This Boy's Life
by Michael Caton-jones
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Ellen Barkin, Leonardo Dicaprio, Robert De NiroDirector: Michael Caton-jones
Brand: DE NIRO,ROBERT
Producer: Art Linson
Producer: Fitch Cady
Producer: Peter Guber
Producer: Jon Peters
Writer: Robert Getchell
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 4.0; Spanish (Subtitled); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 4.0; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 4.0
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Widescreen, 2.35:1
Running Time: 115 minutes
Published: 2003-05-01
DVD Release Date: 2003-05-13
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Model: 24619
Studio: Warner Home Video
Movie Reviews of This Boy's Life
Movie Review: ALMOST TOO PAINFUL TO WATCH...
Summary: 5 Stars
... as Leonardo DiCaprio was pretty much playing out my life story as a child with a meek mother and an abusive, self-centred, alcoholic stepfather. Unlike DiCaprio's character, however, I didn't go through a rebellious stage - I remained a clean-cut, boy-next-door type who steered clear of trouble just so that my brutish stepfather with the extensive gun collection wouldn't totally go off the rails. The combination of his mental instability (he'd already had one major nervous breakdown by the time I was 10) and firearms in the house made me a stressed-out, nervous wreck with a sleeping disorder from having to keep one eye open at all times.
Bob was just like Dwight - a total hypocrite in that he appeared to be a perfectly calm gentleman among adults, but was in fact a childish bully who unrelentingly terrorized us at home on a daily basis.
As an outdoorsman, he liked to play the role of the big shot executive with his obnoxious, blue-collar fishing/hunting buddies by providing all the booze, steaks and other goodies while his family had to do without at home. When we did have food in the house, he insisted that supper not be served to anyone until he arrived, which was often not until 9-10pm because he had to spend a few hours at the local strip joint after work before coming home. Then we'd have to endure his furious booze-fueled tirades over the most mundane issues, the supper table being his favorite place to pick fights. Not being his biological child, and the only other male figure in the household, I was his whipping boy and somehow always to blame for everything that was wrong with his life. Needless to say, it made for an extremely high-stress household for my mother, my younger sister and especially myself. Although I don't harbor any grudges, I no longer have anything to do with him. It's the only way for me to try and put nearly 20 years of misery behind me.
If the above scenario sounds familiar to you, I totally understand where you're coming from. This DVD, along with BASTARD OUT OF CAROLINA, would make a good double feature to be given out as Father's Day gifts to toxic stepfathers everywhere.
Summary of This Boy's Life
Guys had ducktails. Cars had fins. War was over and America was on a roll. But 1950s life wasn't all fun and games -- especially for Toby Wolff and his divorced mom Caroline, free spirits whose cross-country travels end in the Pacific Northwest, where life will be better. They hope. Year: 1993 Director: Michael Caton Jones Starring: Robert De Niro, Ellen Barkin, Leonardo DiCaprioRobert De Niro gets top billing, but young Leonardo DiCaprio is the revelation of This Boy's Life, an astute, often painful drama of growing up in the 1950s Pacific Northwest, based on the autobiographical novel by Tobias Woolf. DiCaprio plays Tobias, a good kid with a bad boy streak but an unwavering love for his divorced mother (Ellen Barkin). "I want to be a better boy," he promises from under a greasy pompadour, and tries to prove it when she marries single father Dwight (DeNiro), a bully who parents through intimidation and humiliation. DiCaprio is magnetic in his first starring role, full of anger, hope, and confusion as he drifts back to juvenile delinquency, and his intensity gives the true story of survival and triumph its charge. DeNiro is frightening and pathetic as Dwight, and Dwight's youngest daughter is played by future star and vampire slayer Eliza Dushku. --Sean Axmaker
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