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Special Features
Commentary with Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Director Aaron Schneider & Producer Dean Zanuck
The Deep South: Buried Secrets
Getting Low: Getting Into Character
Cast & Crew Q&A
A Screenwriter's Point of View
On the Red Carpet
The Deep South: Buried Secrets
Getting Low: Getting Into Character
Cast & Crew Q&A
A Screenwriter's Point of View
On the Red Carpet
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Comedies about death aren't exactly a novel proposition, but Get Low, which draws from a real 1930s incident, leaves the gallows humor behind for a lighter touch. After losing the love of his life 40 year before, Felix Bush (Robert Duvall) has lived like a hermit ever since. With death on the horizon and guilt weighing him down, the "crazy ol' nutter" decides to go out with a party. As he tells funeral director Frank Quinn (Bill Murray in top form), "Time for me to get low." Frank and his assistant, Buddy (Duvall's Sling Blade costar Lucas Black), find the request bizarre--since Felix plans to attend--but they can't afford to turn him down. Quips Quinn, "One thing about Chicago, people know how to die. People are dying in bunches, but not around here." So, they fit Felix for a suit, post invitations up around Caleb County, and set up a land raffle to encourage everyone to show. Before he leaves this mortal coil, Felix longs to hear the tall tales the town folk have been spreading about him. While preparing for the big day, he reconnects with Charlie (Bill Cobbs), a preacher, and Mattie (Sissy Spacek), an old flame who returned to the county after her husband's death. Their encounters, which have a gentle sweetness, encourage Felix to share the truth he's kept bottled up inside for decades. After that big buildup, his confession feels a little anticlimactic, but cinematographer-turned-director Aaron Schneider's affection for his characters always shines through. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Product Description
Academy Award winner Robert Duvall (1983, Best Actor, Tender Mercies) is Felix Bush, the “Hermit of Caleb County,” a man so haunted by his secrets that he has lived in quiet desolation in the Tennessee backwoods for over 40 years. Realizing that he is near his own mortality, Bush decides to have a “living funeral party,” inviting people to tell their stories about him. Enlisting the help of Frank Quinn (Golden Globe winner Bill Murray, 2004, Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, Lost in Translation) and Buddy Robinson (Lucas Black, Legion), Bush goes through a process of self-discovery, allowing him to deal with his past secrets, including ones involving old flame (and new widow) Mattie (Academy Award winner Sissy Spacek, 1980, Best Actress, Coal Miner's Daughter).
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
159 of 164 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Aaron Schneider's "Get Low" is a slight, unpretentious film that would blow away in the wind if it weren't anchored by some truly wonderful performances. Based on a true story, "Get Low" is set during the Great Depression, in the Appalachian hills of Georgia. Felix Bush (Robert Duvall) an old hermit feared and despised by his neighbors, hires the local funeral director (Bill Murray) to organize a "funeral party" so he can hear what the locals have to say about him before he's actually dead. That climactic event proves the occasion for Felix to make a full confession to his neighbors about the horrific event, forty years before, that cost him his reputation and has haunted him ever since.
Frankly, not much happens in "Get Low" before that climax, but it's mostly a pleasure to watch, thanks to Schneider's deft, low-key direction and the extremely fine acting, especially by Duvall and Murray. Duvall has made a career specialty of backwoods eccentrics, and his Felix Bush is one of the more memorable of them. The pain in Duvall's eyes blasts away any suggestion of mawkish sentimentality that might be inherent in the film. Murray is equally fine as a man who has more than a little con man in him, but who also has seen enough sorrow in life to spark his essential decency. The earnest Duvall and the roguish Murray play beautifully off each other, as fellow travelers on the Train of Sadness.
Sissy Spacek, as an old flame of Felix's, doesn't have much to do, but it's nice to see her anyway. Bill Cobbs is tartly amusing an a preacher who knows Felix's secret, and Lucas Black is extremely likable as Murray's assistant. "Get Low" is a gentle, poignant film, memorable for the acting.
Frankly, not much happens in "Get Low" before that climax, but it's mostly a pleasure to watch, thanks to Schneider's deft, low-key direction and the extremely fine acting, especially by Duvall and Murray. Duvall has made a career specialty of backwoods eccentrics, and his Felix Bush is one of the more memorable of them. The pain in Duvall's eyes blasts away any suggestion of mawkish sentimentality that might be inherent in the film. Murray is equally fine as a man who has more than a little con man in him, but who also has seen enough sorrow in life to spark his essential decency. The earnest Duvall and the roguish Murray play beautifully off each other, as fellow travelers on the Train of Sadness.
Sissy Spacek, as an old flame of Felix's, doesn't have much to do, but it's nice to see her anyway. Bill Cobbs is tartly amusing an a preacher who knows Felix's secret, and Lucas Black is extremely likable as Murray's assistant. "Get Low" is a gentle, poignant film, memorable for the acting.
56 of 60 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Robert Duvall should have been in contention for an oscar with his complicated portrayal of Felix Bush, a 40-year hermit from the mountains of Tennessee. Bill Cobbs' performance was also remarkable as an Illinois preacher. In actuality, all the acting was stellar. Bill Murray was worth his weight in yen as the more-than-happy-to-oblige funeral director. This innovative storyline of Felix's wish for his own funeral service during his lifetime was perfectly-paced to let each character unfurl. And it was just the right length. Both the photography and costuming were stunning and gave the impression that this really was bound by that period in time. Even the currency had a look of authenticity from back in the days of the Great Depression. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the soundtrack, especially Alison Krauss' splendidly apropos "Lay My Burden Down".
