First, Eastwood's vehicle is helped by the work of John Lee Hancock who 4 years later will pen the scenario for another Eastwood flick: 'Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil' (1997). In spite of a few installments in its second part that one can deem as overlong, it has enough commendable stuff to grab the audience.

The amount was 'a Perfect World' (1993) and it deserves better than the lukewarm reviews it received and stands as a winner in Eastwood's eclectic filmography. 40 years later, Clint Eastwood, freshly showered with praise for his dusky 'Unforgiven' (1992) takes back this formula for a flick which basically was to be directed by Steven Spielberg but the latter had a lot to do with 'Schindler's List' (1994), probably his finest moment. Crichton (I find it hard to believe that it's the same man who 36 years later will cook 'a Fish Called Wanda', 1988!) had construed his topic with a lot of reserve and sensitivity which bestowed his wonderful piece of work with pathos and tenderness. This journey had brought the two runaways together and Bogarde eventually felt real love and care for his young hostage. MPAA-rated PG-13 (violence, sexual content and language).In 1952, Charles Crichton had produced a successful suspenseful movie with a derivative premise: a man (an excellent Dirk Bogarde) compelled to take a brat hostage with him because he was the witness of his murder and to flee with him across Britain to escape the police.

Lowther: Phillip Perry Keith Szarabajka: Terry PughĪ Malpaso production, released by Warner Bros. Kevin Costner: Butch Haynes Clint Eastwood: Red Garnett Laura Dern: Sally Gerber T.J. Costner and plucky young actor Lowther do what they can with their part of this questionable story, and maybe that’s all you can ask. Eastwood is not very involved in this law-and-order role, and the rest of his team (Laura Dern as the “my God, she’s a woman” criminologist, Bradley Whitford as the ice-cold FBI man and Leo Burmester as Red’s faithful assistant) is more cliched than those multiethnic platoons in old World War II movies.Īnd to remind people that yes, Butch is a dangerous escaped convict, “A Perfect World” (rated PG-13 for “violence, sexual content and language”) periodically throws in some dark moments that, especially in the film’s final half hour, feel increasingly arbitrary and unconvincing.Īfter his work in both “Unforgiven” and “In the Line of Fire,” Eastwood can afford an off day on both sides of the camera as well as a reinvolvement in the kind of sentimentalism that marked “Honkytonk Man” and other films. Their relationship is oddly charming at first, but it goes nowhere and is distinctly at odds with the more muddled sensibility of the rest of the film.Īny time, for instance, we are thrust back to the command post trailer where Texas Ranger captain Red Garnett is masterminding the alleged chase, things bog down in a major way. On the road together, they become pals, even accomplices, as Butch, touched by tales of a restricted childhood that seems to echo his own, offers to let the lad pick his own alias and even has man-to-boy talks with him about sex and love.Īs relaxed and jocular as he’s ever been on screen, Costner turns Butch into the kind of interesting, enigmatic character a small boy would be fascinated with. The centerpiece of “A Perfect World” is the completely unlikely bond that develops between Butch and Phillip.

A perfect world movie story