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''A Home of Our Own'' is a 1993 American
drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...
directed by
Tony Bill Gerard Anthony Bill (born August 23, 1940) is an American actor, producer, and director. He produced the 1973 movie ''The Sting'', for which he shared the Academy Award for Best Picture with Michael Phillips and Julia Phillips. As an actor, B ...
, starring
Kathy Bates Kathleen Doyle Bates (born June 28, 1948) is an American actress. Kathy Bates filmography, Her work spans over five decades, and List of awards and nominations received by Kathy Bates, her accolades include an Academy Awards, Academy Award, t ...
and
Edward Furlong Edward Walter Furlong (born August 2, 1977) is an American actor and former teen idol. He won Saturn and MTV Movie Awards for his breakthrough performance at age 13 as John Connor in James Cameron's 1991 science fiction action film '' Terminato ...
. It is the story of a mother and her six children trying to establish a home in the small fictional town of Hankston,
Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...
, in 1962.


Plot

Frances Lacey, a widow, is fired from her job at a
potato chip Potato chips (North American English and Australian English; often just chip) or crisp (British English and Hiberno-English) are thin slices of potato (or a thin deposit of potato paste) that has been deep frying, deep fried, baking, baked, ...
factory when she is groped by her supervisor and assaults him. The same day, her eldest son Shayne is brought home by the police for stealing change from payphones, but they don't press charges. Deciding that Los Angeles is an unfit place to raise a family, Frances packs the kids up, sells everything they can't carry, and drives the family out of state in search of a new life. When their money runs out, Frances trades her wedding ring for car repairs, describing her late husband as a "vagabond Irish
Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
son-of-a-bitch". Their meager resources get them as far as Hankston, Idaho, where Frances spots the unfinished frame of a wood house a few miles outside town, across the road from Moon's Nursery. Finding that the proprietor of the nursery, Mr. Munimura, is the owner of the property; though virtually penniless, Frances proposes to buy it from him in exchange for work by her and her children, whom she collectively calls the "Lacey Tribe". As winter approaches, the Laceys work hard to make the house habitable. Though cold and untrusting at first, Mr. Munimura warms to the family, helping them build and becoming an uncle-like figure to the children. Frances finds a job as a waitress at a bowling alley in Hankston and puts every dollar she can spare into improvement of the house. Shayne finds work at a local dairy, and middle son Murray begins helping out at a local scrapyard, earning various home improvement items as payment. At Christmas, the kids are disappointed when they receive construction tools as gifts. Shayne accuses Frances of putting her own dream before her kids' interests, but is saved from punishment by a visit from Mr. Munimura. Mr. Munimura reveals to Frances that he and his late wife began building the house for their son, who died fighting in
Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...
. That night, eldest daughter Lynn gives Frances her last present; a floral-pattern blouse she had previously liked in the church's donation bin. After being humiliated by his gym teacher, Shayne meets a fellow classmate, Raymi, and falls in love. Meanwhile, Frances begins to date her manager Norman, much to Shayne's disapproval. One night, as Shayne takes Raymi to a school dance, Norman turns hostile and rapes Frances. As Shayne dresses her wounds, Frances tells him of his father, remarking he was the only man who was good to her. In a change of heart, Frances takes her husband's belt, which she used for discipline, and nails it to a tree. Shayne later finds Norman at the bowling alley and attacks him, but Norman overpowers him. Frances goes to the bowling alley's owner, Mr. Hilliard, to quit, but learns Norman was fired instead and is given the day off. In the dead of winter, the Laceys install indoor plumbing into their home. In celebration, Murray sets fire to their old outhouse, but inadvertently burns the house down as well. Though the family loses most of everything they own, Frances finds their meager savings in a jar amidst the charred ruins. Hope is reborn for Frances, but Shayne angrily demands a reality check and once again accuses her of putting her
pride Pride is a human Emotion, secondary emotion characterized by a sense of satisfaction with one's Identity (philosophy), identity, performance, or accomplishments. It is often considered the opposite of shame or of humility and, depending on conte ...
ahead of the family's needs; in response, Frances dares him to return to Los Angeles and live on his own. All seems lost for the Laceys, until Mr. Munimura arrives with professional townsfolk and supplies to rebuild. Though Frances protests, Mr. Munimura assures her that her house will be rebuilt and hugs her. Toys, clothes, and blankets are also provided for the children. Frances only lets them build the house as far as it was before the fire, firm that all will be repaid. Shayne, narrating, says that it took them six months to finish the rest of the house, and four years to pay everyone back, but that it brought them all closer together as a family. Even though he hated Idaho at first, he still lives there, and has never been back to Los Angeles.


Cast


Production

Screenwriter Patrick Sheane Duncan based the story on his own childhood experience of moving from Los Angeles after his father was killed in a barroom brawl. Duncan's mother relocated all twelve of her children to
Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
where she found work as a fruit picker to sustain the family. Principal photography began on October 26, 1992, and concluded on December 19. Parts of the film were shot in Heber,
Wasatch Mountain State Park Wasatch Mountain State Park is a state park of Utah, United States, located in the northern part of the state within the Wasatch Back area on the north and west edges of the Heber Valley in Wasatch County, Utah, Wasatch County near the city of M ...
and
Midvale, Utah Midvale City is located in the heart of Salt Lake County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. Midvale's population was 36,028 according to the 2020 United States Census. Midvale is home to the Shops at Fort U ...
.


Critical reception

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
awarded the film 3 out of 4 stars and wrote, "This situation, set in the 1960s, could be the set-up for a sitcom, or a retread of an old Disney family yarn. It ends up being a lot more, partly because Kathy Bates brings a solid, no-nonsense clarity to what could have been a marshmallow role, and partly because the director, Tony Bill, is too smart to go for heart-wrenching payoffs until the very end of the film, when they work so well that I actually felt some tears in my eyes." He concluded "This is not a great movie, but it has a big heart." Other reviews criticized the film for its overt sentimentality and manipulativeness.


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Home of Our Own, A 1993 films 1993 drama films 1993 independent films American drama films American independent films Films about children Films about single parent families Films about poverty in the United States Films about siblings Films about widowhood in the United States Films scored by Michael Convertino Films set in 1962 Films set in Idaho Films shot in Utah Gramercy Pictures films PolyGram Filmed Entertainment films Films directed by Tony Bill 1990s English-language films 1990s American films English-language independent films