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Sling Blade is a 1996 American Southern Gothic drama film written, directed by and starring Billy Bob Thornton. Set in Arkansas, it is the story of intellectually challenged Karl Childers and the friendship he develops with a boy and his mother. Karl was released from a psychiatric hospital where he had grown up due to having killed his mother and her lover when he was 12 years old. It also stars Dwight Yoakam, J. T. Walsh, John Ritter, Lucas Black, Natalie Canerday, James Hampton, and Robert Duvall.
The film was adapted by Thornton from his previous one-man show Swine Before Pearls, from which he also developed a screenplay for the 1994 short film Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade, directed by George Hickenlooper. Sling Blade became a sleeper hit, launching Thornton into stardom. Thornton won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and he was also nominated for Best Actor. The music for the soundtrack was provided by French-Canadian musician/producer Daniel Lanois.
Sling Blade was filmed in 24 days, on location in Benton, Arkansas, produced by David L. Bushell and Brandon Rosser.
As a passive person, Karl spends his days quietly staring out a window at an open field and wringing his hands together. He is often forced by Charles, a fellow patient, to listen to his stories about unsolved crimes of murder and rape. Charles was, unbeknownst to the hospital, a serial killer. The state determines that Karl is no longer dangerous and releases him. Karl wants to stay, but is told that he has to leave. He goes back to his hometown, where he finds work as a small engine mechanic.
Karl befriends 12-year-old Frank Wheatley and shares details of his past, including the killings. Frank introduces Karl to his mother, Linda, and her gay best friend and boss, Vaughan. Vaughan is concerned about Karl's history, but Linda asks him to move into her garage, which her abusive and alcoholic boyfriend, Doyle begrudgingly accepts. Vaughan tells Karl that he fears Doyle could hurt or kill Linda and Frank one day.
Karl becomes a role model to Frank, who misses his deceased father and despises Doyle. As they grow closer, Karl tells Frank that he is haunted by an incident that happened when he was six or eight years old. His parents did not want his baby brother so his father made him dispose of the body. Karl found the baby was still moving, but buried him alive anyway. Karl later visits his sickly father and tries to reconcile, but is rejected. He scolds his father for his past cruelty to him and to his brother and says that he thought many times about killing him, but no longer sees the need as he is an old man and will be dead soon enough.
During Doyle's latest drunken outburst, where he refuses to leave Linda's house, Frank fights back. Linda later reconciles with Doyle, who announces that he is moving in with them. He tells Karl that he is no longer welcome. When Frank protests, Doyle grabs him, but Karl intervenes and warns him never to touch Frank again. Doyle insists that he is in charge and orders Karl to leave.
Realizing that an unhappy childhood or worse awaits Frank, Karl persuades him and Linda to spend the night at Vaughan's house. Karl tells Frank that he loves him, and gives him a brotherly hug. Karl then asks Vaughan to promise to look after Frank and Linda. Later that evening, he returns to the Wheatley home carrying a sharpened lawn mower blade, and finds Doyle drunk and alone in the living room. After asking Doyle how to call for the police, Karl kills him, calls 9-1-1, and then sits down at the kitchen table to eat biscuits with mustard, a childhood favorite, while waiting for the police to arrive.
Karl is returned to the state hospital, but is now more assertive. Charles begins telling him more private stories about unsolved crimes involving sexual violence, and then questions him about his relationship with Frank. This angers Karl, and he turns on Charles and tells him to never speak to him again. As Charles walks away, Karl resumes looking out of the window toward the open field, a slight grin on his face.
The film was made with a production budget of $1 million financed by TSG Pictures, and was sold to Miramax for $10 million, which at the time was a record price for an independent film.
The Washington Post called it a "masterpiece of Southern storytelling". Kevin Thomas wrote in the Los Angeles Times that the film is "a mesmerizing parable of good and evil and a splendid example of Southern storytelling at its most poetic and imaginative". The New York Times critic Janet Maslin praised the performances but said that "it drifts gradually toward climactic events that seem convenient and contrived".
| Academy Awards | Best Actor | Billy Bob Thornton | | |
| Best Screenplay – Based on Material Previously Produced or Published | ||||
| Boston Society of Film Critics Awards | Best New Filmmaker | |||
| Chicago Film Critics Association Awards | Best Actor | |||
| Chicago International Film Festival | Special Jury Award | |||
| Chlotrudis Awards | Best Picture | |||
| Best Director | Billy Bob Thornton | |||
| Best Actor | ||||
| Best Supporting Actor | Lucas Black | |||
| John Ritter | ||||
| Edgar Awards | Best Motion Picture | Billy Bob Thornton | ||
| Independent Spirit Awards | Best First Feature | |||
| Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Actor | Billy Bob Thornton | ||
| National Board of Review Awards | ||||
| Special Achievement in Filmmaking | Billy Bob Thornton | |||
| Satellite Awards | Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama | |||
| Best Screenplay – Adapted | ||||
| Best Original Score | Daniel Lanois | |||
| Saturn Awards | Best Performance by a Younger Actor | Lucas Black | ||
| Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture | Lucas Black, Natalie Canerday, Robert Duvall, James Hampton, John Ritter, Billy Bob Thornton, J. T. Walsh, and Dwight Yoakam | ||
| Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role | Billy Bob Thornton | |||
| Writers Guild of America Awards | Best Screenplay – Based on Material Previously Produced or Published | |||
| Young Artist Awards | Best Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film | Lucas Black | ||
| YoungStar Awards | Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Drama Film | |||
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