Flesh and Bone is a 1993 American neo-noir mystery psychological thriller film written and directed by Steve Kloves that stars Meg Ryan, Dennis Quaid and James Caan. Gwyneth Paltrow is featured in an early role, for which she received some praise.
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Plot
A rural Texas family finds a mute boy in their front yard. They take the boy in, feed him, and put him to bed while they try to figure out what happened to him. During the night, the boy wakes up and lets a stranger into the house. The man and the boy rob the house together. When the father surprises the burglar, they exchange gunfire. Drawn by the sound, the burglar kills the mother as well. He asks his son if there is anyone else in the house. The boy reluctantly nods, and his father goes upstairs to kill the family's young son, leaving only their crying baby alive.
25 years later, the boy is living a solitary life as a man named Arlis. He has a vending machine business which keeps him traveling all over Texas. At one of his stops, he meets a stripper named Kay who is too drunk to do her job. He drives Kay home and helps her leave her degenerate husband. Arlis resists Kay's advances for a while before they finally fall in love.
One night, Arlis answers a knock at the motel door. It is a young woman named Ginnie, a petty thief he has seen on his rounds. Ginnie asks for help with her car. Arlis follows her to the vehicle only to find that his father Roy is waiting for him. He has been shot and needs Arlis to tend to the wound.
