Perfect World DVD

A Perfect World
Clint Eastwood, hot off of his Academy Award win for Unforgiven, directed this small character study, appearing in the guise of a cops-and-robbers action picture. The film takes place during the fall of 1963. Eight-year old Phillip Perry (T.J. Lowther), the son of a devout Jehovah's Witness mother, is staying home while all the other children are out trick-or-treating. But then prison escapee Butch Haynes (Kevin Costner) appears in his kitchen. Needing a hostage to aid him in his escape from jail, he grabs Phillip. Phillip curiously looks up to Butch and willingly accompanies him. Butch gets rid of his fellow escapee after he tries to molest the child, and Butch and Phillip take to the Texas highway, on the run from the cops. The cop in pursuit in this instance is Police Chief Red Garnett (Clint Eastwood), riding in his sleek Populux Airglide trailer -- his "mobile command headquarters." On the road with Garnett is Sally Gerber (Laura Dern), a pushy pre-feminist criminologist, along with a creepy federal agent who is an expert sharpshooter. Butch is not particularly anxious to make it to the Texas borderline, and neither is Garnett in any particular hurry to catch Butch. As Butch and Phillip form a father-son attachment, the paths of Butch and Garnett gradually come together, in time for a final confrontation, after which Garnett confesses, "I don't know nothing. I don't know a damn thing." ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Cast Kevin Costner as Butch Haynes Clint Eastwood as Red Garnett Laura Dern as Sally Gerber T.J. Lowther as Phillip Perry Keith Szarabajka as Terry Pugh Leo Burmeister as Tom Adler Paul Hewitt as Dick Suttle Bradley Whitford as Bobby Lee Ray McKinnon as Bradley Jennifer Griffin as Gladys Perry Wayne de Hart as Mack Linda Hart as Eileen

Crew Jack Gammon Taylor, Jr. - Art Director Phyllis Huffman - Casting Liz Keigley - Casting Erica Phillips - Costume Designer L. Dean Jones, Jr. - First Assistant Director Clint Eastwood - Director Joel Cox - Editor Ronald Spang - Editor Clint Eastwood - Composer (Music Score) Lennie Niehaus - Composer (Music Score) Jeff Wexler - Musical Direction/Supervision James McCoy - Makeup Stephen St. John - Camera Operator Don Reddy - Camera Operator Henry Bumstead - Production Designer Jack N. Green - Cinematographer David Valdes - Production Manager Mark Johnson - Producer David Valdes - Producer Clint Eastwood - Producer Antoinette Gordon - Set Designer Alan Hicks - Set Designer Charlie Vassar - Set Designer Daniel W. Barringer - Stunts Brian Smrz - Stunts Spike Silver - Stunts John Robotham - Stunts Orwin Harvey - Stunts Andy Gill - Stunts John Lee Hancock - Screenwriter

A Perfect World
Clint Eastwood followed up his Oscar-winning, critically acclaimed Unforgiven, the Western to end all Westerns, with another impressive, but grossly underappreciated work, A Perfect World. The film is portentously set in Texas in 1963, and it offers a compelling examination of the nature of American violence. Some Eastwood fans were probably put off by the fact that it's Kevin Costner who plays the traditional Eastwood part, the outlaw with a code of honor, while the man himself is relegated to playing, very effectively, the inept authority figure. In fact, by directing White Hunter, Black Heart, Unforgiven, and this film in succession, Eastwood demonstrated his willingness to critique his own status as an American icon, to an extent that few actors in such a position ever had. These films feature some of his best work as an actor, and there's not an unconditionally heroic figure in any of them. A Perfect World is probably the most moving of the three films, with the wonderful complexity of Kevin Costner's performance as the well-meaning but emotionally combustible Butch Haynes, playing off a touchingly naturalistic performance by child-actor T.J. Lowther as his entranced hostage, Phillip Perry. The film compellingly contrasts the uncontrollable violence of Haynes -- which arises from his own history of abuse and from his passionate beliefs -- with the calculated, state-sanctioned violence of the FBI sharpshooter, Bobby Lee (Bradley Whitford), whose cold competence in the name of ideology tellingly alludes to the contemporaneous assassination of President John F. Kennedy. With its well-drawn characters, its action and humor, and its moral complexity, A Perfect World is one of Eastwood's strongest films, as both an actor and a director. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
 

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General Specifications: Language Options: English, French Subtitle Options: English, French, Spanish Sound Processing: DD5.1: Dolby Digital w/ sub-woofer channel DDS: Dolby Digital Surround Additional Features: cc All-new digital transfer Soundtrack remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1 Interactive menus Cast/writer film highlights Theatrical trailer Scene access Languages: English & Français Subtitles: English, Français & Español DVD Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1: Cinemascope MPAA Rating: PG13 DVD Discs Included: 1 DVD Sides: 1 DVD DVD Region Code: 1 Content Length: 138 min Part of Series: Clint Eastwood Collection   DVD Chapters: Side #1 -- 1. Sky Above [1:31] 2. No Part of Halloween [1:11] 3. Huntsville Breakout [4:33] 4. Terror Before Dawn [6:27] 5. Governor's Assignee [3:25] 6. Caravan Departs [2:42] 7. Threats and Facts [2:41] 8. At Gunpoint [7:00] 9. Pair of Intelligent People [4:25] 10. Time Machine [3:15] 11. Partners in Theft [5:22] 12. Guys on Our Own [1:38] 13. Gallows Humor [1:36] 14. Friendliest Store in Texas [7:33] 15. Good Size [2:10] 16. A Haynes History [2:57] 17. On- and Off-Road Passersby [4:40] 18. Last of the Wild Frontiers [2:07] 19. Trick or Treat [3:01] 20. Putting the Breaks On [7:46] 21. Meat and Potatoes [:40] 22. His God-Given Right [1:28] 23. Bobby Lee Makes a Move [1:38] 24. Dottie's Squat 'n' Gobble [4:18] 25. Same Difference; Wish List [4:03] 26. Right Thing to Do [3:10] 27. Mack's Invitation [1:46] 28. Dancing All Around [4:42] 29. Butch's Breaking Point [3:02] 30. Say Love and Mean It [1:46] 31. Prayer for the Dying [3:43] 32. Reluctant Gunshot [2:41] 33. Talking Man to Man [4:28] 34. "I'm Glad It Was You" [5:01] 35. Today's the Day [3:48] 36. Goodbye to a Ghost [1:34] 37. Hand in Hand [2:54] 38. "Do I Know You?" [:53] 39. Dead Aim [2:43] 40. He Didn't Say When [:31] 41. "I Don't Know Nothin'" [1:43] 42. End Credits [5:16]