Convicts
starring: Robert Duvall, Lukas Haas, James Earl Jones, Starletta DuPois, Carlin Glynn
directed by: Peter Masterson
directed by: Peter Masterson
List Price: $14.98
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Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
Brand: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
EAN: 0027616921840
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: MGM (Video & DVD)
Region Code: 1
Release Date: April 12, 2005
Running Time: 93 minutes
Sales Rank: 19989
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Theatrical Release Date: 1991
Related Items:
Editorial Review:
Description:
OscarÂ(r) winner* Robert Duvall 'is terrific' (The New York Times) in this 'vividly realized' (Variety) drama co-starring Lucas Haas (Witness) and James Earl Jones (Field of Dreams). 'Gracefully adapted to the screen' (Los Angeles Times) by Horton Foote (Of Mice and Men) and ably directed by Peter Masterson (Blood Red), this riveting tale of an unlikely bond is 'a tasty feast' (LA Weekly)! In rural Texas 1902, 13-year-old Horace (Haas) toils on a run-down plantation to buy a tombstone for the father he lost a year earlier. Soll (Duvall), the crusty old Confederate who owns the plantation, has yet to pay the boy a pennyof the money he owes him. But on Christmas Eve, as Soll becomes obsessed with his own mortality, hemakes a grand promise forcing Horace to confront his fear of death and the harsh truths of a decadent society. *1983: Actor, Tender Mercies
Amazon.com:
The works of Texas-born writer Horton Foote are always dealing with transition and transformation, caused by the intermingling of time and experience, and Convicts is a prime example of Foote's thematic consistency. It's also one of several fruitful collaborations between Foote and actor Robert Duvall, whose career has connected with Foote's at pivotal moments since Duvall's screen debut in the Foote-scripted classic To Kill a Mockingbird. And while Convicts may lack the emotional power of 1971's Tomorrow or the dramatic delicacy of 1983's Tender Mercies, it adds resonance to their mutual body of work. Here, in a story set in coastal Texas in 1902, Duvall plays an eccentric, dying sugar-plantation boss who takes a young boy (Lukas Haas) under his wing to teach him a few of life's harsher lessons.
His frontiers long since conquered, with slaves of the past now replaced by local convict laborers, the boss is a stubborn, violent, hardened relic of a bygone era, and Duvall's performance breathes feisty life into a man who's ready for death (well, almost), but not without firing a few more rounds from his trusty Colt .45. It's a bit theatrical (and veteran stage director Peter Masterson--Mary Stuart's father--approaches Foote's play adaptation with dry visual style), but Convicts is bathed in the candlelight of a passing age, and its tone is suitably wise and keenly observant. Barely released in theaters, this film is ripe for rediscovery. --Jeff Shannon
Average Rating: 
Rating:
- It's Horton Foote Quality, Which Some Viewers "Miss"I'm giving it four stars only because it's not as good as some of his masterpieces like TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL, ... Read More
Rating:
- No escape . . .Robert Duvall, who was 58 when this film was made in 1990, plays a King Lear-like old tyrant in his 80s, more ... Read More
Rating:
- ConvictsDon't waste your money like I did.......Robert Duvall westerns are usually great but this one was MAD !!!!!!
Rating:
- Good life storyTypical Robert Duvall film. It was funny and touching and probably real for someone somewhere in that time period. ... Read More
Rating:
- ConvictsStory went nowhere for the amount of acting talent involved . I kept thinking it was going to build up to something ... Read More
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