A Perfect World
Movie poster
Directed by	Clint Eastwood
Produced by	Clint Eastwood Mark Johnson David Valdes
Written by	John Lee Hancock
Starring	Kevin Costner Clint Eastwood Laura Dern T. Clinton "Clint" Eastwood Jr (born May 31 1930 is a four-time Academy Award winning American Actor and Filmmaker. Clinton "Clint" Eastwood Jr (born May 31 1930 is a four-time Academy Award winning American Actor and Filmmaker. Mark Johnson may refer to Academics Mark Johnson (professor, philosophy professor Mark H Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is an American Actor, producer and Academy Award -winning director Clinton "Clint" Eastwood Jr (born May 31 1930 is a four-time Academy Award winning American Actor and Filmmaker. Laura Elizabeth Dern (born February 10, 1967) is an Academy Award -nominated American Actress. J. Lowther Bradley Whitford
Distributed by	Warner Brothers
Release date(s)	November 24, 1993
Running time	138 min
Language	English
IMDb profile

A Perfect World is a 1993 drama film directed by Clint Eastwood. Bradley Whitford (born October 10, 1959) is an Emmy Award -winning American Actor. Warner Bros Entertainment Inc (or Warner Bros, Warner Bros Pictures) is one of the world's largest producers of Film and Events 380 - Theodosius I makes his adventus, or formal Year 1993 ( MCMXCIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar) English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States The year 1993 in film involved many significant films (For more about films in foreign languages check sources in those languages A drama film is a Film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes Clinton "Clint" Eastwood Jr (born May 31 1930 is a four-time Academy Award winning American Actor and Filmmaker. The film stars Kevin Costner, Clint Eastwood, Laura Dern and T. Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is an American Actor, producer and Academy Award -winning director Clinton "Clint" Eastwood Jr (born May 31 1930 is a four-time Academy Award winning American Actor and Filmmaker. Laura Elizabeth Dern (born February 10, 1967) is an Academy Award -nominated American Actress. J. Lowther.

Synopsis

The film is set in Texas in the fall of 1963. Texas ( is a state geographically located in the South Central United States and is also known as the Lone Star State. Year 1963 ( MCMLXIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Robert "Butch" Haynes (Kevin Costner) and Terry Pugh (Keith Szarabajka) are convicts who have just escaped from a Huntsville prison. Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is an American Actor, producer and Academy Award -winning director Keith Szarabajka (born December 2 1952 is an American Actor. Biography Szarabajka was born in Oak Park, Illinois, the son of Huntsville is a city in and the County seat of Walker County, Texas, United States. Fleeing from the clutches of the law, the pair stumble into the kitchen of a house where eight-year old Phillip Perry (T. J. Lowther) lives with his devout Jehovah's Witness mother and two sisters. Jehovah's Witnesses is a restorationist, millenialist Christian denomination Needing a hostage to aid their escape, Butch grabs the boy, who meekly accompanies them. A hostage is a person or entity which is held by a captor The original definition meant that this was handed over by one of two belligerent parties to the other or seized as security The trio's journey starts off on an unpleasant note as Butch is forced to shoot his fellow escapee with a stolen revolver, following the latter's attempts at molesting the child. With his partner out of the way, the convict and his young victim take to the Texas highway in a bid to flee from the pursuing police.

Meanwhile, Texas Ranger Red Garnett (Clint Eastwood), riding in the Governor's sleek airstream trailer, is in hot pursuit of the duo. The Texas Ranger Division, commonly called the Texas Rangers, is a law enforcement agency with statewide Jurisdiction based in Austin, the Clinton "Clint" Eastwood Jr (born May 31 1930 is a four-time Academy Award winning American Actor and Filmmaker. Airstream is a brand of luxury Recreational vehicle manufactured in Jackson Center Ohio, USA. With criminologist Sally Gerber (Laura Dern) and trigger-happy FBI sharpshooter Bobby Lee (Bradley Whitford) in tow, Chief Garnett is determined to recover the criminal and the hostage before they cross the Texas border. A criminologist is often defined as someone who studies the Etiology of Crime, criminal behavior types of crime and social cultural and media reactions to crime Laura Elizabeth Dern (born February 10, 1967) is an Academy Award -nominated American Actress. A marksman is a person that is skilled in Precision shooting, using projectile weapons such as with a Rifle but most commonly with a Sniper rifle, Bradley Whitford (born October 10, 1959) is an Emmy Award -winning American Actor. The plot thus alternates between a manhunt unfolding on one level, and on the other, the blossoming of a tender bond between the convict and his "prisoner".

As the plot unfolds, it is revealed that Phillip comes from a family whose deep attachment to their JW religion forbids him from indulging in any of the normal pursuits common for children of his age. All of eight years old, the boy has never participated in Halloween or Christmas celebrations, and has seemingly had all the fun completely cut out from his life. Halloween, or Hallowe’en, is a Holiday celebrated on the night of October 31. Escaping with Butch, however, he experiences a joy of freedom which he finds exhilarating, as Butch gladly allows him the kind of indulgences he has been forbidden all along. Gradually, the kid becomes increasingly aware of his surroundings, and with constant encouragement from Butch (whom he now sees almost as a father figure), seems to acquire the ability to make independent decisions on what is wrong and right. For his part, Butch sees in the boy's innocence a bit of his own lost childhood, and slowly finds himself drawn into giving Phillip the kind of fatherly presence which (as is subsequently revealed) he himself never had.

