Sonny Boy

Plot synopsis:
Some kind of wooden pyramid is burning in the desert. Next thing we know, we are in 1970, in New Mexico. A car reaches a motel. A man wants to stay there but his wife would rather find a nicer place.Another man, Weasel (Brad Dourif), starts to steal the car. The couple notices, and Weasel shoots the man. The narrator remarks how the sound explodes in his head, and that he wants his mother's arms "to make me safe."Weasel proudly delivers the car to Slue's compound. (The wooden pyramid is there, not yet burnt.) Slue (Paul L. Smith) is grumpy and dismissive. Suddenly they realize there is a baby in the car. Pearl, Slue's helpmate-- David Carradine in a dress-- insists on keeping the baby, although Slue would rather sell the baby through Charlie P., his fence (Sydney Lassick).At a bar, Weasel boasts of the murder and brags that together with Slue, he owns the town. Doc (Conrad Janis) is in the bar and hits Weasel. Charlie P. warns Doc to be careful. Doc is rumored to have got in trouble experimenting with monkeys.A newly recruited policeman shows up at Slue's compound and noses around. Slue eliminates the policeman with a howitzer.Slue decides to appropriate the baby after all. He brandishes it to the sky and we understand that the narrator remembers being the baby as he recalls a flow of blood.A table is set, Pearl plays the piano, and everyone puts on animal masks. The baby is taken from a box and Slue gives it what the narrator calls "the gift of silence," cutting its tongue out. The baby doesn't cry.The narrator is seen at age 12, being towed behind a car as part of Slue's "games of strength and love," at 14 being tied to the stake and surrounded by a circle of fire to make his "skin so hard even fire can't harm me," and at 17 receiving a haircut.A policeman who cooperates with Slue warns him that the mayor could be a trouble-maker. Slue takes the narrator, Sonny Boy, to the mayor's house in an ice cream truck. Sonny Boy lopes toward the house on all fours, crashes through the window, and kills the mayor. He finds a mirror and considers himself a pitiful thing.Slue is pleased. Sonny Boy waxes emotional, and Slue berates him for weeping.Slue decides to extend his robberies into more prosperous territory and steal art. He takes Sonny Boy in the ice cream truck again. A pretty girl named Rose (Alexandra Powers), with crucifix earrings, notices Sonny Boy and tries to befriend him. The truck cruises suburbia a little, and Sonny Boy finds the area disturbing.He is sent into a church, where he is attracted to the figure of the crucified Jesus. A priest discovers him and he kills the priest, experiencing "the blood of a good man."Slue's accomplices, Weasel and Charlie P., would like to kill a prospector and take his gold. Slue refuses, because the prospector is part of the town that he considers his. The accomplices take Sonny Boy, with a cattle prod to control him, and they commit the crime. When it is discovered, the police understand that Slue "wouldn't turn on his own people."Sonny Boy escapes and experiences nature a little. He comes upon an abandoned house where a couple is in bed. They resent his intrusion, and they chase him on a motorcycle and the girl gleefully knifes him. He knocks the girl off the motorcycle and stands sorrowfully over her. A police car comes.Slue wonders why Sonny Boy has run off. Pearl thinks Sonny Boy may need a wife. "Whatever you say," Slue responds.A lynch mob is after Sonny Boy. He escapes, but he doesn't know the territory. He passes by walls with graffiti-- one says Helter Skelter. On another, the drawings are colorful and pleasant.He enters a house where a girl lives. He finds a rifle there. The girl understands Sonny Boy isn't normal and she pretends to sympathize with him until she can grab the gun and chase him away.Again Sonny Boy escapes, but others are after him.Three days later, in the desert, we see Rose arriving where Sonny Boy is lurking, and she kisses him. Slue grabs Sonny Boy back.A mob threatens the sheriff for not capturing Sonny Boy. Although Sonny Boy has a couple of defenders, Weasel understands there is no stopping the mob and he offers to help them find Sonny Boy.Sonny Boy, Slue, and Pearl are besieged in the compound. Despite their weapons, including the compound, they are cornered in the pyramid where they store some of their stolen goods. Slue's accomplices try to take advantage of the situation by taking some goods away, but Slue shoots them. Pearl goes down shooting against the mob. Sonny Boy briefly attacks Slue. The pyramid is burned, but Sonny Boy survives.Doc takes Sonny Boy in and repairs his tongue, using the tongue of a monkey. Lying in bed, Sonny Boy recalls seeing Slue lying dead in the pyramid.When he can speak, Sonny Boy's first word is "No!" He escapes, and as narrator he remarks, "I have words now, but what good are they? The pain doesn't stop, and I wonder: who am I now?"

