Paris Trout

Dennis Hopper, Barbara Hershey and Ed Harris: now there's three last names- beginning with H-in their prime in the 1980s actors for you. Here's a bigger oddity: nary a profane word spoken by either Hopper or Harris in this movie!

There also is very little violence. However, when it occurs, it is shocking. Hopper plays his normal evil person and is convincing, as always. The film is fascinating for the first half but then bogs down with the romance between Hershey and Harris. It picks up again at the end.

The scenery here of the rural South of the 1940s is very pretty. This is an odd film; almost hard to classify, but certainly worth a look. As you can tell by the number of reviews, it's not a well-known film. I saw it twice and enjoyed it both times.

I recently checked this book out of the library and could not put it down! I was please to find out that there was a movie made and lucky enough to get my hands on a copy. The movie does do the book justice. The actors are all perfect for the roles. My only one real complaint is that, while Dennis Hopper is pretty creepy and played the role of Paris Trout better than anyone else could have.....he just didn't scare me like the Paris in the book did. He just wasn't mean enough. I also thought that they left out (or changed) to many of the confrontations between Paris and his wife. Maybe that is why he didn't come off as crazy as he did in the book. All in all I give it an A++. One of the better movies I've seen lately! If you've seen it, read the book too!

I saw this in a theater and later found out it was actually a HBO movie in the U.S. but had been amazed by how well done it was. The acting is superb - Dennis Hopper does evil men like almost no-one else, Barbara Hershey and Ed Harris are good in whatever they do. It starts out as a harrowing racial drama but soon grows larger into a tale of authority and the evils of power over those who are weaker unless society and its laws protect them. A powerful and disturbing movie. 9/10

A very literate drama, filled with characters who can speak like poets. Ed Harris is a Southern gentleman lawyer caught up in a set of circumstances that soon escalate beyond his control. His frustration is palpable, and his quiet desperation makes him a man to be pitied. Barbara Hershey is an angry victim of demoralizing abuse in a stultifying environment of prejudice and psychosis. Dennis Hopper is the embodiment of this psychosis. And these three characters are tied together in a tortuous Devil's knot. A fascinating portrayal of good and evil. Put the kids to bed before you watch.

This is what films are supposed to be about. Not dripping with profanity, computerized special effects, sped-up chase scenes. It is one of the most faithful book-to-screen renditions in existence although naturally some of the scenes from the book had to be trimmed in order to make the film conform to typical length. But no problem--the skill of the actors and director create the essential thrust of the film. This book concerns true events that happened not far from where I live, and people hereabouts still speak of those events. As for the comment that the fox/rabies/little girl portion of the plot seems disconnected, not true. The fox, the manner in which the kind townspeople respond to her being bitten, the diametrically-opposed behavior of Trout toward the same little girl, and the manner in which the lives of all humans in small towns are interwoven, make for superb writing and film-making. You will never forget either film nor book. Scenes from both will always crop up, especially the bottles--the scene with Hershey and later the contents of the safes.