A southern man, Jesse Banks Rhodes (
Harry Connick, Jr.), is released from a prison work camp in
Louisiana, 1936, after being wrongly imprisoned for eleven years. He heads back to Georgia, only to find that most people are keen to keep him down. He begins working for a plantation owner (
Walton Goggins) and rents a shed from a farmer (
Pete Postlethwaite) with two daughters (
Patricia Clarkson and
Vinessa Shaw). After witnessing the murder of a black worker at the hands of a drunken white racist boss, Jesse is forced to prove his innocence, so injustice will not happen again.
Production of the film began Oct. 26, 1998 in Nashville.[2] The movie was filmed at various locations in
Georgia including
Mansfield and the Southeastern Railway
Museum.
Produced by: Cary Brokaw/Avenue Pictures Productions,[5] Maccabee Productions, Steve Tisch Company
International rights will be licensed by Arthur Kananack & Associates (AKA Movies).[6]
This
movie was delisted at $0 on April 29, 2002 since the stock was wrapped, but had no distribution.
Letters From A Wayward Son, Wayward Son Productions 1998: Budget $4.5 million.[7]
An interview where the director Randall Harris discusses the film with Harry Connick Jr., including a few clips from the movie are featured at the Film-Fest: Issue 3 - TorontoDVD.[8]
Animal Actors supplied talent on horseback, horses, mules, rattlesnakes, bloodhounds, and German shepherds.[9]