Tags: murder

Review:
Smith playing Slue, a small town crime boss.
David Carradine plays his transvestite (I think) squeeze, Pearl, while Brad Dourif and Sydney Lassick are his two henchmen, Weasel and Charlie P.
When Sonny Boy gets loose, his actions threaten to turn the town against Slue.I had wanted to see this one after reading about it in "Terror on Tape", and TCM gave me the chance when they aired it as part of their Underground lineup.
While I would hesitate to call "Sonny Boy" a good film, it's worth a look if only to say that you've seen it.
Personally, I'm still not 100% sure if Carradine was supposed to be playing a guy in drag or an actual woman..
There is no film like Sonny Boy: even Leonard Maltin was moved to call it (I quote verbatim) "A repulsive, socially irredeemable waste of celluloid ...
filmed for no apparent reason other to offend and appal", and if that isn't a recommendation for a cult movie, I don't know what is.
It's pitiful that Sonny Boy has so little recognition apart from a few right-thinking die hards - you don't have to like it, just admit you've never seen its like before or since.
Sonny Boy is a one of a kind horror/comedy with an exceptional cast.
Smith (Midnight Express, Crimewave) plays his usual over-the-top man/monster role, David Carradine his transvestite wife, Brad Dourif (legend!) the aptly named Weasel, and Dourif's Cuckoo's Nest co-star Sydney Lassick, the slimy Charlie P.
Maybe making Sonny Boy scarred him for life?!
I also liked veteran Conrad Janis as one of the few non-repulsive characters in this, an alcoholic doctor with a liking for surgery involving monkey parts(!) Janis has had one eclectic career, working with everyone from Shirley Temple and Ronald Reagan to African bushman N!xau, from Mork And Mindy to The Cable Guy, but surely he must rate this as the weirdest project he's ever been involved in!
And Brad Dourif has made more than his fair share of strange movies,not least of which Blue Velvet, but none as demented as this crazy mutha!I recommend Sonny Boy to bizarre movie lovers everywhere, and fans of Garth Ennis comics will find much to enjoy here, as it shares a similar gonzo humour to Preacher et al..
While watching this with a friend (in a general state of disbelief due to the surreal audacity of the flick), they looked over at me to exclaim that I had found "the impossible movie".
(I'm not talking about today's so-called "indie" films that are pushed into theatres by giant corporations like Miramax and Lion's Gate and Fox Searchlight, but movies that were peddled by independent distributors the old fashioned way.) I'm proud to say I saw it twice on the big screen: the first time, I was the only person in the theatre; the second time I brought a friend I knew would appreciate it and it was only the two of us!
After all, who doesn't want to see a film starring Brad Douriff, David Carradine, and the guy who played Bluto in Popeye which, according to Maltin, "was filmed for no apparent reason but to offend and appall?" When I finally tracked it down via a bootleg site years later, I was expecting an unredeemable gorefest, but instead, I got a quirky, sensitive, sorta moving flick about child abuse...kind of.
I mean, it ain't The English Patient--it's got a deputy getting exploderated at point blank range with a Howitzer and a cigar-chomping David Carradine in full drag (one of his best performances, by the way.
