Film

A Family Thing

1996 · 1h 49m · Comedy · Drama

With family, everything is relative.

IMDb

7.1

Rotten Tomatoes

73%

Metacritic

71

Earl Pilcher Jr. runs an equipment rental outfit in Arkansas, lives with his wife and kids and parents, and rarely takes off his gimme cap. His mother dies, leaving a letter explaining he's not her natural son, but the son of a Black woman who died in childbirth; plus, he has a half brother Ray, in Chicago, she wants him to visit. Earl makes the trip, initially receiving a cold welcome from Ray and Ray's son, Virgil. His birth mother's sister, Aunt T., an aged and blind matriarch, takes Earl in tow and insists that the family open up to him.

Robert Duvall

Earl Pilcher Jr.

James Earl Jones

Ray Murdock

Michael Beach

Virgil

Irma P. Hall

Aunt T.

Grace Zabriskie

Ruby

Regina Taylor

Ann

David Keith

Sonny

Xander Berkeley

Sunburned Man

Jacqueline Williams

Woman at Hospital

Mary Jackson

Carrie

Paula Marshall

Karen

Phillip Edward Van Lear

Club Manager

Meg Thalken

Doctor

Richard Lexsee

Truckjacker

James N. Harrell

Earl Pilcher Sr.

Lauren Leigh Phillips

Kindra

• Richard PearceDirector
• Billy Bob ThorntonWriter
• Tom EppersonWriter
• Todd BlackProducer
• Robert DuvallProducer
• Randa HainesProducer
• Michael HausmanExecutive Producer
• Fred MurphyDirector of Photography
• Charles GrossOriginal Music Composer
• Mark WarnerEditor

Release date

March 29, 1996

Status

Released

Original language

English

Runtime

1h 49m

Rated

PG-13

Revenue

$10,125,417

Genres

Comedy, Drama

• 

  Transamerica

  2005

• 

  Central Station

  1998

• 

  The Women of Niskavuori

  1938

• 

  The Easiest Way

  1917

• 

  Teta

  2024

• 

  The Warrior's Husband

  1933

• 

  Dial M for Murder

  1954

• 

  Ask the Dust

  2006

• 

  Dinosaur

  2000

• 

  The Postman

  1994

• 

  The Beverly Hillbillies

  1993

• 

  Atonement

  2007