I just finished watching A Family Thing, the first movie of our “Robert Duvall Movie Month.” I had seen this in the theater back in 1996 and remembered it being fairly poignant back then. It’s still a very good movie with two premiere actors of our day– Duvall and James Earl Jones. Both play characters in their sixties– Duvall a conservative southerner from Arkansas and Jones a cop in Chicago who was born in Arkansas but raised up north. The “family thing” the movie is referring to is the fact that the two are half brothers sharing the same mother. Raymond (Jones) was the older brother who was present when his younger brother Earl (Duvall) was born. Their mother died soon after giving birth and Raymond never forgave his brother Earl (or Earl’s father) for what he did to his mother. Raymond ended up being raised by his aunt, eventually ending up in Chicago, and Earl was raised by his birth mother’s good friend and her husband - Earls’ biological father.

This is all mostly background and the bulk of the movie takes place after Earl’s mother (the one who raised him) passes away and leaves him a letter telling him the truth and asking him to get to know his brother. Of course the two don’t get along at first but both end up getting to know each other and sharing a kinship that breaks down their perceived racial barriers. It sounds a bit cliche as I write this, but it really was pulled off well and both characters were multi-dimensional in their roles.

The poignant speech I remembered from when I originally saw the movie comes just over half way through when Earl is having a heart to heart talk with Raymond’s son, Virgil. Virgil was a former college football star whose career was ended by injury before realizing his full potential. Earl told him a story about one of the residents of his hometown who had gone through some major setbacks in his life but managed to maintain a positive outlook. It boiled down to something this simple man told him one day. “Being happy is as simple as having something to look forward to.” Earl ended his little talk by telling Virgil that he needs to find something to look forward to and that he needs to give his family something to look forward to. If you haven’t seen this movie yet, pay attention to this scene. I’m afraid I’m not doing the scene justice by trying to describe in here, but I thought it was pretty powerful to watch. In fact, powerful enough that I haven’t forgotten it in the 12 years since I first saw the movie.

Overall, I think this was a great movie and any fans of James Earl Jones or Robert Duvall will find their characters both real and memorable.

Reviewed by Matt, posting for the educational and science best selling toys of 2008.