6th HOF-A Perfect World

Nominated By: Miss Vicky



A Perfect World
(Clint Eastwood, 1993)

Sadly, too many people seem to treat the name Costner as a four letter word, but I think even his harshest critics will have to admit that he turned in a solid and memorable performance here and I hope you all will agree. The film itself is a really gripping tale of redemption and of finding friendship in the strangest of places. Part prison break film and part father/son road trip flick, it has just the right mix of action, emotion, and humor.

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I really love this movie MV. I think it is under seen too. Great nomination. I just re-watched it about a month ago, so I probably won't again. I look forward to talking about it though.

I last watched it back in October, but I'll probably watch it again to keep it fresh in my mind for discussion and also because I love it so much. It's one of my all time favorite movies.

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I haven't seen this movie in a long time! Looking forward to rewatching it

A perfect film. Watched it many times, mostly in television...have nothing much to say about it except that it is Eastwood's best film for me and Costner's best performance...definitely a 8 pointer if not more.

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I watched A Perfect World last night, and I liked it a lot.

This is what I wrote about it in my logbook thread:

"I should preface this by mentioning that I'm one of the people who likes Kevin Costner, and I don't understand why some people don't like him. Having said that, I think this is one of his better movies. This is a great story, and possibly Costner's best performance. The movie is very well paced. It's emotional at times, with just the right blend of drama and humor. I was very impressed with young T.J. Lowther as Buzz, and I was surprised to find that he's made very few movies. I thought Clint Eastwood and Laura Dern were kind of wasted in this movie. I expected to see more of them, but the movie focused mainly on the growing relationship between Butch and Buzz."

http://www.movieforums.com/community...01#post1252601

I'm looking forward to this as it's a movie that I wanted to rematch for a long time. I saw it once during my drinking days, but I don't remember it. Count me as a Kevin Costner fan anyway.

This is the number one film on my watchlist among all that were nominated, because it is a Clint Eastwood movie that I haven't seen yet. Here's to hoping its great.

Not seen it but I'm a Costner fan too.

Great movie. Clint Eastwood is a great director, it's easy to see why Japanese film critics regard him as the greatest living American director (yep, more than Scorsese). Powerful and moving films are the type of movie he directs and this one is very characteristic.

I don’t think I had even heard of this film before, which is odd since it seems like the sort of film that would be better known. It’s a moderately decent film, all told.

Other people have said that it strikes a good balance between humour and drama, I’m not entirely sure I agree. I thought Clint Eastwood and Laura Dern would have more to do, but they’re little more than the comic relief most of the way through the film, and the whole grizzled cowboy vs. woman with psychological methods and research thing seemed a little cliched, and not fully explored so not really necessary or meaningful.

I appreciate that the main idea of the film is that Philip came to like Aines, even though he’s a bad guy, but I thought the film itself was a bit too enamoured of him. I thought the ending was a touch overblown. I think it would have ended just fine the first time Costner sends the kid back to his mother, without the kid running back and all the hugging and crying and sentimental music. They’ve formed a bond. We get that. (And that was some seriously dubious helicopter flying at the end there). It lacked subtlety.

I liked that it was mostly unpredictable, and I thought that the child actor did a good job for the most part. Costner was certainly not a four letter word in this film either.

I'm at work at the moment, TN, but I'll try to address some of these points when I get home in a few hours.

While I agree that Red and Sally are underdeveloped characters, I feel that they provide a little more than just comic relief. The film revolves around the story of an escaped con being chased by police. As such, he needs someone to pursue him. If you listen to their stories, both Red and Sally have previous history with Butch, leaving both of them to see him as more than just a fugitive criminal and lending a bit of humanity to people we otherwise know little about.

But I don't think we need to know about them. The core of the film is the relationship between Butch and Philip. I think that saying that Philip "came to like" Butch is oversimplifying what they had. Butch is the child's abductor but at the same time he fills the role of father figure and protector, as unlikely as he may be for that job.

I think also that part of the idea of the film is to see the humanity in people, even in a criminal. You call Butch a "bad guy" but I can't say that I agree with you entirely. Yes, he's a killer. He's a thief. He's a kidnapper. But he's also a man who won't tolerate people who are abusive to children or to women. As contradictory as it seems, he has his principles.

As to the ending, I don't think that it needed subtlety. It wouldn't have felt right to me if Philip had just run back to his mother when he had the chance, knowing that Butch is doomed. It also would've seemed out of place, given that Philip is only a child and, in my experience, subtlety is not something they're prone to displaying in emotional situations.

But I respect you opinion, sad that I may be at the fact that "moderately decent" is the highest praise you could give a film I love so much. C'est la vie. Here's hoping the other participants see it differently.

There are really people who don't like Kevin Costner? I mean, I'm not a huge fan, but I always liked him. He's a solid actor.

Is it just because of Waterworld or something?

I agree with this 100%.

And in my opinion, A Perfect World is definitely much better than "moderately decent". I think it's one of Costner's best movies.

I haven't seen Waterworld, but I've heard it's one of Costner's worst movies. Is it really that bad?

I haven't seen it since I was a kid. My dad loves it. But, it's pretty poorly-received, as far as I know.

Yeah there are people who hate Kevin Costner. I don't get it. Even in his weaker films I've always found him quite likable.

Actually the "Costner is a four letter word" line came directly from this site. The header of the old design would display a variety of slogans, one of which was "Where Costner is a four letter word." I always hated that particular slogan.

Oh and Waterworld isn't a great movie or anything, but it's a lot of fun.

That's kind of how I remember it. I remember specific parts of the film, and being entertained by the concept as a kid.

Also, I'm watching this movie, and I think I need to show it to my dad. He would love it, I think.