Review
by Ernie Santilli
Media Home Video
"Repulsive, socially
unredeemable waste of celluloid...Filmed
for no apparent reason except to offend
and appall." -- Leonard Maltin, Movie
and Video Guide 1992. (Geez, Len, if
you thought it was that bad, why did you
give it a one-and-a-half star rating instead
of a BOMB?)
"With all due respect
to the numerous screwy characters portrayed
by the family, David may have clinched the
Weirdest Role Ever Played By A Carradine
honors with his turn in SONNY BOY. It's
certainly the strangest project on Conrad
Janis' resume." -- Ernie Santilli,
ER
You may take Maltin's slam
as an unintentional recommendation. After
all, he is the critic who also called TAXI
DRIVER "unredeeming." Perhaps
my quote might inspire readers to search
the video stores for this one in anticipation
of another Carradine classic. Sorry gang,
but I'm afraid you will be in for a major
disappointment. (While you are at the video
store, though, ask for David's AMERICANA
or Keith's CHOOSE ME and TROUBLE IN MIND
if you haven't already seen them.)
A henchman of a hick town
thug/boss (Brad Dourif) steals a car from
a couple he just robbed and murdered, returns
to gang headquarters and discovers the victims'
baby in the back seat of the convertible.
Over the initial protestation of her spouse,
Ma (Carradine in drag!) adopts the infant
as their son.
The outlaw eventually warms
up to the idea when he realizes how useful
the boy can be in appeasing his large appetite
for sadism. Sonny Boy (Paul L. Smith) is
raised more like an attack dog than a child.
He has his tongue cut out, feeds on live
chickens passed through a hatch in the silo
where he's chained down and is transported
in the back of an ice cream truck.
Upon toughening the boy up
by such cruel methods as dragging him from
the rear of a speeding car and burning the
kid at the stake, proud papa unleashes Sonny
to kill anyone considered a threat to the
larceny business.
The townfolks are nearly all
white trash who turn a blind eye toward
the crime lord's activities out of apathy,
fear, or personal profit. Exceptions are
a doctor (Janis), disbarred for attempting
to transplant monkey parts onto humans,
and a cute, bored blonde who provides a
"love interest" in a weak subplot.
After the boss' confederates
sneak Sonny off to snuff a miner for his
stash, the locals rebel. Carradine and "her"
husband die in a shootout that's long in
length and short on imagination.
The film has a premise loaded
with potential. (The gangster shooting a
pushy new cop with a cannon immediately
comes to mind, not to mention the sight
of the transvestite co-star.) Nonetheless,
SONNY BOY is ultimately better "on
paper" than on the screen.
