Ab Snopes (Tommy Lee Jones) is a Southern tenant farmer whose unrelenting and violent nature proves to be his undoing in William Faulkner's Barn Burning. Snopes sets his employer's barn on fire when he thinks he's been treated unfairly. His son, Sarty, is horrified. Snopes escapes justice for lack of proof, but he and his family are told to move on. No sooner do they move than Snopes is offended by his new rich employer. Torn between trying to win his father's acceptance and his aversion to what his father will do, Sarty must make a decision and act quickly. Adapted by Academy Award winning screenwriter Horton Foote, Faulkner's complex world of class divisions and hostile family relationships comes to life through a boy's attempt to liberate himself from hatred and poverty.
Acting
Tommy Lee Jones simmers with terrifying, justified rage.
Writing
Horton Foote adapts Faulkner without the usual pretension.
Director
Peter Werner
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Shot in just 11 days on a shoestring PBS budget, yet Jones reportedly stayed in character off-set, terrifying the child actors.
This aired on PBS's 'American Short Story' series, part of a forgotten golden age when literary adaptations treated audiences like adults.
US
