Sling Blade
“A simple man. A difficult choice.”
Billy Bob ThorntonCast
Billy Bob Thornton 
Dwight Yoakam 
J.T. Walsh 
John Ritter 
Lucas Black
Plot
Karl Childers, a mentally disabled man, has been in the custody of the state mental hospital since the age of 12 for killing his mother and her lover. Although thoroughly institutionalized, he is deemed fit to be released into the outside world.
Sinekatalog’s take
A character study built around Karl, a man released after decades in a state hospital, and the fragile family that takes him in. Thornton's slow, lived-in direction and central performance make the film's violence feel earned rather than sensational. Haunting and unusually humane.Sinekatalog’s own editorial review – not a user or critic quote.
Awards
- Writers Guild of America Awards 1997: Best Adapted Screenplay
Ratings
IMDb: 8.0 / 10 (105,058 votes)
IMDb rating and vote count from the IMDb ratings dataset (October 2026). Scores change over time.
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