Bernie

Director: Richard Linklater

Overview

Director Richard Linklater teams with writer Skip Hollandsworth for this darkly comic docudrama detailing the unusual friendship between a likable Texas mortician and a wealthy but reviled widow, and the shocking crime that followed. Inspired by Hollandsworth's 1998 Texas Monthly article that first caught the attention of Linklater, Bernie takes place in Carthage, TX, where effeminate mortician Bernie Tiede (Jack Black) enjoys a reputation as a friendly and upstanding member of the community. Marjorie Nugent (Shirley MacLaine), on the other hand, couldn't hold a lower position on the local social scale. Repressed and bitter, nasty Marjorie has isolated herself from her neighbors, and as a result has been essentially shunned in her small town. The moment Bernie shows Marjorie a shred of kindness, she clings to him tightly and refuses to let go. Meanwhile, as Marjorie becomes Bernie's sugar mama and the pair becomes inseparable, the local rumor mill begins to churn. Eventually, her intense jealousy becomes too much for Bernie to take. When the caustic widow's body is discovered stuffed in her own freezer, local District Attorney Buck Davidson (Matthew McConaughey) vows that justice will be served, but he finds it difficult to build a convincing case against Bernie as the locals rally to his defense.

Product Details

Release Date:	08/21/2012
UPC:	0687797135292
Original Release:	2011
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	First Look Pictures
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:39:00
Sales rank:	64,706

Special Features

Featurettes: amazing grace, true story to film, the gossips; Deleted scenes; Previews

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Jack Black	Bernie Tiede
Matthew McConaughey	Danny Buck
Shirley MacLaine	Marjorie Nugent
Rick Dial	Don Leggett
Brady Coleman	Scrappy Holmes
Richard Robichaux	Lloyd Hornbuckle
Brandon Smith	Sheriff Huckabee
Larry Jack Dotson	Rev. Woodard
Merrille McCommas	Molly
Mathew Greer	Carl
Richard Jones	Professor Fleming
Charles Bailey	Friend of Deceased
Suzi McLaughlin	Mrs. Pebworth
Grant James	Mr. Eckles
Julie Erickson	Mrs. Eckles
J.D. Young	Dwayne Nugent
Charlie Stewart	Dwayne, Jr.
Joe Stevens	Lewie
Raquel Gavia	Esmerelda
Amparo Garcia-Crow	Churchgoer
Toby Metcalf	Oil Worker
Doug Moreland	Chainsaw Artist
Edward Ji	Pianist
Jill Blackwood	Guys & Dolls Performer
David Blackwell	Mel
Gabriel Luna	Kevin
Deana Newcomb	Photographer
David Steakley	Assistant Director
Peter Harrell Jr.	Bank Manager
Joe Reynolds	Deputy Sheriff,Composer
Christian Stokes	Truck Driver
John Hornbuckle	Generator Operator
Wray Crawford	Sheriff's Deputy #2
Margaret Ann Hoard	Cafe Waitress
Charles Allen Eskew	IRS Man
Quita Culpepper	TV Reporter
Mona Lee Fultz	Cashier
Jerry Biggs	Judge
Robert Works	Lead Juror

Technical Credits

Richard Linklater

Skip Hollandsworth

Richard Linklater	Screenwriter,Producer
Skip Hollandsworth	Screenwriter
Dete Meserve	Producer
Liz Glotzer	Producer
Celine Rattray	Producer
Ginger Sledge	Producer
David McFadzean	Producer
Judd Payne	Producer
Martin Shafer	Producer
Matt Williams	Producer
Darby Parker	Executive Producer
Don Fox	Executive Producer
Ken Hirsh	Executive Producer
Duncan Montgomery	Executive Producer
Michael Bassick	Executive Producer
Johnny Lin	Executive Producer
Jack Selby	Executive Producer
Justin Hennard	Sound/Sound Designer
Dick Pope	Camera Operator
Sheila Steele	Casting
Beth Sepko	Casting
Glenn Eanes	Sound Editor
Jeffrey Schwan	Stunts
Deana Newcomb	Script Supervisor
Jack Gilardi Jr.	Executive Producer
William Conway	Executive Producer
John Pritchett	Sound Mixer

