A Perfect World (1993) Warner Bros./Drama-Thriller RT: 138 minutes Rated PG-13 (language, violence, sexual content, mature themes) Director: Clint Eastwood Screenplay: John Lee Hancock Music: Lennie Niehaus Cinematography: Jack N. Green Release date: November 24, 1993 (US) Cast: Kevin Costner, Clint Eastwood, Laura Dern, T.J. Lowther, Bradley Whitford, Keith Szarabajka, Leo Burmester, Paul Hewitt, Ray McKinnon, Jennifer Griffin, Bruce McGill, Lucy Lee Flippin, Linda Hart, Wayne Dehart, Mary Alice, Kevin Woods. Box Office: $31.1M (US)/$135.2M (World)
Rating: *** ½
I have a theory as to why A Perfect World underperformed at the box office. Audiences went in expecting a Clint Eastwood actioner in the vein of the previous summer’s In the Line of Fire and were disappointed to see it wasn’t that kind of movie. In fact, Clint isn’t even the star of the picture. That would be Kevin Costner hot off the surprise success of The Bodyguard the year before.
I’m not embarrassed to admit I also expected something different from A Perfect World. That explains why I didn’t initially care for it. I found it slow and uninvolving. Over the years, I’ve come to see it differently. I realize now it’s a film of subtlety and great psychological depth. It may be about a Texas Ranger (Eastwood) chasing an escape convict across the state, but it has more going for it than wild car chases and violent shoot-outs. You won’t find either of those here.
Directed by Eastwood, A Perfect World is more about the relationship between Costner’s character and his young hostage, a meek little boy from a strict religious home. It’s also about the connection between the pursuer and the pursued. It goes deeper than a lawman chasing down a law breaker. There’s a lot going on beneath the surface of this deliberately paced crime drama that proves Eastwood is one of the finest filmmakers working in Hollywood today. I’d even say it’s among his best work.
Set in 1963 right before the tragic events of that November, two convicts- Butch Haynes (Costner) and Jerry Pugh (Szarabajka, The Green Mile)- escape from jail and go on the run. While looking to change cars (Butch wants a Ford), they run into trouble when Jerry enters a home and tries to rape a single mother (Griffin, Vanilla Sky) making breakfast for her kids. Butch comes in and saves her, but takes her 8YO son Phillip (Lowther, Mad Love) hostage when an armed neighbor (it’s Texas, EVERYBODY has guns!) attempts to intervene. He’s a sheltered boy who hasn’t experienced much of the world outside his mother’s religious beliefs (they’re Jehovah’s Witnesses). This adventure will be a real eye-opener for the kid.
Texas Ranger Red Garnett (Eastwood) is tasked with apprehending the escapees with the assistance of young criminologist Sally Gerber (Dern, Wild at Heart) and FBI sharpshooter Bobby Lee (Whitford, The West Wing). They hit the road in a state of the art airstream trailer designated for the governor’s re-election campaign. Sally has all kinds of new-fangled psychological methods she thinks will help them better understand Butch’s mindset which in turn, will help them re-capture him without incident. Red isn’t buying into all that, but he wants to bring Butch back alive as a means of self-redemption. He did something he thought was right at the time only for it to be wrong.
Without going into too much detail, Jerry is removed from the equation which leaves just Butch and young Phillip, his new navigator. They develop sort of a friendship with the escaped con allowing the sheltered boy to do all the things his mother would never allow (e.g. taking part in Halloween, shoplifting). Meanwhile, Red and his team do everything they can to locate Butch before he harms the boy. You see, Butch is something of a sociopath. He’s unpredictable so there’s no telling what he might do.
A Perfect World is one of those movies that took a couple of viewings for me to “get”. Once I did, I realized that it’s yet another triumph for Eastwood the filmmaker. A few people have said that most of his films move slowly and I can’t disagree with that. I can’t entirely agree either. Let’s call it a matter of semantics. Clint’s films tend to move at a deliberate pace. It’s by design. He has an exact notion of what he wants to do and where he wants to go. He’ll get there his way in his own time. Not all of his films fall into the outstanding category, but there’s no denying he knows and understands his craft.
Eastwood also knows how to cast his films. Costner imbues his character with the right amount of subtlety and danger. A true sociopath knows how to hide in plain sight. Costner’s signature understated style works to great advantage here. Eastwood also delivers a remarkable performance. It’s not often that you find a filmmaker that can direct himself in a movie and not take center stage. Technically speaking, A Perfect World is a Kevin Costner movie that happens to co-star Eastwood. The two actors have only one scene together, but it comes off quite well.
The cinematography is terrific; Eastwood uses the back roads of Texas to great effect. They underscore the undercurrent of violence in Costner’s character. The score by Lennie Niehaus is also quite good. What I like best about A Perfect World is how its slow pace increases the tension in the film. Like I said, Eastwood doesn’t rely on the usual conventions of the action genre, instead preferring a psychological angle. The film isn’t to everybody’s liking and I can see why audiences stayed away. I’m glad people have since realized what Eastwood was going for and come to appreciate it. It truly is the work of a filmmaking grandmaster.
