This Boy's Life (1993) on Netflix
Toby Wolff and his mother Caroline leave the East in 1957 and settle in Seattle. There Toby calls himself Jack, and Caroline meets Dwight Hansen, a polite garage mechanic.
- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb7.2/1063,045 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes76%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1957, Toby Wolff and his mother Caroline leave the East and an abusive boyfriend behind, hoping for a better life. An unwelcome ex-boyfriend follows them to Salt Lake City, so Caroline moves the two of them on to Seattle instead. Half a year later, Toby has turned into a juvenile delinquent who prefers to be called Jack, and Caroline's pompous new suitor, Dwight Hansen, fails to impress him. For Thanksgiving, Dwight takes Caroline and Jack to his house in Concrete, a small town in the northern Cascades, where they meet his three children. Caroline weighs marrying Dwight, and while Jack serves a suspension from school, she sends him to stay with Dwight for a few months.
Cast
- Robert Zameroskias Arch Cook (as Bobby Zameroski)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about This Boy's Life (1993)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Warner Bros. initially hesitated to produce the film, deeming a child-abuse story commercially unviable. Director Michael Caton-Jones insisted on the project, and the studio relented because of his successful directorial track record.
- Robert De Niro, playing the abusive stepfather Dwight, consulted extensively with Tobias Wolff while preparing for the role, but chose not to contact the real-life Dwight, who eventually died before filming commenced.
- Filming took place for ten days in Concrete, Washington, where crews restored the town's main street to its 1950s appearance. Many of the town's citizens were used as extras, and the external scenes were shot around the town, including the former elementary school and Concrete High School.
- Debra Winger was initially set to star as Caroline but withdrew because of scheduling conflicts, which is how Ellen Barkin came to take the role of the mother.
- Christian Bale was considered for the role of Toby, the part at the center of the film, but lost out to Leonardo DiCaprio, who got it instead.