Scene Index

Disc #1 -- Bernie
1. Opening Titles [8:40]
2. Sanctuary [7:19]
3. Funeral [8:27]
4. Financial Counseling [8:00]
5. Was Bernie Gay? [7:43]
6. Two Years Later [7:21]
7. What Happened to Carl? [7:49]
8. Carthage Awards [15:03]
9. Self Defense [6:56]
10. Guilty or Innocent? [12:52]
11. Miss My Freedom [2:50]
12. End Credits [6:26]

Menu

Disc #1 -- Bernie
Play Movie
Scene Selection
Set Up
Audio: English 5.1 Digital Surround
Audio: English 2.0 Stereo
Subtitles: English SDH
Subtitles: Spanish
Subtitles: None
Special Features
Amazing Grace
True Story to Film
The Gossips
Deleted Scenes
Play All
BBQ
Bernie Drives Mannequin
Bluebeard
Casketing
Funeral
Lloyd
Mardi Gras
Marjorie in Cell Ending
Never Been in Love
Opening Arguments
Senior Citizen Dance
Previews
Digital Copy

Editorial Reviews

Surprises are memorable, whether they are happy ones or not. Richard Linklater's Bernie presents a story of murder so straightforward that there are no surprises whatsoever, but he does confound our expectations when it comes to the actors. Bernie Tiede (Jack Black) is an effeminate assistant funeral director who is beloved in the small town of Carthage, Texas. He is a magnanimous man, forever buying people gifts even though he has almost no money himself, singing in the local church choir, and providing great comfort and emotional stability to the many elderly widows he meets during the course of his job. One day the wealthy and feared Marjorie Nugent (Shirley MacLaine) needs his services, and soon the mean old bat turns Bernie into her personal valet. While her neediness begins to impinge on his own life, he's too nice to rebel; besides, he doesn't want to pass up all the monetary advantages of being Marjorie's only friend. But eventually he does something drastic in order to get out from under this woman's thumb, which leads tenacious, camera-loving District Attorney Danny Buck (Matthew McConaughey) to dig up the truth regarding Bernie's crime. The whole movie rests primarily on the shoulders of Black, whom Linklater turned into a bankable star with School of Rock -- a film that utilized Black's verbally nimble, high-energy likability in ways no other picture quite has. This time, however, Black tries something new. He gives Bernie a high Texas twang that manages to be soothingly gentle while also betraying an abundance of repressed feelings. The character of Bernie fits Black perfectly, allowing him to bring shades of darkness and sadness we haven't seen from him before to his trademark emphatic extroversion. It's the kind of work that announces he's ready and able to handle much more challenging fare than most of us have come to expect from him. It's a superb performance, but it's far from the only one. McConaughey, another actor whom Linklater traditionally gets the best from, shines by curdling his own abundant charm into an unctuous, self-satisfied ambition -- which makes it even more dramatic that his character is the moral center of the story. In addition to his fine work, MacLaine makes an impression with very little screen time. Marjorie is purposefully detestable from the get-go; her Scrooge-like mentality is highlighted at every opportunity, most humorously when she clutches her purse as a local religious figure tells a group of women he's looking for donations. MacLaine plays that moment so beautifully that you can tell the character's distrust and fear are innate, possibly even subconscious. Sadly, though the actors are uniformly excellent, the screenplay by Linklater and Skip Hollandsworth (who wrote the magazine article about the real-life case the movie is based on), doesn't build any suspense. We learn early on what Bernie does, and while that allows Linklater to focus on the nuances his actors bring to their characters, such a decision deadens the dramatic impact of the storytelling. The actors are so good we understand the characters pretty much from the first frame, and that makes the fact that we know how it turns out much more problematic. After the first 30 minutes, there is no sense of discovery -- we're just waiting for the inevitable confrontation between Bernie and Buck to see how the actors play it. Linklater avoids any accusation of exploiting a real murder -- the picture's ambitions are far too small to think that he intended this to be a blockbuster. It has the intimacy and professional quality of a fine made-for-HBO movie, which shouldn't be taken as an insult. It's absolutely worth seeing for Black's skillful work, but if only the filmmaker had added some tension, more people would be interested in seeing such a genuinely great performance.

Based on a true story, this disarming dark comedy tells the story of a Texas undertaker (Jack Black) with the patience of Job whose relationship with a mean-spirited widow (Shirley MacLaine) finally pushes him over the edge.

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