The Flicks

"Shotgun Stories" is the best movie I've seen in some time.
It's the story of three brother (Son, Kid and Boy Hayes) who wore born to a no good, drunken father who abandons them and their lousy mother. The old man cleans up his life, quits drinking and finds religion, but ignores his old family, choosing a new life with a woman with whom he has four more boys, who are treated much better.
Understandably the elder three sons resent their father and his successful, happy second family. When the old man dies, at the start of the movie, the two sets of Hayes brothers move steadily and inevitably toward a brutal confronation.
"Shotgun Stories" is an unsentimental film and avoids Hollywood cliche at every turn. If you grew up in small town like me, you knew boys like the Hayes kids. The story takes its time and the charcters are developed nicely. You pull for the older Hayes brothers -- pitying them for the lousy deal life dealt them -- but at the same time recognizing in them the stubborness and willingness to do violence which can only lead to more heartbreak and trouble.
It's a tough story. It will make you uncomfortable -- like really good movies should some time.
It gets my highest recommendation.