This is one of the most ignored and genuinely horrific horror films I've seen, and I consider myself a connoisseur of these type of films...This ranks with Irreversible, I Spit on Your Grave, Last House on the Left, Hostel etc for pure nauseous shock - a child's tongue is cut out by his perverted 'parents' as a birthday present which is utterly normal in the context of the film...Forget Texas Chainsaw Massacre or The Hills Have Eyes - this is real US horror, like The Girl Next Door (though not that shocking).Utterly nihilistic, very strange and well worth a look if you can find it!.
Smith plays (convincingly) one of the most repugnant characters you'll ever see, the film has enough originality and audacity to be preferable to many other formula horror outings.
Outstanding performance by the actor who plays Sonny Boy.
This was a bizarre film, is one way of putting it.
A con artist, played by Brad Dourif, kills a couple then steals their car taking it to his friend who deals in stolen items.
The car ends up having a baby in the back of which the man wants to get rid of but his wife played by David Carradine (who wears make-up and several dresses throughout) wants to keep the baby.
If that's not weird enough they keep him in a box and on his sixth birthday the man cuts the boys tongue off!
He later takes his son (now a man) to kill people he needs killed.Definitely a weird and dark film.
Imagine Peckinpah, Cocteau, Bunuel and a strung-out Sam Shepard doing a mixture of ultra violent desert town fairy tale and the ultimate poetic love story, including a clever gay Bonnie-&-Clyde-ending.
In twenty years from now, "Sonny Boy" will be praised as a work of genius, a unique, surrealist masterpiece in a decade of mid-cult movies..
Definitely worth seeing (if just to see David Carradine wearing a dress, though it has much more to offer).
Smith plays a local crook "Who has the town under his thumb" however things get extremely bizarre when in the opening sequences we see Brad Dourif kill a couple and steal the car with a baby inside, to which Smith wants to kill but his "wife" David Carradine(!) wants to keep, Smith compromises and raises the boy as a geek and through out we see a blackly comic, utterly bizarre, daft and overall daring movie to say the least.
First of all the thought of having David Carradine as your mother, Smith as your dad and Dourif as your uncle would guarantee any kid's trip to insanity.
The movie is indeed quite strange but it's all surprisingly well acted, with effective black comedy and surreality that verges on true greatness.
And yet in it's own way Sonny Boy is ingenious in it's story.
A movie that is unpredictable, jaw dropping (Seriously anyone known to remembering Carradine for his role on Kung Fu, will have their jaw drop whenever he's on screen, which is pretty often) and at times somewhat tragic.
This is a movie for the adventurous who have grown tired of predictable blockbusters, and unpredictable Sonny Boy is.
This is a cult classic and for my money, needs a DVD release.* * *1/2 out of 4-(Very Good).
You adventurous soul who is reading this, I envy you because as much as I intend on finding this movie and watching it until the tape wears through, you are going to be seeing it for the first time.
This film has no category and plays by no rules, which explains the low rating here and the fact that it's practically unheard of.
There's no doubt that there's something here to offend anyone who is jaded but I personally found the Christ/Frankenstein analogies extremely moving, and David Carradine is thus far the best Virgin Mary I've ever seen (I'm serious).
One can read all sorts of stuff like that into this movie if they so desire.
I liked the "Father, Son and Holy Ghost' quote in the middle of the film, and Paul L Smith's cartoonishly cruel yet fatherly image comfortably fits with my personal conceptions of God so I was happy to chose that route at times (anyone else see the sheriff as Pontius Pilate?).
Yet it does manage the feat of being somewhat poignant, even in the face of its depravity.In 1970 New Mexico, a young couple is murdered, their car stolen, and baby unknowingly abducted - by quirky lowlife Weasel (who else but the great Brad Dourif).
Weasel takes the prize(s) back to his boss, small time crime kingpin Slue (Paul L.
Slue lives with a "wife", Pearl (David Carradine, who plays the role in full drag) who takes an instant shine to the kid.
Slue wants nothing to do with a child until he realizes that he now has innocent life that he can corrupt as he sees fit, and turn into a feral attack dog.
