The Stone Boy

The Stone Boy is a tragedy of Midwestern stoicism in the face of inconsolable grief. Arnold accidentally shoots his brother and is frozen out by his family, with the exception of his grandfather. The process for everyone is painful to watch, but handled very quietly. I was very reminded of Tender Mercies, another great Robert Duvall film. It is drama at its best and a film I recommend highly.

This movie probably never made a blip on the radar screen, but it's got quite a bit of quality. It's pretty lifelike, yet you think "It's only a movie." Duvall and Close portray common people, and you'd never even realize they are now big-name actors. It seems that the jerk in this story is a little too old to be chasing Eugene's girlfriend, but I guess it's possible. It seems unlikely that the kid would travel from Montana to Nevada by himself, but I guess it's possible. You might think that the family troubles in this movie would never happen in your own family, but I guess it's possible. I remember Glenn Close saying something like "You think the work you do is the hardest part of your life, but it isn't."

12 year old Arnald Hillerman accidentally kills his older brother Eugene. His feelings are arrested by the fact that his family can not interact with him (or feel it is not the right thing to do). His ONLY refuge is his grandfather, who is the ONLY one who seems to have compassion on him. The Realism will captivate "true-2-life" movie lovers, but will not satisfy those that desire action & thrills.

A family in rural Montana has their lives ripped apart after their youngest son Arnold (Jason Presson) accidentally shoots and kills his older brother Eugene (Dean Cain). The parents (Robert Duvall and Glenn Close) don't know exactly how to handle the situation afterwards as the boy seems to have no emotion about it, so it is up to his grandfather (Wilford Brimley) to help him make sense of it all.

This is perhaps as low key a drama as you could find. Director Christopher Cain (stepfather of Dean) allows for everything to unfold in a realistic fashion with nary an opportunity for over-the-top theatrics (Frederic Forrest does provide some as Close's brother). There is also a wonderful score by James Horner and beautiful cinematography by Juan Ruiz-Anchia. Presson is quite good as the lead and he would go on to be the kid no one can remember from Joe Dante's Explorers (1985). Linda Hamilton as has a small role as a lady the boy encounters on a bus. Duvall, Close and Brimley would also appear in The Natural released a month after this.

"The Stone Boy" is very well acted (after all, it stars the likes of Robert Duvall, Glynn Close and Wilfred Brimley)..however, it's far from being a crowd pleaser. This is because the film is extremely depressing and it's not the type film most folks would want to watch. This certainly would help to explain the film's horrendous box office return...and it was almost immediately pulled from theaters and placed on video.

The story is about a family's reaction to the accidental death of the oldest son. It seems he and his younger brother were going out hunting and the gun accidentally discharged...killing him instantly. But the reactions are not just the surviving son's but the entire family. It reveals that there were certainly some problems pre-existing in the family. The story has a very stark look with little incidental music.

Overall, an unpleasant film with some very fine acting...and it's a movie you might want to avoid if you are dealing with depression or family crises of your own.

By the way, if you are looking for a great film dealing with some similar themes, try "Ordinary People"...it's really a great, great film and really deserved the Oscar it received for Best Picture.