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Barn Burning1980
Ab Snopes (Tommy Lee Jones) is a Southern tenant farmer whose unrelenting and violent nature proves to be his undoing in William Faulkner's BARN BURNING. Snopes sets his employer's barn on fire when he thinks he's been treated unfairly. His son, Sarty, is horrified. Snope escapes justice for lack of proof, but he and his family are told to move on. No sooner do they move than Snopes is offended by his new rich employer. Torn between trying to win his father's acceptance and his aversion to what his father will do, Sarty must make a decision and act quickly. Adapted by Academy Award® winning screenwriter Horton Foote, Faulkner's complex world of class divisions and hostile family relationships comes to life through a boy's attempt to liberate himself from hatred and poverty.
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Member Reviews (2)
The Faulkner story is brilliant and complex in ways this version cannot capture. Horton Foote's screenplay is strikingly faithful to the original, but the direction and editing of this very low-budget production seriously limit the impact. But Tommy Lee Jones is perfectly cast.
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top reviewer
Although made for next to nothing, this Faulkner adaptation is still a powerful tale of class hatred and family conflict. Tommie Lee Jones is great as the father.