Smith, who didn't want to do the movie but changed his tune when he saw who else had been signed up, is typically amusing as the loathsome father figure.
And Alexandra Powers is appealing as Rose, the young lady who is moved by Sonny Boy and tries to reach out to him.Worth a look see for the more adventurous among B movie enthusiasts.Seven out of 10..
Okay, let's start with David Carradine in drag...he gives a surprisingly touching performance.
And any movie with Brad Dourif - well - what can one say?
If you didn't know it was filmed in 1989 you'd swear it was a product of the 1970's; it certainly has that feel to it.
I stumbled across,Sonny Boy last night,late around 1:00 am on turner classic movies on cable.I missed the very beginning and could not stop watching it!
So I watched as the baby got older and older and realize what was going on.It was sad and I was upset that the way the boy,Sonny Boy ,his name,was treated and made to do.It was really wild and crazy and weird of what was going on in the whole movie.The big guy was so mean and nasty.I watched to the end and had to say it was a good movie and to see it now in this entry was really good!
If you take the backwoods inbred rednecks from "Deliverance" and place them in the desert, add some "Frankenstein", and a little something from John Waters, you would be pretty close to describing "Sonny Boy".
Sonny's behemoth monstrous father "Slue" is (Paul L.
Smith), his mother, "Pearl", is none other than David Carradine dressed as a woman, and their number one henchman is Brad Dourif (Weasel).
If you have ever appreciated any movie containing violence and depravity...SEE THIS FILM.The acting is WONDERFUL...the writing is WONDERFUL...the direction is WONDERFUL.Denouncing the violence and depravity in this film is on par with denouncing the violence and depravity in Shakespaere's "Richard III" OR "Titus Andronicus."It is sad to learn that the director of this movie lost his career over it...and that the movie is forgotten...when snooze-fests like "No Country for Old Men" are now heralded and have awards hurled at them as though they were something new.This movie is simply better in every way than "Pulp Fiction"..."No Country...." or so many other ultra-violence-and-depravity-as-art films.
Sonny Boy has something of a cult following; and it's really not hard to see why, but I have to say that I personally am not a part of it; and to be honest I found this film rather disappointing.
It seems that director Robert Martin Carroll wanted this to be a crime film with a twist; but the twist ends up overtaking the rest of the plot, and it's really not all that interesting anyway.
As will most probably be the case for most people that bother to seek this film out, my main point of interest was seeing David Carradine in a dress.
Anyway, the film begins with a small time criminal stealing a car and bringing it back to his boss, Slue.
The pair bring the boy up like an animal; cutting out his tongue and keeping him in a cage.
Years later, when the boy is grown up, he manages to escape; leading to trouble in the local area.The film is in exceptionally poor taste; but unfortunately this isn't matched by an interesting plot.
The cast does provide the negative elements of the film with some respite, however, as the director has brought together some talented performers; most notably the two in the lead roles.
Smith strikes all the right notes as the detestable mob boss at the centre of the film; and of course he receives good feedback from cult star David Carradine in his rather bizarre role.
Sonny Boy (1989) 1/2 (out of 4) Sick, twisted, disturb, morally insensitive, vile, strange and repulsive are a few of the words that others have said when reviewing this film.
A crackhead thief (Brad Dourif) kill a couple and steal their car not realizing that their infant son is in the back.
Smith) and his wife (David Carradine in drag) who raise the kid in all the wrong ways, which leads him, known as Sonny Boy, to become a raging killer.
No matter how you look at it, this is a crazy little film that one really does need to see in order to get its full impact.
Yes, seeing Carradine in drag is the main draw and to me it was pretty much the only draw as I found the film to be boring from start to finish.
Seeing Carradine in drag is just plain weird but it's the main reason to watch the film.
Dourif isn't too bad and neither is Smith but they're lost in a worthless movie.
Impressive as Boston is, 'Sonny Boy' is best known as the film in which David Carradine plays a female character.
