Synopsis
Based on the Depression-era bildungsroman memoir of writer A. E. Hotchner, the film follows the story of a boy struggling to survive on his own in a hotel in St. Louis after his mother is committed to a sanatorium with tuberculosis. His father, a German immigrant and traveling salesman working for the Hamilton Watch Company, is off on long trips from which the boy cannot be certain he will return.
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Cast
- Jesse BradfordAaron Kurlander
- Jeroen KrabbéMr. Kurlander
- Lisa EichhornMrs. Kurlander
- Karen AllenMiss Mathey
- Spalding GrayMr. Mungo
- Elizabeth McGovernLydia
- Cameron BoydSullivan
- Adrien BrodyLester
- Joe ChrestBen
- John McConnellPatrolman Burns
Recommendations
- 100
Chicago Sun-Times
King of the Hill could have been a family picture, or a heartwarming TV docudrama, or a comedy. Soderbergh must have seen more deeply into the Hotchner memoir, however, because his movie is not simply about what happens to the kid. It's about how the kid learns and grows through his experiences. - 100
Entertainment Weekly
This story of a 12-year-old boy who drops through the net of middle-class life invites us-in each shimmering frame-to gaze upon the world with a child's freshly awakening vision. - 100
Variety
King of the Hill has all the rich satisfactions of a fine novel. - 90
The New York Times
With warmth, wit and none of the usual overlay of nostalgia, King of the Hill presents the scary yet liberating precariousness of life on the edge. - 90
Washington Post
It's his best work by far. - 88
ReelViews
The narrative is presented in a straightforward manner; Soderbergh doesn't employ any unusual chronologies. His style is frank, not quirky, and lends itself to a number of powerful images. - 88
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
There are no false Hollywood dramatics, no musical cues telling us how we should feel about this boy's battle for dignity and a place in the world. The director lets complex emotions flow naturally out of believable action and dialogue in this very faithful adaptation of a fascinating memoir. [20 August 1993, p.3F] - 88
USA Today
Fury, I Am a Fugitive, Wild Boys of the Road and Emperor of the North come immediately to mind as definitive Depression movies. This little gem, which may get overlooked, deserves to be on the same list. [20 August 1993, p.5D]
