A Perfect World movie storyline. In 1963 Texas, convicts Robert “Butch” Haynes (Kevin Costner) and Jerry Pugh (Keith Szarabajka) escape from the state penitentiary in Huntsville. Fleeing, the pair stumble into a house where eight-year-old Phillip Perry (T.J. Lowther) lives with his devout Jehovah’s Witness mother and two sisters.
Needing a hostage to aid their escape, Butch grabs the boy, who meekly accompanies them. The trio’s journey starts off on an unpleasant note as Butch shoots Jerry, following the latter’s attempt to molest the child. With his partner out of the way, the convict and his young victim take to the Texas highway in a bid to flee from the pursuing police.
Meanwhile, Texas Ranger Red Garnett (Clint Eastwood), riding in the Governor’s airstream trailer, is in pursuit. With criminologist Sally Gerber (Laura Dern) and trigger-happy FBI sharpshooter Bobby Lee (Bradley Whitford) in tow, Red is determined to recover the criminal and the hostage before they cross the Texas border. Also, Red reveals to Sally that he has a personal interest in apprehending Butch alive. Even though Butch doesn’t realize it, Red has a history with him.
When Butch was a teenager, he stole a car, and Red was the arresting officer. Due to his age and it being a first offense, Butch was supposed to get a lenient sentence. Red feared doing so would not teach him anything and would only encourage him to begin a life of crime. He thought that if Butch got a harsher sentence, it would scare him straight, so he bribed the judge to make it happen. Years later, Red has come to realize that the harsher sentence only encouraged the very life of crime he feared would happen. Now, Red is hoping that if he can bring Butch in alive, he can redeem himself for his past mistake.
Phillip, eight years old, has never participated in Halloween or Christmas celebrations. Escaping with Butch, however, he experiences a freedom which he finds exhilarating, as Butch gladly allows him the kind of indulgences he has been forbidden all along, including the wearing of a shoplifted Casper the Friendly Ghost costume. Gradually, Phillip becomes increasingly aware of his surroundings, and with constant encouragement from Butch, seems to acquire the ability to make independent decisions on what is wrong and right. For his part, Butch slowly finds himself drawn into giving Phillip the kind of fatherly presence which he himself never had.
A Perfect World is a 1993 crime drama road film directed by Clint Eastwood, and starring Kevin Costner as an escaped convict who befriends a young boy (T.J. Lowther), and ends up embarking on a road trip with the child. Eastwood co-stars as a Texas Ranger in pursuit of the convict.
A Perfect World (1993)
Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Kevin Costner, Clint Eastwood, Laura Dern, T.J. Lowther, Keith Szarabajka, Leo Burmester, Paul Hewitt, Bradley Whitford, Jennifer Griffin, Leslie Flowers
Screenplay by: John Lee Hancock
Production Design by: Henry Bumstead
Cinematography by: Jack N. Green
Film Editing by: Joel Cox, Ron Spang
Costume Design by: Erica Edell Phillips
Set Decoration by: Alan Hicks
Art Direction by: Jack G. Taylor Jr.
Music by: Lennie Niehaus
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for violence, sexual content and language.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: November 24, 1993
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