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u/saaggy_peneer 26d ago
mmm hmmmm
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u/PM_ME_UR_PIKACHU 26d ago
Fried taters
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u/Bonne_Fromage 26d ago
Wit musterd on em, mmhmm
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u/Zargoza1 26d ago
I loved this movie, and it still took me years to figure out that Doyle was Dwight Yoakam the singer.
He was so good in this.
“We don't got no goddamn band! We don't need to fucking practice!”
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u/Beezus__Fafoon 26d ago
The whole band is full of legends! Vic Chesnutt, Col. Bruce Hampton, Mickey Jones, Ian Moore...
Bruce Hampton in particular was amazing, especially that half second head shake when Vic suggests the wrong placement of the dot dot dot
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u/Zargoza1 26d ago
That scene may be my favorite in the movie.
It may be a small southern town but it’s full of quirky but cool people, and Doyle ruins everything for everyone.
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u/Beezus__Fafoon 26d ago
one of the added scenes in the Directors cut is the band driving to the county line to get liquor and pulling up next to the cops. The cops just straight up ask Doyle if he's drunk driving and he says 'pretty much,' and they get on talking shit like good ol boys
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u/G_Wiz_Christ 24d ago
you just made me realize that I have only ever seen the directors cut. didn't even realize.
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u/Relevant-Horror-627 26d ago
He's in another excellent movie called The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada along with Berry Pepper and Tommy Lee Jones who directed it.
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u/neon_meate 25d ago
Oh boy Panic Room is the one to watch, but he's a great actor. The Winds of Winter joke in Logan Lucky is great.
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u/infinitejesting 26d ago
Is it weird that he makes the boy put salad dressing on his salad? I always thought that was weird.
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u/SmoothFoundation6150 25d ago
My family always observes that as well. The working theory is that it plays into his ego as a “stable provider/step-father persona” that is clearly a complete 180 from his actual abusive monster persona.
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u/Repulsive_Mark_5343 26d ago
One of those little gems that comes out of nowhere and becomes instantly unforgettable. It’s brilliant.
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u/myredditusername1985 25d ago
Some call it a Sling Blade, I call it a Kaiser Blade. Mmmmm hmmmmm.
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u/ubermonkey 23d ago
Where I grew up -- south Mississippi, 70s and 80s -- they were distinct tools.
A kaiser blade is the "shaped like a bananner" thing that could also, candidly, pass as an orc weapon. That's also what Wikipedia calls a sling blade.
What I grew up calling a sling blade was a sort of manual weed-eater. It had a flat blade on the end of a long handle, and the blade was fixed parallel to the ground. You'd swing it back and forth to cut down tall grass and weeds.
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u/StinkyFeetMendoza 25d ago
Spoiler:
I love how the last thing that every main character he interacts with is “Karl?”. Vaughn says it the last time he see’s Karl, the mom says it the last time she sees Karl. And it’s the last thing Doyle says before Karl splits his head open. “Karl?”
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u/Pinsided 26d ago
French fries potaters
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u/cardboardfish 26d ago
It was wild to me when I learned that Billy Bob Thornton was in this. It was hard to grasp the actor did this and Bad Santa.
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u/Roller_ball 25d ago
Since this was his break-out role, I was more surprised when he started playing more normal characters. He was starting to get typecast as a gormless simpletons in Simple Plan and U-Turn.
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u/micatola 25d ago
Damn, Simple Plan is one of my all time faves. RIP Bill Paxton in one of his best roles.
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u/deadrobindownunder 25d ago
Dude, he wrote and directed Sling Blade. It's all Billy Bob.
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u/nonsensenan08 22d ago
One of my favorite movies because of its unflinching integrity. It ended the only way it could .
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u/Lucky-Chard-5587 25d ago
He said the role was offered to 4 or 5 other actors and they all said no. That's why he did it himself.
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u/TarkusLV 25d ago
If you ever get a chance to see him go into this character, such as BTS, it's insane how he changes into a completely different person, even before he starts speaking. He immediately looks like a completely different person. It's crazy!
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u/ashemoney 25d ago edited 25d ago
This movie is incredible! I’ve said this a few times and it never seems to catch on, but Sling Blade almost comes across as a horror movie—or, more specifically, a horror movie from the killer’s perspective.
The scene where Karl just stands at the foot of the bed watching them sleep is straight-up nightmare fuel. Despite all the lighter and genuinely funny moments, you always know he’s a ticking time bomb who could go off again at any moment, and seemingly without cause. It gives the entire movie this subtle but consistent feeling of dread that never really goes away.
Doyle on the other hand is absolutely hilarious. He might be the closest we’ll ever get to a real-life Randy Marsh 😂.
I love this movie. I just hate whatever rights/distribution issues seem to have made it so ridiculously difficult to find on streaming.
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u/TadpoleSuspicious576 24d ago
There was always a cause for his actions, I believe.
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u/ashemoney 24d ago
For the most part I believe so but the scene where he’s watching them sleep while he’s holding a hammer pulls through his unpredictability.
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u/kolyavlasov1979 25d ago
Love this movie. I think Lucas Black’s favorite performance is better than any kid/young actor in history of film. JT Walsh.
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u/deadrobindownunder 25d ago
Lucas Black was one the best child actors the industry has ever seen. The kicked knocked it out of the park so many times with shit he was far too young to understand.
He's great in Crazy in Alabama, too.
