A Perfect World Reviews

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.

After winning his first best picture Oscar with the movie 'Unforgiven', Clint Eastwood’s following project was this flick. It might be surprising but, even though it is not really one of his most highly regarded features, it is, and by far, my all-time favorite movie directed by the great master. Indeed, I saw it in the movie theater when it came out, I was just 13 or 14 years old and it was the first time I almost cried at the end of any movie. I mean, I was a wreck at the end and it was the very first time I was so emotional after watching a movie. It was a very intense experience and therefore this movie became one of the major milestones in my movie watching. To be honest, even though  Kevin Costner was always charismatic, I actually never really cared much for his work. However, I thought he was great here, bringing a nice combo of coolness and melancholy to his character and he had a great chemistry with this young boy. In my opinion, Eastwood was really at the top of his game at that time, at least as a director. I mean, there was such a control of the tone here, it was quite masterful and the ending was just shattering even if it was slightly predictable. Anyway, even though it is not Eastwood's best known movie, it had a huge impact on me, I think it is actually his best one so far and, as a matter of fact, it is one of my favorite movies. Yeah, I think it is that great and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Clint Eastwood’s work.