A Family Thing

Mar 29, 1996

1h 49m

★ 6.5

With family, everything is relative.

Overview

Earl Pilcher Jr. runs an equipment rental outfit in Arkansas, lives with his wife and kids and parents, and rarely takes off his gimme cap. His mother dies, leaving a letter explaining he's not her natural son, but the son of a Black woman who died in childbirth; plus, he has a half brother Ray, in Chicago, she wants him to visit. Earl makes the trip, initially receiving a cold welcome from Ray and Ray's son, Virgil. His birth mother's sister, Aunt T., an aged and blind matriarch, takes Earl in tow and insists that the family open up to him.

Genres

Comedy

Drama

Production Companies

United Artists

Butcher's Run Films

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

A Family Thing Trailers

No Trailers found.

Cast

Earl Pilcher Jr.

Robert Duvall

Ray Murdock

James Earl Jones

Virgil

Michael Beach

Aunt T.

Irma P. Hall

Ruby

Grace Zabriskie

Ann

Regina Taylor

Sonny

David Keith

Woman at Hospital

Jacqueline Williams

Carrie

Mary Jackson

Karen

Paula Marshall

Club Manager

Phillip Edward Van Lear

Doctor

Meg Thalken

When his young son is killed in a hit and run accident, Charles Thenier resolves to hunt down and murder the killer. By chance, Thenier makes the acquaintance of an actress, Helène Lanson, who was in the car at the time of the accident. He then meets Helène’s brother-in-law, Paul Decourt, a truly horrible individual.

7.8

The Color Purple

Dec 18, 1985

An epic tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie, an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry. After Celie's abusive father marries her off to the equally debasing 'Mister' Albert Johnson, things go from bad to worse, leaving Celie to find companionship anywhere she can. She perseveres, holding on to her dream of one day being reunited with her sister in Africa.

7.6

Thelma & Louise

May 24, 1991

Taking a break from their dreary lives, close friends Thelma and Louise embark on a short weekend trip that ends in unforeseen incriminating circumstances. As fugitives, both women rediscover the strength of their bond and their newfound resilience.

7.1

Brubaker

Jun 20, 1980

The new warden of a small prison farm in Arkansas tries to clean it up of corruption after initially posing as an inmate.

6.9

The Ernest Green Story

Jan 17, 1993

Follows the story of Ernest Green, one of the Little Rock Nine who were the first blacks to integrate into an all white school.

5.4

Ask the Dust

Feb 2, 2006

Mexican beauty Camilla hopes to rise above her station by marrying a wealthy American. That is complicated by meeting Arturo Bandini, a first-generation Italian hoping to land a writing career and a blue-eyed blonde on his arm.

7.6

Atonement

Feb 27, 2007

As a 13-year-old, fledgling writer Briony Tallis irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister's lover of a crime he did not commit.

No Image Available

0.0

The Windjammer

Nov 13, 1945

Scott Elliott, a discharged WWII Navy officer and a film executive in civilian life, passes through a small Arkansas town, and meets Bob Burns, a farmer, and his daughter. As a film executive prior to the war, Elliott always had the thought that he could make animals talk on the screen, and when he tells this to Bob, he heartily agrees. They form a partnership whereby Elliott will handle the technical aspects, and Bob will write the dialogue for the talking animals. They go to Hollywood, where they start work on the film with the financial help of a producer. However, when half of the scenes are completed, they run the scenes for the producer, who walks out and refuses to put any more money in the project.

3.8

Dert Bende

Mar 1, 1973

The love lives of two sisters who are in love with the same man are intertwined. And when one of them decisively decides to get married, things get really complicated.

5.0

Letter from the Wife

Jan 1, 1972

A worthy companion to Ray’s Charulata, the film is based on a short story by Rabindranath Tagore where a young wife goes against her family to save a young girl from the atrocities of the society.

6.0

Anjal Petti 520

Jun 27, 1969

A salaried manager tried to save his job and his company.

7.3

Becoming Jane

Mar 2, 2007

A biographical portrait of a pre-fame Jane Austen and her romance with a young Irishman.

7.6

Billy Elliot

Sep 28, 2000

County Durham, England, 1984. The miners' strike has started and the police have started coming up from Bethnal Green, starting a class war with the lower classes suffering. Caught in the middle of the conflict is 11-year old Billy Elliot, who, after leaving his boxing club for the day, stumbles upon a ballet class and finds out that he's naturally talented. He practices with his teacher Mrs. Wilkinson for an upcoming audition in Newcastle-upon Tyne for the royal Ballet school in London.

8.1

Central Station

Apr 3, 1998

An emotional journey of a former school teacher, who writes letters for illiterate people, and a young boy, whose mother has just died, as they search for the father he never knew.

5.5

The Wizard of Oz

Feb 12, 1925

A farm girl learns she is a princess and is swept away by a tornado to the land of Oz.

0.0

Klockan på Rönneberga

Mar 13, 1944

Rönneberga is an old family manor. When Lennart Heijken is born, his proud father buys his newborn a grandfather's clock that will follow him through his life and see him become a student, an officer, a married man, and eventually an old man.

7.0

A Painted House

Apr 27, 2003

A young boy, his family, and the migrant workers they hire to work their cotton farm struggle against difficult odds to raise and sell the crop. Meanwhile, the boy dreams of living in better conditions. However, with this particularly tough farming season, the boy learns that his challenges guide him in discovering who he really is.

6.9

Shotgun Stories

Oct 1, 2007

Shotgun Stories tracks a feud that erupts between two sets of half brothers following the death of their father. Set against the cotton fields and back roads of Southeast Arkansas, these brothers discover the lengths to which each will go to protect their family.

7.4

Il Mare

Sep 9, 2000

In the year 1999, a young woman leaves her quaint seaside house and returns to the city, leaving in the mailbox a card for the next owner, with instructions to forward any mail of hers to the new address. In the year 1997, a jaded young architect moves into the same house and finds the letter. His reply, which he slips into the mailbox, finds its way to her, beginning a parallel-time love story separated by a span of two years.

7.1

Immortal Beloved

Dec 16, 1994

A chronicle of the life of infamous classical composer Ludwig van Beethoven and his painful struggle with hearing loss. Following Beethoven's death in 1827, his assistant, Schindler, searches for an elusive woman referred to in the composer's love letters as "immortal beloved." As Schindler solves the mystery, a series of flashbacks reveal Beethoven's transformation from passionate young man to troubled musical genius.