The Doe Boy

Starring:James Duval, Kevin Anderson, Andrew J. Ferchland, Jeri Arredondo, Judy Herrera, Jim Metzler, Gordon Tootoosis, Cassidy Spring, Gil Birmingham, Orvel Baldridge, Robert A. Guthrie, Nathaniel Arcand, Alex Rice, Kody Dayish, Kyle White
Director: Randy Redroad
Studio: Fox Lorber
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

James Duval shines in this vivid, affecting coming-of-age story. The Doe Boy follows Hunter (Duval)--a half-Native American, half-Caucasian boy with hemophilia--from childhood to his life as a young adult. His father (Kevin Anderson) doesn't know how to relate to a boy who can't work with tools or play sports; his mother (Jeri Arredondo) fights to protect her vulnerable son. When his father finally takes him on a hunting trip, Hunter accidentally shoots a doe--leading to the nickname "doe boy," which haunts him. It's difficult to describe The Doe Boy; a story summary sounds gimmicky and doesn't capture the writing and performances, which are beautifully detailed and bracingly honest. Most importantly, despite not having a propulsive plot, The Doe Boy doesn't drag or meander. In fact, you may want it to slow down so you can spend more time with these characters, whose lives are hurtling by. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews:

Modern Day Coming of Age Story.......2007-01-05

I loved this movie when it was being shown on cable television and couldn't wait to add it to the library. It's a well written and creative story-line with very few of the usual stereotypical props of many of the other native-inspired films of today. It definitely is a movie that speaks universally of important issues to the public at large as well as more specifically to a smaller population of individuals seemingly isolated by illness. It's refreshing to watch a predominately native group of people who do not live within the confines of the reservation or reservation living being one of the driving themes. The writer has placed these people within the confines of everyday life with everyday problems. There is racial content, but, again, it is handled in a whole new manner and perspective. The musical score is wonderfully written and compliments the film. I also love the fact that the ending of the story is not clearly defined and left up to the interpretation of the individual. It's a great movie with a wonderfully talented cast. I hope to see more from Randy Redroad in the future.

Great indie film.......2006-06-15

The Doe Boy is sensitive and sweet, with a moving portrayal by James Duval. As both a family melodrama and a coming of age story, it shows family and cultural friction among its characters. The soundtrack is also very good, with tracks by Robbie Robertson among others. Definately worth more than one viewing.

Pretty good movie.......2006-01-22

This movie was pretty good.
What's up with all the cussing though?
It would have been better without all the profanity.

As Good As Indie Films Get.......2005-08-09

Talk about movies that slip under the radar! Almost nobody heard about Doe Boy and there really isn't a good - or acceptable reason.

Slowly paced this very gentle film packs an emotional wallop few films with bigger budgets, more stars and loftier stories could hope to achieve. Doe Boy is about Hunter - a boy with an American Indian mother and white father. Hunter is a hemophiliac, a disease seemingly unknown to Native American's. His macho father (a terrific performance by Kevin Anderson) loves his son, but is let down by the boy's inability to be more physically active because of the disease. As the film traces Hunter's story from childhood through his late teens, we see the difficulty of the relationship between he and his father straining and the inability of his mother to let him go and be the man he needs to be.

James Duval gives a performance that is positively incandescent. With relatively little dialogue, and through facial features, body language he fills Hunter with a sense of defiance and the need for acceptance, and the struggle of being different, in more ways than one. Acceptance and understanding do not come easy, but with the aid of his wise grandfather, a beautiful girl, and coming to grips with his heritage and nature, Hunter's journey is one that everyone should be able to relate to.

An amazing, nearly perfect movie.

beautiful, haunting film.......2004-04-22

From what I was told, the novel from which this film was based was quite beautiful and moving. If it is anything like this movie, I would definitely read it. The performances were strong, the story was engaging, and the struggles that Hunter, the main character, must go through, living between two worlds--the world of the Whites and the world of the Natives--is noble and heartwrenching to watch. How can he possibly "become a man" in the way his White father sees fit--through becoming a fine hunter (hence, the name)--when he can only shoot a doe? This also crosses over to his mother's culture, where shooting does is the ultimate sin because they symbolize fertility. Hence, the death of the doe is also the death of the generations. Hunter's generations may also be at risk for hemophilia, the disease he acquires--the White man's disease.

Amazon.com

Renée Zellweger stars in this approximate remake of a 1956 rock & roll comedy that featured Fats Domino and Joe Turner in concert, and starred Mike Connors, Sterling Holloway, and Margaret Dumont in a story about killjoy adults trying to ban a teen-dance television show. Zellweger's 1994 update, made as part of Showtime Cable's Rebel Highway series, is similarly set during rock's late-'50s primordial beginnings and costars Nora Dunn, Mary Woronov, and P.J. Soles as uptight citizens putting the squeeze on a dance show hosted by a chipper hipster (Howie Mandel). Director Allan Arkush (Rock 'n' Roll High School) brings his arch touch to this silly but endearing tale (with a big boost from former Warhol mainstay Woronov), while America's sweetheart, Zellweger, literally throws herself into the high-octane part of a wannabe singer-songwriter relentlessly wooed by a bad-boy biker (nice work by musician John Doe). The original tunes could be better, but a subplot involving the uphill aspirations of an African American girl group (led by Latanyia Baldwin) in a racist entertainment industry allows for some vibrant doo-wop performances. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

Renee Zellwegger probably wants to forget this..........2004-09-21

From Renee Zellwegger's God-awful dubbing to the acting by the rest of the cast to the fact they put her teenage character up against some old ugly guy...you will hate this movie each second you co-exist with it.

I remember I saw this before I watched "A Knight's Tale" some years ago. My dad and younger sister still joke to this day about how ironic that a movie set in the Middle Ages had a better rock soundtrack than a movie actually about rock.

Definitely worth a look.......2003-07-24

Although not many people have seen this it's definitely worth a look. Renee Zellweger is very convincing as a piano playin rocker n the music is great, featuring stuff from Little Richard and Eddie Cochran. The next time you pass Blockbusters it's worth going in and lookin for this, you wont be disappointed.

Shake baby Shake!.......2002-08-22

This movie really is good! There should of been a sequal to this. The characters were really good. The story is based sort of off the movies Hairspray and Grease. The rock tv show, the african americans, and the rock n roll are the heart of this movie! Your minutes wont be wasted. Short movie though.

Fun little movie.......2002-08-22

Once in a while someone manages to get a handle on the spirit of the early rock 'n' roll movies of the '50s. And, to his credit, director Allan Arkush has done it twice; first with "Rock 'n' Roll High School" - quite probably the greatest rock 'n' roll movie ever made - and again fifteen years later with "Shake, Rattle, and Rock." Is it great art? Naw, but it's fun. Be sure to watch for original "Rock 'n' Roll High School" stars Mary Woronov, P.J. Soles, and Dey Young playing their "RnRHS" characters' mothers.

Enjoyable if you liked Rock 'n Roll High School..........2002-02-01

Endearingly silly movie that continues the theme and fantasies of Rock 'n Roll High School (same director), with some great tunes. Subplot of a group of black singers gives the movie most of its heart, though the turn at the end is joltingly serious and out of tune with the rest of the movie. Great to see the stars of Rock 'n Roll High School who played the rebelling, rocking teenagers in that movie (PJ Soles, Dey Young) joining Mary Woronov in this one in her on-screen movie objective of shutting down big, bad Rock & Roll.

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