Shotgun Stories: Memorable Performances, Plot Make for a Great Movie

Son, Boy an Kid are the grown children of Cleaman Hayes, a drunken wreck with so little regard for his kids that he didn't even bother to name them. After he abandoned them and their vicious mother to start his life over, the three brothers grew and eventually found themselves stuck in miserable, dead-end lives. The senior Hayes eventually sobered up, remarried, fathered new children and became an upstanding member of the town. All the love and goodness that the first children missed out on was generously given to his new family. Through the years, their mother had taught her sons to hate their father, and when he died they expressed that hate in no uncertain terms at his funeral. This is the plot of "Shotgun Stories"

Abused, neglected and eventually abandoned by their alcoholic father, Son, Boy and Kid grew up under the watchful, and spiteful eye of their mother, Nicole. After their father, Cleaman, deserts them, he finds religion and cleans himself up. He also finds a new wife, has four more sons and becomes a prosperous member of the community. All the while, turning his back on family he left behind. Nicole, bitter and angry at being stuck raising the boys on her own becomes resentful at them for ruining her life. Over the years, she instills a deep and intense hatred for Cleaman in her children. The boys, now adults, have grown into failures.

When news reaches Son and his brothers of their father's death, the uninvited trio decides to attend his funeral. In an angry moment Boy stands up and tells the crowd what he thinks about his father and spits on his coffin. This act incites a fight between the two families, with both sets of half-brothers brawling it out. Son, Boy and Kid leave the funeral, but now find they have a full-blown feud on their hands.

This is one of those movies that seems at first to be a typical movie about revenge, but as it progresses, we see something deeper than that emerging. The actors, while mostly unknown, give truly believable performances and there's plenty of time given to their characters' development. The movie is set in rural Arkansas and uses this to develop a strong story of strong and surprising emotion. "Shotgun Stories" is one of those movies that you'll find yourself watching more than once, thanks to its incredible story and memorable characters. I highly recommend watching this film if you can.