Sling Blade (1996) on Netflix
Karl Childers leaves the state hospital where he grew up and returns to his Arkansas hometown, where a boy, Frank, befriends him. Frank's mother Linda offers Karl a place in her garage.
- Netflix4.0/5
- IMDb8.0/10104,836 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes96%
Trailer
Plot summary
Karl Childers has lived under state care in a mental hospital since he was twelve, when he killed his mother and her teenage lover with a sling blade. The state judges him no longer dangerous and lets him go. He returns to his Arkansas hometown and finds work repairing small engines. There he meets Frank Wheatley, a twelve-year-old boy, who introduces him to his mother, Linda. Linda asks Karl to move into her garage, and her abusive boyfriend Doyle agrees only reluctantly. Vaughan, Linda's friend and boss, is uneasy about Karl's past and fears that Doyle could hurt Linda and Frank.
Cast
- Christine Renee Wardas Melinda (as Christy Ward)
- Sarah Bossas Marsha Dwiggins
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Sling Blade (1996)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The film was made on a $1 million budget financed by The Shooting Gallery and then sold to Miramax for $10 million, a record price for an independent film at the time.
- Thornton conceived the character of Karl while working on the film The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains, developed the idea into a monologue that became a one-man show to fund the film, then expanded the monologue into a short film starring Thornton, Molly Ringwald and J. T. Walsh.
- Thornton won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film, and he was also nominated for Best Actor.
- Thornton adapted the screenplay from his own one-man show Swine Before Pearls, having already turned the material into the 1994 short film Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade, directed by George Hickenlooper.
- Sling Blade was shot in just 24 days on location in Benton, Arkansas, produced by David L. Bushell and Brandon Rosser.
