A Family Thing

With family, everything is relative.

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.

• Release date
• March 29, 1996
• Runtime
• 109 min
• Genres
• Comedy, Drama
• Director
• Richard Pearce

Cast

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