AFF Presents Conversations in Film with John Lee Hancock with Made in Texas Screening of A Perfect World

Framed by a big sky and chalky Texas dirt roads, a grizzled man named Butch looks over incredulously at his unlawfully obtained charge and says, "You know, Phillip, you have a goddamned red, white and blue American right to eat cotton candy and ride roller coasters." Those words, along with many others written by screenwriter John Lee Hancock in his second feature outing A Perfect World, transformed a murderous character into a father figure, a role model even, for a boy who had never encountered such masculinity before.

A Perfect World is by far our favorite Hancock work (he also wrote the screen adaptations of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and this year's upcoming football feel-good The Blind Side, as well as the unfortunate The Alamo) and as the final offering in their Made in Texas Film Series, the Austin Film Festival and Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum will be presenting not only a screening of this Clint Eastwood directed slow-burner, but will also host a conversation with Hancock himself.

It was directly after A Perfect World came out in 1993 that we saw it, right at the peak of Kevin Costner's wave of success (Field of Dreams, Dances With Wolves and Robin Hood had all come out within the prior 4 years), and we knew that having him and Eastwood involved with a project alone was worth our nickels and dimes, but it was the story of these two characters, one, a man on the run from the law and the other, a youngun taken hostage seemingly not only by a criminal, but also by his strict religious upbringing, that allowed this film to make a mark in our mind. It's been several years since we've seen it, but we still remember the brilliant dialogue between the two, the fear and excitement mingling together as they talk their way through their budding father-son relationship, all while dodging bullets and coppers. If we remember correctly, it was a sleeper hit.

In other words, if you haven't seen it, you should. Not only is it helmed skillfully by Eastwood (who also plays a Police Chief in the film), but it also features Austin and Lockhart locations, and a lovely score by Lennie Niehaus, including an original song written by Eastwood. And frankly, there is no better time to see a film than when the screenwriter himself is at your disposal, so you should definitely get yourself over to the AT&T Conference Center tomorrow evening at 6 p.m. to chat with Hancock and then trot the block and a half to the Bob Bullock to see this baby on that big, beautiful silver screen.