Film / A Perfect World

A Perfect World is a 1993 drama directed by Clint Eastwood, written by John Lee Hancock, and starring Eastwood, Kevin Costner, Laura Dern, Keith Szarabajka, T.J. Lowther, and Bradley Whitford.

In Texas, on Halloween of 1963, Butch Haynes and Terry Pugh escape from prison. They end up in the house of Gladys Perry, a deeply religious housewife, and in order to escape safely, they take Gladys' nine year old son Phillip as a hostage. However, Butch, who had a deeply troubled childhood, ends up killing Terry when Terry seems intent on killing Phillip. Butch gets the idea of taking Phillip to Alaska, and on their road trip, the two begin to bond somewhat. Meanwhile, Red Garnett, a Texas Ranger, is in pursuit of Butch, along with Sally Gerber, a criminologist who works in the governor's office, and Bobby Lee, an FBI agent, and it turns out Red and Butch have a history.

While the movie received good reviews (Siskel & Ebert both praised it, and Cahiers du Cinema named it the best film released in 1993), it did only lukewarm box office in the United States (though it did much better worldwide, making $135.1 million overall). However, in later years, it's become seen as one of Eastwood's most underrated movies as director.

This film contains examples of:

• Abusive Parents: Butch's mother was a prostitute, while his father, a criminal, was absent much of the time, and his mother's boyfriends didn't treat him well. This is part of why Red wanted Butch to be sentenced to a juvenile farm (see Back Story below), and why abusing children is a Berserk Button for Butch.
• An Aesop: As Roger Ebert put it in his rave review of the movie:
  ...as a complex series of events unfolds, we discover the real subject of the movie: Treat kids right, and you won't have to put them in jail later on. The crucial violence, from which later violence springs, is when a child is treated cruelly.
• Anger Born of Worry: When Mack finds out Butch is an escaped criminal, and he sees his grandson Cleveland playing with Phillip, Mack gets so afraid and upset when Cleveland won't come to him right away after being called that he hits Cleveland and yells at him. Unfortunately for Mack, this pushes Butch's Berserk Button.
• Back Story: When Butch was younger and had stolen a car, Red had him committed to a long sentence at a juvenile farm to get Butch away from his father, whom he considered bad news. Red obviously hoped the juvenile farm would help set Butch on the straight and narrow, and he feels guilty about the fact it did the opposite.
• Berserk Button: Do not yell at, or hit, or threaten, a child in front of Butch. Just don't. This shows in the different ways Butch treats Bob, a father whose family Butch and Phillip hitch a ride with, and Mack. When Bob's children spill soda in their car, Bob tells them not to worry even as his wife gets upset, and he calms his wife down. Butch ends up stealing their car, but he acts Affably Evil towards Bob and his family. When Mack hits his grandson, on the other hand, and yells at him (for understandable reasons, to be sure - see Anger Born of Worry above), Butch gets so angry he might have killed Mack if Phillip hadn't stolen Butch's gun and shot him with it.
  • It also shows in the fact Butch hits Terry when he threatens Phillip, and later kills him when he's chasing after Phillip.
• Children Are Innocent: Phillip, which is one of the reasons why Butch won't harm him at all, even when he takes him hostage, and even after Phillip shoots him to stop him from killing Mack and his family.
• Cold Sniper: Agent Bobby Lee, who ends up shooting Butch from far away, and is completely cold and ruthless about it.
• Contrived Coincidence: Butch drives down the road in the exact opposite direction Red and his group are going (see Surprisingly Realistic Outcome below), though it is justified in this case as they're both in the same area of the state, and they were bound to run into each other at some point.
• Deadpan Snarker: Sally has her moments.
  Lt. Hendricks: Cordoned off the area.
  Red: Tight?
  Lt. Hendricks: Tighter than a frog's pussy. (notices Sally) Sorry, ma'am.
  Sally: No doubt an observation based on personal experience.
• Downer Ending: Though Phillip is reunited with his mother finally at the end, he has to deal with the trauma not only of shooting Butch - to save Mack and his family - but also see Butch shot again in front of his eyes. Plus, Red and Sally were both hoping to get Butch to give up peacefully, and are devastated and angry when Agent Lee shoots him.
• Groin Attack: After Agent Bobby Lee shoots Butch when he might have been giving himself up, Sally gets so upset she knees him in the groin, right after Red punches him.
• Had to Come to Prison to Be a Crook: Discussed - Sally brings up the fact Butch got sent to a tough juvenile farm just for stealing a car when he was a teen, and Tom responds, "That's where the sonofabitch learned to be a criminal."