As the narrative progresses, it also establishes considerable background for the characters and situations that develop - notably the history between Butch Haynes and Red Garnett, and Butch's own past which he reveals to Phillip and which, in a strange way, explains the developing closeness between the two, despite the well-established fact that Butch is indeed a killer. This background, punctuated by frequent cuts to Chief Garnett's chase as he draws closer and closer to Butch, further sets the stage for the climax involving a final confrontation between the two. The dramatic ending involves Garnett's team taking up positions preparing to ambush the farm where Butch and Phillip have taken refuge. Unwilling to leave the already wounded Butch, the boy runs back and hugs him - a gesture which, along with his knowledge of Butch's character and background, convinces Garnett that he can resolve the situation peacefully. His plans are thwarted, however, when an FBI agent, mistaking one of Butch's gestures to suppose he is about to draw a gun, fires a shot into his chest and kills him. The move leaves Garnett angry and frustrated at his inability save Butch and take him alive, leading him to confess at the film's conclusion - "I don't know nothing. I don't know a damn thing. "^[1]

The fact that Garnett is a disappointed man at the end (despite the fact that his mission of recovering the hostage has been a success) is indicative of the fact that he perhaps knew, from previous encounters with Butch Haynes, that he was essentially a good man at heart, driven by circumstances to become the cold-blooded killer he was perceived as.

Title

The film's title comes from an exchange between the criminologist Sally Gerber (Laura Dern) and one of the cops who is helping track the convict. When the cop says, "In a perfect world we'd all lock arms and thrash the bushes till he turned up", Gerber answers, "In a perfect world things like this wouldn't happen in the first place".

Production

While Eastwood was making In the Line of Fire, he was given the screenplay to A Perfect World. In the Line of Fire is a 1993 three-time Academy Award -nominated Thriller film about a psychopath who attempts to assassinate He was also in the midst of campaigning for the Academy Awards with Unforgiven and saw A Perfect World as an opportunity to work as a director only and take a break from acting. This article is about the 1992 film For other uses see Unforgiven (disambiguation. However, when Kevin Costner was approached with the screenplay for the movie, he suggested that Eastwood would be perfect for the role of Texas Ranger Red Garnett. The Texas Ranger Division, commonly called the Texas Rangers, is a law enforcement agency with statewide Jurisdiction based in Austin, the Eastwood agreed, realizing that his screentime would not be as significant, leaving most of the time to work behind the camera.

The film was shot in Martindale, Texas, near Lockhart. Martindale is a city in Caldwell County, Texas, United States. Lockhart is a city in Caldwell County, Texas, United States. It is the County seat of Caldwell County.

Reaction

A Perfect World grossed $31 million in box office receipts in the United States with overseas gross at $101 million, raising the final result to $132 million, making it a financial success. The film received largely positive reviews, winning considerable praise for its emotional depth and accurate depiction of the psychology of hostage situations. Psychology (from Greek grc ψῡχή psȳkhē, "breath life soul" and grc -λογία -logia) is an Academic and Kevin Costner's subtly nuanced portrayal of the escaped convict Butch Haynes forms the cornerstone of the film's success and has been hailed as one of the actor's finest performances yet. ^[2][3] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times called it "a film any director alive might be proud to sign", while the New York Times hailed it as "a deeply felt, deceptively simple film that marks the high point of Mr. Roger Joseph Ebert (iːbɝt born June 18, 1942) is an American film critic and Screenwriter. The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily Newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. Eastwood's directing career thus far". ^[4][5]

In the years since its release, the film has been acclaimed by critics as one of Eastwood's most satisfying (albeit underrated) directorial achievements, and the scenes between the convict (Costner) and his young captive (T. J. Lowther) have been acknowledged as some of the most delicately crafted sequences in all of Eastwood's body of work. ^[6]

Criticisms

Some have noted that the film seems to depict Jehovah's Witnesses (specifically as parents) in an unjustly biased manner. For instance, the fact that Phillip has never had cotton candy or a party (not birthday) is attributed to his religion when in fact Jehovah's Witnesses have never condemned any of the aforementioned activities. Additionally, when questioned by Butch about his theft of the Casper costume, Phillip says he is afraid of going to hell. Hell, according to many Religious beliefs, is a location in the Afterlife, which may be described as a place of suffering However, Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe that people go to hell as penance for their sins. Instead, they believe that people who are not obedient to God's word will die in the Armageddon.

Trivia

• The song "Sea of Heartbreak" can be heard in this movie, as well as in Heartbreak Ridge, another Eastwood movie. Heartbreak Ridge is a 1986 Film, starring Clint Eastwood (who also produced and directed and Mario Van Peebles, about the 1983
• The photo on the movie poster is not a photo from the film. Never in the movie is Phillip dressed normally (in the beginning he wears underwear and after he wears a Casper the Friendly Ghost suit). Casper the Friendly Ghost is the Protagonist of the Famous Studios theatrical animated cartoon series of the same name
• Kevin Costner received top billing over Clint Eastwood for A Perfect World. Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is an American Actor, producer and Academy Award -winning director Clinton "Clint" Eastwood Jr (born May 31 1930 is a four-time Academy Award winning American Actor and Filmmaker. Incidentally, this was Eastwood's first film since 1969's Paint Your Wagon for which he did not receive top billing. Paint Your Wagon is a Musical film released in 1969, adapted by Paddy Chayefsky from the 1951 stage musical by Lerner ^[7]
• Denzel Washington was Eastwood's original choice to play the role of Butch Haynes. Denzel Hayes Washington Jr (born December 28 1954) is an American Actor and director.

References

External links

• A Perfect World at the Internet Movie Database