List Price: $14.98You Pay Only: $9.99 You Save: $4.99 (33%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
Brand: GLENN,SCOTT
EAN: 0707729143277
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
Label: Lions Gate
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Lions Gate
Region Code: 1
Release Date: October 21, 2003
Running Time: 97 minutes
Sales Rank: 18008
Studio: Lions Gate
Theatrical Release Date: April 27, 2003
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Editorial Review:
Description: Based on the novel by John Grisham. Until that September in 1952, Luke Chandler had never kept a secret or told a single lie. But in that long, hot summer when 10-year-old Luke Chandler comes of age, two groups of migrant workers - and two very dangerous men - come through the Arkansas Delta to work the Chandler cotton farm. And suddenly mysteries flood Luke's world. A murder leaves the town seething in gossip and suspicion. A beautiful young woman catches Luke's eye. A fatherless baby is born, and someone has begun furtively painting the bare clapboards of the Chandler farmhouse, slowly, painstakingly bathing the run-down structure in gleaming white. As young Luke watches the world around him, he shelters secrets that could shatter lives - and change his family forever. A memorable adaptation of John Grisham's life-affirming story, A Painted House draws on childhood memories and 'local lore' from his Arkansas roots.
Amazon.com: Even by the high standards of the Hallmark Hall of Fame, A Painted House is well above average. John Grisham's well-received 'lawyer-free' novel was respectfully adapted by Patrick Sheane Duncan (Mr. Holland's Opus), and director Alfonso Arau (Like Water for Chocolate, A Walk in the Clouds) brings just the right touch of toughness and delicate nostalgia to Grisham's semi-autobiographical remembrance of boyhood in rural Arkansas, circa 1952. Grisham's alter ego is 10-year-old Luke Chandler (well played by Logan Lerman), and when tempers flare into violence between the Mexican migrant workers and itinerant 'hill people' hired to harvest cotton on his grandfather's farm, Luke--who has witnessed a murder--must decide whether to expose the killer or keep the crime a secret. Filled with warm grace notes and a perfect cast including leather-faced Scott Glenn and Melinda Dillon (as Luke's grandparents), A Painted House juggles multiple crises (including devastating rainstorms) with strong family values, capturing the humor and hardship of farming life at a crossroads of fading tradition and inevitable change. Combining elements of To Kill a Mockingbird and Places in the Heart, this is a purebred Hallmark production in every respect, earning a badge of pride for everyone involved in its making. --Jeff Shannon
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - The Beginning
When I first saw this on TV I really like it, probably because it is a coming of age story. Coming of age stories are good because they make you aware of how you came to be a certain way as an adult.
A Painted House I felt when I saw it allows you to see how different life can be for others. My life growing up was nothing like those in this film and actually I couldn't really identify with any of the characters.
Everyone knows that opposites attract and that is the only reason I can explain for liking this movie.
Also the story is told from the youngest boy's point of view and that added something special to the narrative structure because the storyteller is looking back on his childhood.
That's another reason I enjoyed it, I love movies about writers, even though A Painted House had nothing to do with writing in its story; I still enjoyed that element that the boy would grow up to be a writer. Most people are unaware of the writer's creative process and just seeing this kid picking cotton and watching fights and going to five-cent matinees and knowing he grows up to be a writer made me watch a little more careful to see how that creative process began.
Rating: - family movie
It keeps you thinking. It has a great theme of family and closeness. The story of one boy and his families hardships living by the river.
Rating: - Pretty good for a book adaptation
I was curious about this film because I had recently read - and enjoyed - the book by John Grisham. And well, yes, the book IS better, but who would expecte anything else? The movie version still is very good indeed, the acting was good. Scott Glenn played the grandfather very convincingly and Logan Lerman gave a promising performance as young Luke Chandler. These two worked well together and they are the main characters. Although some slight story adaptations were made, the film still stays true to the book (John Grisham himself was involved in the project). There should have been a little more focus on the character of Cowboy, since his part in the story got bigger towards the end and only little background about the developing conflict between him and Hank Spruill (a very good performance by Pablo Schreiber as the angry young man) was really given - whereas in the book the conflict builds gradually. The final - and fatal - fight between the two also differs from the book version, but the way it starts here was probably necessary to make it work (see my comment about the lack of development). Apart from a few minor upsets, this is a fine and entertaining film.
Rating: - A Painted House (DVD) based on novel by John Grisham
An excellent movie breathing life into the story and characters as depicted in John Grisham's story.
I loved the book and this film really does it justice. A must have for any John Grisham fans.
Rating: - Read it instead.
If you see it you'll never want to read it, a great book to read. The movie didn't carry the half of it.
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