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Movie Description Based on John Fergus Ryan's popular novel THE LITTLE BROTHERS OF ST. MORTIMER, THE WHITE RIVER KID is a zany adventure with a plethora of oddball characters on the road in the Bible Belt. Brother Edgar (Bob Hoskins) is a traveling salesman pushing low quality socks (he buys them in bulk and sells them at a profit, telling people they're made by blind children) who hides behind his self-anointed priesthood to avoid local sheriffs like Becker (Randy Travis). He has adopted Morales Pittman (Antonio Banderas), a moody Mexican wetback who has bigger, more illegitimate dreams than Edgar, and who is obsessed with reading, and quoting from, law journals. The two travel around Arkansas, selling their socks and bumping into a variety of simple souls. But it's not until they meet mythic serial killer, The White River Kid (Wes Bentley), that things get really crazy. The Kid has recently gotten engaged to Apple Lisa Weed (Kim Dickens), and decided to give up his murdering ways. This does not mean that he's any less unpredictable, however. With a fast-paced story, and a hilarious, surprising appearance by Swoosie Kurtz and Beau Bridges who play Apple's parents, THE WHITE RIVER KID is a wild ride of a film.
Film Notes CABLE TELEVISION RELEASE: January 2001 (STARZ NETWORK)
Released first on video in Bulgaria in November, 1999; then had it's U.S. release as a Starz Pictures Premier on the Starz cable network in January, 2000.
Filming began in July, 1998. Filmed on location in Arkansas.
Antonio Banderas did the film for free, saying he liked the script, and he wanted to repay director Glimcher, who directed him in THE MAMBO KINGS (1992). "I owed him," said the actor in an interview.
Wes Bentley made his mark as a sensitive, drug dealing youth in 1999's AMERICAN BEAUTY, which he made after filming THE WHITE RIVER KID.
Quotations "God Damn! How long does it take for a Mexican wet-back to evacuate his bowels?!"--Brother Edgar, after being robbed by the White River Kid while Morales was gone.
"You're nothing more than a lousy con man."--Brother Edgar to Morales.
"I had a good teacher."--Morales
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