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Jayne Mansfield's Car

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Jayne Mansfield's Car

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Summary

An Alabama woman who left her husband for an Englishman dies in 1969, and her will dictates that she wishes to be buried in her home state. The arrangement results in an awkward first encounter for her two husbands and their families. Drama, directed by and starring Billy Bob Thornton. With Robert Duvall, John Hurt and Kevin Bacon

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Review

A star rating of 2 out of 5.

David Parkinson

Returning to the director's chair after an 11-year absence, Billy Bob Thornton invokes the spirit of Tennessee Williams in this seething study of domestic dysfunction set in the Deep South at the height of the Vietnam War. However, the screenplay (co-written with Tom Epperson) packs in too many characters and too frequently lets the dialogue carry the expository load. Consequently, the tensions between Great War veteran Robert Duvall and sons Kevin Bacon, Robert Patrick and Thornton himself never quite crackle as they are supposed to, even after daughter Katherine LaNasa invites John Hurt and children Ray Stevenson and Frances O'Connor to supper when they come to bury the woman who had abandoned Duvall to go to Britain. But, even though there is plenty of sexual frisson between the stepsiblings, and Duvall and Hurt have their moments together, the dissection of American attitudes to duty, honour and death is undermined by the clumsy transatlantic stereotypes and the archness of the script.

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6.3/10

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Credits

Cast

rolenameJim CaldwellRobert DuvallKingsley BedfordJohn HurtSkip CaldwellBilly Bob ThorntonCarroll CaldwellKevin BaconJimbo CaldwellRobert PatrickPhillip BedfordRay StevensonCamilla BedfordFrances O'ConnorDonna BaronKatherine LaNasaNaomi CaldwellTippi Hedren

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Crew

rolenameDirectorBilly Bob Thornton

Details

Languages

English

Guidance

Swearing, sex scenes, nudity.

Available on

DVD

Formats

Colour

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