Falling from Grace (film)
| Falling from Grace | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | John Mellencamp |
| Produced by | Harry Sandler |
| Written by | Larry McMurtry |
| Starring |
|
| Music by | John Mellencamp |
| Cinematography | Victor Hammer |
| Edited by | Dennis Virkler |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
|
Release date
|
February 21, 1992 |
|
Running time
|
100 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3 million |
| Box office | $231,826 |
| Falling From Grace | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by various artists | |
| Released | 1991 |
| Genre | Country, folk |
| Length | 49:43 |
| Label | Mercury |
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
Falling from Grace is a 1992 drama film, produced by Little B and distributed by Columbia Pictures. Rock singer John Mellencamp makes his acting and directorial debut in this story by Lonesome Dove author Larry McMurtry. The story contains many similarities to Mellencamp's real life. It is his sole directing credit.
Music superstar Bud Parks, along with his statuesque wife, Alice, and their approximately eight-year-old daughter, Terri Jo, return to his small hometown, fictional Doak City, Indiana, for his paternal grandfather's 80th birthday. Initially, the visit is light-hearted and Bud receives a hero's welcome from many of his relatives and fans. But what is supposed to be a three-day visit of fun quickly turns into much more.
At the birthday party, Bud's high school sweetheart and now sister-in-law, P.J., invites Bud out for a walk, which is met with curious suspicion by Bud's father, Speck. P.J. confesses she has sex with Speck, which is met with shock and disapproval by Bud.
Speck, a successful poultry farmer, is shown early on to be a chauvinistic and dominating womanizer. He fathered an illegitimate son but his wife, Marian, stayed with him. Speck refers to himself as a sire and the women who bore his children as fillies. Over time he is revealed to be dominating, violent, exploitive and shameless, to the point of even making a pass at Bud's wife.
Bud and Alice seem to have a good marriage, and she is clearly very devoted. But after learning of P.J.'s affair with Speck, Bud has sex with P.J. as well. P.J. seems to view her sexual encounters as conquests and take pride in simultaneously having three Parks men as lovers. She also seems to view her promiscuity, and the need to keep it secret, as a source of excitement for a housewife and mother who resides in what she considers to be a boring town.
The three days turn into several weeks. Bud's feelings of both love and lust for P.J. are rekindled, and he neglects Alice. Already disillusioned by the music business and thinking about leaving it, he realizes that he's a small-town man at heart and wants to stay in Doak City, where many of his relatives still reside. His anger toward his father also escalates.
California-bred Alice continues to love her husband but quickly becomes tired of small town life and his neglect. She accuses Bud of committing adultery. He doesn't deny it and she leaves with Terri Jo.
Bud tries to get P.J. back as the woman of his life. She reveals that she wanted that many years earlier, but that he wouldn't make a commitment, and it's too late now.
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