He is never convincing as a real woman though and always looks like a man in need of a good shave and therefore his performance is sadly distracting in a film with otherwise serious undertones.
Indeed, 'Sonny Boy' has lots to offer as a personal identity study, a look at the effects of improper parenting and an examination of choice.
Making his feature film directing debut, Robert Martin Carroll does a great job matching the desert locations to desertion themes at hand and Boston's performance is simply exquisite..
Somebody compared Sonny Boy to the above.
Sonny Boy's voice is taken from him by removing his tongue.
I must admit I couldn't figure out who the heck David Carridine in the movie was until the final credits, which pairs the actors with the roles.
Sonny Boy---Gives Home abuse a bad name and a Chilling thrill..
Very good and original performances by the entire cast who seemed to have embraced this definitely 'cult' style film, as a mother Swan might embrace the ugliest duckling in the pond.
SONNY BOY has to be seen to be believed.
Brad Dourif (Deadwood,...Cuckoo's Nest) chews up the scenery as Weasel, a sniffling psycho who works for the small town crimelord Paul L.
Weasel robs a couple one day, murders them and steals the car - not knowing there is a little baby in the back seat.
Paul Smith lives out in the middle of the desert with his "wife" Pearl - played by David Carradine (Kill Bill, Kung Fu).
Carradine is in full drag the whole movie and gives an entertaining, strange performance (he also sings the theme song).
The crazy crime couple raise this baby in their own perverted way - cutting out the tongue of the boy, raising him like a wild animal in an empty silo.
Then Paul Smith "sics" his Sonny Boy on anyone who tries to cross him!
Small time crook Slue (Paul L.
Smith) and his girlfriend Pearl (David Carradine in drag--seriously!) inadvertently get a stolen car with a baby in the back.
Slue treats the boy named Sonny Boy like an animal.
By the time Sonny Boy is 17 (played by Michael Boston under the name Michael Griffin) he's little more than an animal and does anything his father asks...even murder.
But Sonny Boy realizes there has to be something more than this life.Sick, disturbing, no budget film.
When it has David Carradine playing a woman in drag you KNOW this isn't a normal film!
The story doesn't have much of a plot--just seeing how Sonny Boy was bought up and seeing the poor man trying to cope with his environment.
He's in drag the entire movie and there isn't any real point to it that I could see.
Also Brad Dourif plays another psycho role and Alexander Powers is very good in the small part of Rose.
It would be easy for me to dismiss this film as a piece of utter repulsive garbage--but the acting by Boston and some nice directing makes it too hard to just ignore.
Smith (as Slue) and his transvestite lover David Carradine (as Pearl).
The kid grows up to be handsome Michael Griffin aka Michael Boston (as Sonny Boy)...Mainly, the story involves Mr. Griffin's problems adjusting.
With time taking away this film's power to shock, there isn't much left.**** Sonny Boy (3/22/89) Robert Martin Carroll ~ Michael Boston, Paul L.
Smith, David Carradine, Brad Dourif.
Everyone should watch a bad film.
My theory about films is this: only a few of them are really good, most of them are okay, and some of them are awful.
I'd never heard of Sonny Boy until I saw it on TCM Underground's schedule and I knew it would be just bad enough to enjoy.Here are some gems from this film:David Carradine in drag, bursting through a window with a gun in each hand.Numerous facial closeups of a girl with brown teeth (you won't want to be eating anything during this film)Strangely non-catchy chanting by the bloodthirsty mobA pyramid constructed of two-by-fours and tissue paperBrad Dourif's maniacal laughPaul Smith and Brad Dourif, together again after the highly successful "Dune"Monkey tongueConrad Janis staring off into spaceA musical score consisting entirely of banjos, guitars, and harmonicas, despite the southwest settingAn "ice cream" truckIf you watch a big-budget blockbuster film and go away feeling a little empty from all the overdone special effects, paper-thin plot, and reconstituted characters, watch a truly awful film such as Sonny Boy and be truly disappointed.