Sordid Lives [2 Discs] [Blu-ray/DVD]

Director: Del Shores Del Shores

Overview

Writer-director Del Shores serves up a heaping helping of Southern-fried comic melodrama in this adaptation of his own play about infidelity, country & western music, and Airstream trailers. When their sister dies, Latrelle (Bonnie Bedelia), LaVonda (Ann Walker), and Sissy (Beth Grant) plan her funeral -- an unenviable task, considering that they must carefully hide the deceased's affair with amputee G.W. (Beau Bridges) from his wife, the vindictive Noleta (Delta Burke). Meanwhile, the trio has to come to terms with two cases of sexual orientation: Latrelle's openly gay soap-opera star son Ty (Kirk Geiger), whose sexuality she continues to deny; and their only brother, Boy (Leslie Jordan), who's serving a sentence in a mental ward for his adamant belief that he is actually country & western legend Tammy Wynette. Playing an aspiring singer-songwriter, Olivia Newton-John turns up to provide the film with the occasional musical interlude.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/30/2014
UPC:	0754703764102
Original Release:	2000
Rating:	R
Source:	Wolfe Video
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:51:00
Sales rank:	25,321

Special Features

Closed Caption; All new interviews with the director and the cast; Original commentary; New trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Olivia Newton-John	Bitsy Mae Harling
Beau Bridges	G.W. Nethercott
Delta Burke	Noleta Nethercott
Bonnie Bedelia	Latrelle Williamson
Beth Grant	Sissy Hickey
Ann Walker	LaVonda Dupree
Kirk Geiger	Ty Williamson
Leslie Jordan	Brother Boy
Newell Alexander	Wardell `Bubba' Owens,Dr. Eve Bolinger
Sarah Hunley	Juanita Bartlett
Earl H. Bullock	Odell Owens,Ty Williamson
Mitch Carter	Bumper
Sharron Alexis	Sara Kaufman
Mary-Margaret Lewis	Ethel
Lorna Scott	Vera Lisso
Dale Dickey	Glyndora
Robert L. Stephenson	Crazy Preacher Man
Carl Barlton	Riley
Jane George	Crying Mental Patient
Sharyn Leavitt	Nurse Jackson
Andrew Hawkins	Jason
Beverly Nero	Theatre Director
Gloria LeRoy	Peggy Ingram
Luisa Leschin	Leticia Bustamente
Terry Brannon	Tom Ed
Dona Hardy	Mrs. King, Organist
William Edward Phipps	Rev. Barnes
George Clinton	Composer

Technical Credits

Del Shores

Del Shores	Director,Screenwriter
Victoria Alonso	Producer
Max CiVon	Producer
J. Todd Harris	Producer
Sharyn Lane	Producer
Annette Venson	Casting
Ferne Cassel	Casting
Gail Carroll-Coe	Sound/Sound Designer
Robert Gravenor	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

The laughs are cheap and few in this satire based on director Del Shores' theatrical play. The gay themes, which resonate most honestly, are overwhelmed by crude and predictable characterizations that don't just capitalize on the eccentricities of Texas stereotypes but go so far as to make them sympathetic to the viewer. The result is a sagging sensation of discomfort. Before long you just want Shores to get to the point and get these people out of your face, which he is painfully slow to do. The staging is uncertain, as if they didn't know where to put the camera in some of the scenes, and the sets are flat and uninventive, with most of the dialogue recited with nothing but walls -- tavern walls, living room walls -- in the near background. It's saying a lot, but the most entertaining moments are when Olivia Newton-John, looking fabulous as a cowgirl singer, takes the microphone. Unfortunately, she's compelled to sing the same song not once but twice in its entirety. Gay audiences -- it won several gay film fest awards -- seem the most likely to appreciate the black comedy, but widespread appeal is unlikely.