THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 3, 1996 TAG: 9604030040
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
A GROUP OF superb performances lift ``A Family Thing'' above the melodrama you would expect from its somewhat opportunistic plot.
Robert Duvall, arguably the best character actor-leading man of his generation, plays Earl Pilcher Jr., a rural Arkansas working man who has spent his life repairing tractors, caring for his family and adhering to the community ``tradition.''
Then his mother dies, leaving a letter revealing that Earl was an adopted child. Earl's biological mother was a black woman who died giving birth to him. Mom's letter urges him to find his half-brother, a Chicago policeman named Ray Murdock.
The resulting trip to Chicago is a journey of understanding and healing that is as entertaining as it is uplifting. ``A Family Thing'' proves that movies can still depict more than just the lower, most unpleasant, side of our society.
Duvall carries the film. His Earl is not a stereotypically biased man. He is a good man, a decent man who has lived his life in the way prescribed, never realizing the prejudices that crept into his psyche.
James Earl Jones is uncustomarily subtle as the brother. Jones is usually called upon to play booming, noble characters on the grand scale. Here, he effectively proves that he can also play a little man - a working class equivalent to his brother Earl.
Earl is so country-green that he immediately gets ripped off by shysters in the big city, and requires Ray's help. Ray has hated Earl since childhood, realizing that his mother had been attacked by a white man who then refused to acknowledge her and that she died giving birth to this seemingly white boy.
A group of subplots feature equally real people who are affected by the isolation in which they have lived.
Michael Beach brings a surprising degree of vulnerability to the role of Virgil, Ray's struggling son. Virgil's promising football career, along with a chance for a college education, was brought to an abrupt halt by an injury.
The movie is stolen, though, by an amazing performance from Irma P. Hall as Aunt T., the matriarch of Ray's family. She's a blind woman who was the best friend of the two men's mother, and now feels they should stick together as a family. Hall is a former school teacher who is new to acting. She may turn out to be the movie find of the year. She rules this film as easily as she rules the family, with a no-nonsense presence that won't take foolishness and won't tolerate sass.
Hall's performance should be nominated in the ``best supporting actress'' category when the next Oscar race comes around. It, alone, is sufficient reason to see this film.
``A Family Thing'' is one of those films that makes you better for having seen it. At the same time, it gives you a rollicking good time. You couldn't ask for more. MOVIE REVIEW
``A Family Thing''
Cast: Robert Duvall, James Earl Jones, Michael Beach, Irma P. Hall, David Keith
Director: Richard Pearce
Screenplay: Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson
MPAA rating: PG-13 (language, some violence)
Mal's rating: three stars
Locations: Cinemark, Greenbrier 4 in Chesapeake; Janaf in Norfolk; Columbus, Lynnhaven 8 in Virginia Beach ILLUSTRATION: Photo by VAN REDIN, United Artists
Earl (Robert Duvall) learns about the family he never knew from Aunt
T. (Irma P. Hall), who, though blind, sees with her hands.
by CNB