50 of 56 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
"Get Low" takes place in the thirties and is about Felix who lives in the Tennessee woods for forty years as a foul-tempered recluse having little to do with the local townspeople. The old bearded coot is played by Robert Duvall who does a great but effortless-seeming acting job. He has a guilty secret which has driven him into seclusion. When an old acquaintance dies, he decides to have a funeral, but he decides he wants it to be a party, and he wants people to tell stories about him, and he wants to be there while he's still alive. Felix infrequently comes into town with his old mule. It's fun looking at the old thirties cars and the period hearse.
It's only later as the movie moves along that you realize this is really a mystery movie. One of the first clues comes when an old flame Sissy Spacek runs out on Felix after seeing a photograph on his wall. As a viewer you wonder what gets her so agitated. What Felix wants is one particular friend, an Afro-American minister (played by Billy Cobbs) to tell what he knows about him. Not that Felix built a beautiful church for the minister but what he confessed to him.
As the funeral director, Bill Murray is very winning playing the part of a man who is funny, sly, maybe a bit of a crook. He is only too happy to get paid for the strange funeral party because his business is tanking, not like his former home in Chicago where people were regularly getting bumped off.
It's actually a tour de force role for Duvall, but movie acting has gotten so deeply ingrained in him that he can make it seem organic. The movie is about peeling away layers of humanity in each character, and we slowly see them evolve into better people that we can admire.
It's a piece of magic storytelling which moves at a stately pace, a measured pace, but you don't get bored and you don't want it rushed because it is inevitably going to be revelatory, and Felix's secret is going to be eased out.
Basically it's a very simple story concerning a man who does not want to go to his grave with a guilty conscience.
Murray's young assistant, the deus ex machina, the catalyst, for a lot that happens in the story, is well-played by good-looking young Lucas Black. It's a movie of subtlety, humor, and deep human emotion, but I do have a lot of trouble remembering what I think is a lousy title.
It's only later as the movie moves along that you realize this is really a mystery movie. One of the first clues comes when an old flame Sissy Spacek runs out on Felix after seeing a photograph on his wall. As a viewer you wonder what gets her so agitated. What Felix wants is one particular friend, an Afro-American minister (played by Billy Cobbs) to tell what he knows about him. Not that Felix built a beautiful church for the minister but what he confessed to him.
As the funeral director, Bill Murray is very winning playing the part of a man who is funny, sly, maybe a bit of a crook. He is only too happy to get paid for the strange funeral party because his business is tanking, not like his former home in Chicago where people were regularly getting bumped off.
It's actually a tour de force role for Duvall, but movie acting has gotten so deeply ingrained in him that he can make it seem organic. The movie is about peeling away layers of humanity in each character, and we slowly see them evolve into better people that we can admire.
It's a piece of magic storytelling which moves at a stately pace, a measured pace, but you don't get bored and you don't want it rushed because it is inevitably going to be revelatory, and Felix's secret is going to be eased out.
Basically it's a very simple story concerning a man who does not want to go to his grave with a guilty conscience.
Murray's young assistant, the deus ex machina, the catalyst, for a lot that happens in the story, is well-played by good-looking young Lucas Black. It's a movie of subtlety, humor, and deep human emotion, but I do have a lot of trouble remembering what I think is a lousy title.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cantankerous comes to life!
Felix (Robert Duvall) has been a loner for over 40 years. His is the house that kids visit on a dare. He never smiles. Read more
Published 4 days ago by R Schmidt
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good life lessons
Robert Duval's characters seem to have a common thread from movie to movie, and this one is no exception. Read more
Published 5 days ago by John Fitzpatrick
5.0 out of 5 stars
get low
a great movie. with the mix of cast and the story lineyou can't miss. i live only a few miles from where this happened and have visiter felixs gravesite.
Published 14 days ago by richard henderson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Movie, Great Message!
I loved this move! Another stellar performance from Robert Duvall. This movie certainly didn't get the press it deserved! LOVED IT!
Published 27 days ago by Suzy Nelson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sometimes, we imprison ourselves
I enjoy movies that allow for a sense of personal release or redemption but still keep that release or redemption real. Get Low does that. Read more
Published 1 month ago by tinytears
5.0 out of 5 stars
Robert Duvall just can't make a bad movie!
I enjoyed this movie because it had everything! The idea of someone attending their own funeral? Great! And
the sad story behind why he had to have this big funeral finale! Read more
the sad story behind why he had to have this big funeral finale! Read more
Published 1 month ago by kay green
4.0 out of 5 stars
Movie Making at Its Best
The is one of those little loved movies that combines great acting with an excellent story. No explosions, harsh language, or stunts just fantastic storytelling.
Published 1 month ago by Sara57
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent!
This was a refreshing movie to watch with wonderful acting, a unique and moving storyline and just the right amount of good humor. Highly recommended!!
Published 1 month ago by Gid's Mom
5.0 out of 5 stars
Really Nice
great product , great price , no surprise, This is the place to find what you are looking for .
Published 2 months ago by J. Cordle
5.0 out of 5 stars
Judging a book by it's cover, we are good at that.
Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek and Bill Murray(the first role I loved him in) did a fantastic telling of a story based on truth in the hills of NC. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Dennis K. Yates