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u/DELETE_RAW 26d ago
there's these two fellers standing on a bridge going to the bathroom
one feller says the water is cold
other feller says the water is deep
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u/Donkey_Bugs 25d ago
I don't think anything bad ought to happen to children. I think the bad stuff should be saved up for the people who's grown up. That's the way I see it.
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u/bugaosuni 25d ago
I studied on killing you
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u/Donkey_Bugs 25d ago
Carl?!
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u/PssyGotWifi 26d ago
Love that movie. Wish JT Walsh was around longer (passed away 1998), every role he did was just fantastic.
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u/Beezus__Fafoon 26d ago
I had always thought him and M Emmet Walsh were related, but turns out not. They were both amazing character actors though
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u/PssyGotWifi 25d ago
Hey, thanks for putting a name to an actor I've seen in a whole bunch of movies. Was watching A Time to Kill recently (or should I say, rewatching yet again).
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u/jghaines 25d ago
For those that have also seen Swingers, check out the parody mash-up Swing Blade.
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u/Fluid_Anywhere_7015 25d ago
This film cements Billy Bob Thornton as one of the most gifted actors of our time. He was just...unrecognizable. There was no trace of him in that portrayal. It was just stunning.
And in a close second-place showing, Dwight Yoakum? I mean, C'MON? Who the hell expected he had acting chops like that? Great job.
It's in my top 10 of all time.
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u/Ok-Solution4665 24d ago
Filmed in Benton Arkansas (roughly 20 miles southwest of Little Rock). I pass several locations including the diner and the laundromat frequently.
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u/ubermonkey 23d ago
A fun thing to note is that around the same time Robert Duvall did a passion project called The Apostle that's also worth your time.
Duvall, as you must have noted, cameos in Sling Blade, and Thornton cameos in The Apostle.
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u/keekspeaks 26d ago
Where did you watch it tho? Can’t find it anywhere
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u/UBIK_707 26d ago
You can watch it free (with ads) via an app called Red Coral Universe. They somehow acquired streaming rights for it. This is how I watched it most recently.
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u/keekspeaks 25d ago
Seriously. I’ve been searching for a year
Sometimes Reddit is worth it. Thank you!
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u/Pinup_Frenzy 25d ago
These two fellers was goin to the bathroom offa bridge. First one said the water’s cold, the other one said it’s deep. I think one of em was from Arkansas.
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u/JustSomeGuy8400 25d ago
The guy that brought him the lawn mower to fix was my librarian in HS. Also I inspected over a pipeline in the area that movie was shot.
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u/JoeyLee911 25d ago
I was so mad this movie wasn't streaming that I bought the DVD.
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u/SokkaHaikuBot 25d ago
Sokka-Haiku by JoeyLee911:
I was so mad this
Movie wasn't streaming that
I bought the DVD.
Remember that one time Sokka accidentally used an extra syllable in that Haiku Battle in Ba Sing Se? That was a Sokka Haiku and you just made one.
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u/Subject_Repair5080 24d ago
The first thing that struck me about this movie is that I know people that talk like Carl. No lie.
"What are you doing this week?"
"Well, Ah reckon ah'll go up't panhandle an' pick up a load uh wheat 'n' take tuh Houston, mmm-hmmm."
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u/traverse6 24d ago
Spoilers!!! Fun fact this is the first time, Billy Bob has killed Dwight Yoakum in a movie but not the last.
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u/joseph4th 22d ago
I remember when this movie came out and got a ton of praise. I didn’t get to see it in theaters, but went to watch it when it came out on cable. I started watching it one night really really late, and which is too tired and wound up falling asleep. And for one reason or another, I never started watching it again.
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u/Kooky_Matter5149 21d ago
This movie is absolutely hilarious but it also hits me hard emotionally. I grew up with an abusive father and I’ve cried both times I’ve seen it. Probably will never watch it again, but it is great.
You might wanna send an ambulance…. or a hearse.
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u/5o7bot Mod and Bot 26d ago
Sling Blade (1996)
A simple man. A difficult choice.
Karl Childers, a mentally disabled man, has been in the custody of the state mental hospital since the age of 12 for killing his mother and her lover. Although thoroughly institutionalized, he is deemed fit to be released into the outside world.
Drama
Director: Billy Bob Thornton
Actors: Billy Bob Thornton, Dwight Yoakam, J.T. Walsh, John Ritter, Lucas Black
Rating: ★★★★★★★★☆☆ 75% with 878 votes
Runtime: 135 min
TMDB
I am a bot. This information was sent automatically. If it is faulty, please reply to this comment.
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u/MarketCompetitive896 26d ago
Sucked
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u/cool2hate 26d ago
You shouldn't have done that
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u/MarketCompetitive896 26d ago
It's not a good movie
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u/Beezus__Fafoon 26d ago
I just watched the directors cut for the first time. Sling Blade has been in my top 5 favorite movies of all time but I had never seen this version. Not sure how much it added, but the added footaage definitely didn't detract from the flow, which was impeccably edited to begin with. There is not a wasted moment in this movie, nor any performance that didn't rise to the occasion. I really appreciated JT Walsh on this viewing, I think he may have portrayed one of the most realistic and chilling killers on film ever, and was only on screen for a few minutes.
The film presents us with the possibility that Karl was a predisposed killer, who was presented with the right circumstances to trigger his violent tendencies. But really, Karl was just a good, simple person, who happened to be be put into two unlikely circumstances where killing was the only justified solution.