Seivo
Russia: ž‚‚о‡енное лезвие
Slovenia: Rezilo
Turkey (Turkish title): Biak sirti
Uruguay: Resplandor en la noche
Movie Details:
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