Sonny Boy (Italian: Il dono del silenzio) is a 1989 black comedy-drama thriller film directed by Robert Martin Carroll. The musical score was composed by Carlo Maria Cordio. It stars Paul L. Smith, David Carradine, Brad Dourif, Conrad Janis, Sydney Lassick, Alexandra Powers, and Steve Carlisle. David Carradine wrote the film's theme song, "Paint", which he performs in the film.
Contents
Plot summary
In 1970, Harmony, a small town in New Mexico, is run by a small-time crime boss named Slue, who accepts the delivery of a Lincoln Continental car stolen by his henchman Weasel, who brings it after killing a couple who was travelling with their child. When the crime boss finds the couple's baby in the backseat he wants to kill him, but he is stopped by his transvestite “wife”, Pearl. Slue decides to keep the baby - which Pearl names “Sonny Boy” - but he cuts out the boy’s tongue and raises him as a mute accomplice in their crimes, training and treating him like a wild dog, and sending Sonny Boy to kill anyone who wants to steal from or opposes Slue's grip over the town. When the grown Sonny Boy escapes and tries to make contact with the outside world, the attention he draws to his warped family results in darkly-humored mayhem.
Production and music
The opening song, "Paint" a.k.a "Maybe It Ain’t" was written and performed by David Carradine.
Cast
David Carradine as Pearl
Paul L. Smith as Slue
Brad Dourif as Weasel
Conrad Janis as Doc Bender
Sydney Lassick as Charlie P.
Savina Gersak as Sandy
Alexandra Powers as Rose
Michael Boston as Sonny Boy (as Michael Griffin)
Steve Carlisle as Sheriff
Steve Ingrassia as Deputy
Stephen Lee Davis as Bart
Robert Broyles as Mayor
Jeff Bergquist as Father Owen
Dalene Young as Doc Wallace
Christopher Bradley as Husband
Legacy
Carradine wrote and performed the theme songs for several movies that he either directed or starred in, like You and Me, Americana and Sonny Boy. The first verse from the Sonny Boy theme, "Paint" (which he wrote while filming Americana in Drury, Kansas, in 1973), is engraved on his headstone, as an epitaph.
Home media
This movie was released in Blu-ray format in January 2016, with English audio and subtitles, by Shout! Factory. Special features include audio commentaries with director Robert Martin Carroll, and with screenwriter Graeme Whifler.