The Good Son (film)
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| The Good Son | |
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| Directed by | Joseph Ruben |
| Produced by | Daniel Rogosin Ezra Swerdlow |
| Written by | Ian McEwan |
| Starring | Macaulay Culkin Elijah Wood |
| Distributed by | Twentieth Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | September 24, 1993 |
| Running time | 87 min |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Good Son is a 1993 thriller film directed by Joseph Ruben and written by Ian McEwan.
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[edit] Plot summary
Mark Evans (Elijah Wood) suffers the loss of his mother. Not long afterward, his father has to go to Tokyo, Japan, for a business trip, so Mark is left at his uncle's home in Maine.
Mark soon discovers that his cousin, Henry, also known as Wil Anderson (Macaulay Culkin) has a fascination with home-made weapons and death, and slightly psychopathic tendicies against his family members. However, Henry is so good at disguising his true nature from everyone but Mark that no one is the least bit suspicious of him. Thus, Mark's attempts to warn others about Henry are regarded as misguided cries for attention resulting from Mark's emotional trauma over the recent death of his mother. Henry's mother, Susan, is too distraught over the death of her second son Richard (whom Henry, unknownst to his mother, drowned when the former was a baby because Henry felt Richard was getting too much attention) to actually listen to Mark.
In the end, Susan is the one who finds out about Henry. Everyone else thinks that Mark is going crazy. Thanks but no thanks to his friend's ability to weave cunning lies.
The climax of the film has Henry trying to kill his mother by pushing her off a cliff and toss down a large rock on her as she's dangling from a branch. She almost dies, but then Mark arrives just in time and pounces on Henry. They scuffle and fall over the cliff as Susan lunges for them and they are hanging from Susan's arms. Mark pleas for help while Henry keeps repeating "Mom, I love you" and begs for her other hand, which is holding Mark in a desperate attempt for him to remain the 'good son' and stay alive, but Susan lets go of Henry, to save Mark.
Afterwards, Mark wonders if Susan would have made the same choice again - "I guess I'll always wonder, but I know I'll never ask."
[edit] Reaction
The film was panned by most critics, with Roger Ebert giving it half a star.
However, it received $44,789,789 in domestic box office revenues, and another $15,823,219 worldwide, for a total box office take of $60,613,008.[1]
[edit] Cast
- Macaulay Culkin: Henry Evans
- Elijah Wood: Mark Evans
- Wendy Crewson: Susan Evans
- David Morse: Jack
- Daniel Hugh Kelly: Wallace Evans
- Jacqueline Brookes: Alice Davenport
- Quinn Culkin: Connie Evans
[edit] Trivia
- Michael Klesic was originally cast in the role of Henry Evans in 1988. The film was soon later put on hold due to lack of funding. A couple years later Jesse Bradford was cast as Henry Evans because the original child actors had grown too old for their parts. The project was once again put on hold and the same problem happened. Then, was once again re-cast and finally shot and released in 1993.
- The original director Michael Lehmann who believed that Culkin was wrong to play a sinister 12-year-old psychotic, left the project, which was put off to let Culkin finish "Home Alone 2."
- Fox executives insisted that the studio wanted Culkin for "The Good Son" all along. According to head of production Roger Birnbaum, Kit Culkin saw the script but did not respond for a number of months. Then, as the movie was nearing production with another actor in mind for the role, Culkin announced he wanted the part. The role was rewritten to make it a cute, sinister 12-year-old. Source: Newsweek, December 9, 1991.
- Richard (in picture) and Connie are played by Macauley's real life brother and sister.
- The fight on the cliff between Macaulay Culkin and Elijah Wood at the end of the film was filmed on a rock face in Two Harbors, Minnesota overlooking Lake Superior. In the story, it was supposed to be The Atlantic Ocean but a suitable rock face overlook could not be found, and after numerous weekend scouts all over the country, Two Harbors, Minnesota was chosen. For the angles looking down at the water, numerous power boats were used to churn up the water right before cameras were rolled to simulate the ocean waves. The cliff was 180 feet above the water, but the top ten feet of the cliff was manufactured. It was created on top of the actual cliff out of wood and plaster and coated with a rubber material so that the actors could roll around on it and fight as needed. The stunt riggers were hidden inside the fake cliff, controlling safety cables connected to the actors when they were hanging off the side of the cliff and then Macaulay's character is dropped.
- Both Macaulay Culkin and Elijah Wood were trained by the stunt coordinator, Jack Gill and rehearsed for 6 weeks prior to this scene so that they could be comfortable and act while hanging 180 feet above the water. When Macaulay's character was dropped by his mother (Wendy Crewson) the movie needed a shot of the real Macaulay and not a stunt double falling away from camera on the actual cliff. After discussions with Macaulay's parents' and with Macaulay, he agreed to do a 30 foot fall on a cable on the actual cliff, 180 feet above a freezing Lake Superior, but he wanted one thing in return for this act of bravery; a BB gun. Macaulay performed the cable fall perfectly and was given his BB gun.
This is the second film in which Culkin dies. He is stung by a bee and dies in the film My Girl.
The Good Son is somewhat based on the The Bad Seed.
[edit] External links
- The Good Son at the Internet Movie Database
- Roger Ebert's review
