In the summer of 1965, an abused housewife (Melanie Griffith) murders her husband and takes off to Hollywood while her nephew (Lucas Black) becomes involved with the civil rights movement. Also with David Morse, Cathy Moriarty, Meat Loaf, Rod Steiger, Richard Schiff, John Beasley, Robert Wagner, Noah Emmerich, Sandra Seacat, Paul Ben-Victor, Brad Beyer, Fannie Flagg and Elizabeth Perkins. [1:51]

SEX/NUDITY 2 - Some sexual innuendo and kissing. A woman tries to seduce a man by talking suggestively and running her leg alongside his body; we then see his pants fall down but don't see any sexual activity or nudity. We see a nude mannequin, showgirls showing cleavage and women showing cleavage in a few other scenes.

VIOLENCE/GORE 4 - As a boy tries to climb a fence, a man yanks him off and the boy falls onto concrete and dies. A woman falls through a glass door and into a pool. A boy is hit in the eye with something (he gets a bloody cut). A woman carries her husband's decapitated head in a box (it's never seen) and we see a body in a casket at a funeral. During a riot scene people are hit each other with fists and clubs. A man hits a prepubescent child and a man throws a child against a wall. A woman nearly falls off a bridge. A woman throws a drink in someone's face, threatens him with a gun and fires a shot into the ceiling; another instance of threatening with a gun.

LANGUAGE 4 - A few scatological and anatomical references and many mild obscenities.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Racism, spouse abuse, murder, fame.

MESSAGE - Racism and spouse abuse are wrong; go for your dreams and you might succeed.