• Hidden Depths: Butch. According to Sally, he was tested while in jail, and his IQ is very high.
• Historical Domain Character: Though he's never named, the Governor of Texas whom we see is John Connally. Also, the movie takes place in the course of a few weeks before the fateful visit by John F. Kennedy, which gets mentioned a few times.
• How We Got Here: The movie opens with Butch lying in the grass, as we hear a helicopter engine and see money flying around. The rest of the movie shows what led up to that moment.
• Insistent Terminology: According to Butch, he and Phillip aren't in a car - they're in a time machine.
  • Also, when Sally tells Red she's there to assist him in dealing with the penal escape situation (involving Butch and Terry), Red responds, "This is not a 'penal escape situation.' This happens to be a manhunt."
• Insult Backfire: After Butch gives Phillip the gun and tells him to shoot Terry if he moves:
  Terry: You're a fucking crazy man.
  Butch: And that's a fact. I believe you're getting the hang of this.
• Interrupted Intimacy: Butch is having sex with Eileen, the diner waitress, when Eileen spots Phillip looking at them.
  Eileen: Nosy little feller, ain't he?
• Ironic Episode Title: The title A Perfect World is meant to reflect what people imagine, and believe, life was like in America before John F. Kennedy was assassinated, as it takes place in the weeks before Kennedy's visit to Texas. As the movie shows, things were far from perfect back then, and many of the problems of today existed back then as well.
• It's All My Fault: Red feels this way when Butch is mortally wounded at the end by Agent Bobby Lee just as Red thought he had convinced Butch to give himself up:
  Sally: You know you did everything you could, don't you?
  Red: (voice breaking) I don't know nothing. Not one damn thing.
• Like a Son to Me: Butch seems to see Phillip like this, allowing him to ride on the top of a car they've stolen, allowing him to trick-or-treat even after Halloween is over (his mother won't allow the celebration of Halloween as it's against her religion), and trying to generally teach him to have fun, all while looking out for him.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Butch gets so angry at Mack hitting his grandson that he yells at Phillip when he's trying to get him to do something.
• Potty Emergency:
  Phillip: Can we stop at the filling station?
  Butch: What for?
  Phillip: Number one.
  Butch: This here's nature, Phillip. Why don't you just...pee over by the tree?
• Shoot Him, He Has a Wallet!: Agent Bobby Lee shoots Butch when it looks like he's going to pull out a gun and shoot. Turns out Butch was just pulling out the list .
• Shout-Out: Phillip steals a Casper mask at one point, and wears it through much of the movie.
  • Sally calls Red a "hillbilly Sherlock Holmes".
• Stockholm Syndrome: Phillip ends up bonding with Butch because Butch lets him have fun the way his mother doesn't let him, and treats him better than his absent father does. That's until it looks like Butch is going to kill Mack and his family....
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Red, his deputies, Sally, and Agent Bobby Lee are pursuing Butch and Phillip in a high class trailer being pulled by a car. When Butch drives in the opposite direction, and Sally spots Phillip in the back, the car with the trailer gives chase. The man in charge of the trailer warns the deputy driving the car not to go over a certain speed limit or the trailer won't stay attached. Sure enough, when the deputy drives the car at a fast speed to catch up to Butch, the trailer becomes detached from the car, throwing everyone in it around the trailer (which also means things inside fall to the floor), and it ends up going into the fields.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Between Red and Sally. Red initially has no use for Sally's insights, and she considers him old-fashioned. However, as they pursue Butch, they learn to listen to each other and work together.
• Threat Backfire:
  Terry: (to Butch, as he's driving him and Phillip) This goddam ear's still bleeding. You ever try that shit again-
  Butch: What?
  Terry: What?
  Butch: You were in the middle of threatening me.
  Terry: Ain't a threat - it's a fact.
  Butch: (after getting Phillip to take the wheel) In two seconds, I'm gonna break your nose. That's a threat. (he punches Terry in the nose) And that's a fact.
  Terry: I'm gonna kill you for that.
  Butch: And that's a threat. Begin to understand the difference?
• Title Drop:
  Sally: (looking at a map) Shouldn't these be roadblocked as well?
  Tom (Red's assistant chief) Well, in a perfect world, Miss Gerber, we'd all lock arms and thrash the bushes until he turned up.
  Sally: Well, in a perfect world, things like this wouldn't happen in the first place, right?
• Vomit Discretion Shot: Sally gets sick after she sees the dead body of the prison deputy Butch and/or Terry killed dumped in the trunk of the car, though we only see her backside.