Jayne Mansfield's Car

Jayne Mansfield's Car is a 2012 drama film directed by Billy Bob Thornton, marking his first fiction directing job since 2000's All the Pretty Horses. Thornton also stars alongside Robert Duvall, John Hurt, Kevin Bacon, Ray Stevenson, Frances O'Connor, Ron White, and Robert Patrick.^[3] The film had its world premiere at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival in February 2012.^[4] The film was released in limited release on September 13, 2013.^[1]

Jayne Mansfield's Car
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Billy Bob Thornton
Written by	Billy Bob Thornton Tom Epperson
Produced by	Alexander Rodnyansky Geyer Kosinski
Starring	Robert Duvall John Hurt Billy Bob Thornton Kevin Bacon Robert Patrick Ray Stevenson Katherine LaNasa Frances O'Connor
Cinematography	Barry Markowitz
Edited by	Lauren Zuckerman
Music by	Owen Easterling Hatfield
Production companies	A.R. Films Aldamisa Entertainment Media Talent Group
Distributed by	Anchor Bay Films Aldamisa Releasing
Release dates	February 13, 2012 (2012-02-13) (Berlin) September 13, 2013 (2013-09-13) (United States)[1]
Running time	122 minutes
Countries	United States Russia
Language	English
Box office	$79,178[2]

One of the locations in which the movie was shot is Cedartown, Georgia, USA.^[5] Exterior home shots were filmed in Troup County, Georgia,^[6] while additional scenes were shot in Decatur, Georgia.^[7] For the Greek Revival home, the interior shots were filmed at The Bailey-Tebault House located in Griffin, Georgia.^[6]

Plot

The film is set in 1969 Morrison, Alabama. The Caldwell family includes two World War II veterans, their sister Donna, brother Jimbo and a patriarch, Jim, who is a World War I veteran. The Caldwells are involved in a cultural clash with the Bedfords, a family which includes Phillip, a World War II veteran, his sister Camilla, and their father Kingsley, also a World War I veteran.

The Bedfords are a London family in Morrison for the funeral of Kingsley's wife, who is the ex-wife of Jim Caldwell and the mother of Caldwell's children. Duvall described the film in an interview as "putting Tennessee Williams in the back seat".^[8]

The film's title refers to the automobile in which movie star Jayne Mansfield was supposedly decapitated in 1967. When a nearby town has a side show displaying the vehicle, Jim Caldwell takes Kingsley Bedford along to gawk at the grisly artifact.

Cast

• Robert Duvall as Jim Caldwell
• John Hurt as Kingsley Bedford
• Billy Bob Thornton as Skip Caldwell
• Kevin Bacon as Carroll Caldwell
• Robert Patrick as Jimbo Caldwell
• Ray Stevenson as Phillip Bedford
• Frances O'Connor as Camilla Bedford
• Katherine LaNasa as Donna Baron
• Marshall Allman as Alan Caldwell
• Shawnee Smith as Vicky Caldwell
• John Patrick Amedori as Mickey Caldwell
• Ron White as Neil Barron
• Irma P. Hall as Dorothy Lambert
• Carissa Capobianco as April Barron
• Karli Barnett as Autumn Barron
• Tippi Hedren as Naomi Caldwell (uncredited; her scenes were cut)^[9]

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 35% of 37 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.4/10. The website's consensus reads: "Jayne Mansfield's Car assembles an impressive number of talented actors, but the screenplay — co-written by director and star Billy Bob Thornton — never gives them much of anything to do."^[10] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 48 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.^[11]

PopMatters contributor J.C. Macek III found criticism in Thornton's unfocused direction of the multiple stories and the screenplay being more suited for a mini-series than a condensed two hour film filled with vignettes. He did however give praise to the performances for adding substance to their given arcs, singling out Bacon, O'Connor and White as the highlights.^[12] Norm Schrager from Paste commended Thornton's direction for bringing out great performances from the cast and his scenes having competent execution but felt the film overall suffered from "a distinctive lack of cohesiveness" throughout the script in its handling of plot concepts and themes, concluding that: "[T]here's something here. It just needs a clearer road to travel."^[13] Alonso Duralde of TheWrap also voiced problems with Thornton and Epperson's screenplay, calling it "too sprawling and [too] tidy" with its generational family drama and misuse of plot devices towards the third act.^[14] Claudia Puig of USA Today felt the familial themes were elevated by "intriguingly impressionistic cinematography and a strong ensemble cast", but criticized the characterization of both families for containing stereotypical rednecks and stuffy aristocrats that conduct "tedious monologues and theatrical speechifying" and the misuse of the film's title for lacking "insight and depth." She concluded that: "Self-indulgent, heavy-handed and lumbering, Jayne Mansfield's Car is not a wreck, but it's certainly a vehicle for boredom."^[15]