I remember the book, so I am a bit biased, but I am basing my rating on the film version alone.
Now, I have lived in one of the poorest and most rural areas of North Carolina myself before a mere ten years after this film was released- I can say that probably not a whole lot changed from 1974. Even homes that weren't as poor as depicted in Where the Lilies Bloom, I remember entering and even the floors inside were not level. The family is supposed to be extremely poor, so poor they barely keep food on the table by bartering and selling herbs and plants gathered from the local woods that are to be used in traditional medicines. The children are wearing brand new Levi's and well made plaid shirts which fit, except the littlest one in a shirt that is just a tad too large (get it? it's a "hand me down"). The clothing is typical mid-70s style, the real poor would have been in very ill-fitting severely outdated, maybe polyester in garish colors and patterns, clothing you'd get second hand. I wonder who the film's clothing consultant was? and since it was filmed practically on location, couldn't they've done just a bit of research? Yeah yeah, it wouldn't have the same aesthetic...
Roy Luther ends up passing away (not a spoiler, the entire plot is about the children trying to keep his death a secret from the authorities) really from poverty, in the book it's given that he died from intestinal worms (film version doesn't elaborate on how he died, however- I think that's a big loss, it's important to the story) yet the film has the kids trying to drive the family truck: late model Dodge maybe? I will say in North Carolina even today a truck is say, what a boat to someone in California is: a luxury, a wish item. If the family were so poor, how could they afford that vehicle? and why wasn't it sold when Roy Luther died, to get them some money? Wouldn't that be the first thing you'd do to be able to put food on the table? Where did they get the coffin for Roy Luther the kids buried him in? Maybe I missed something in the movie. Then, Hollywood has to season it up to make it "country": "Kiser Pease" rides up to the Luther's home on horseback yet. A horse is a luxury item there, as much as it is any where else- yes, even in the 1970s South. Well, the character "Kiser" does bring the object of his desire "Devola" a "couple o' hams" as a gift one day so maybe he's a high roller? But, he doesn't even smoke! EVERY one in North Carolina smokes. Old people, young people, men, women, poor, rich, children smoke. North Carolina is tobacco country. But no one in the movie smokes.
Oh well. It's a lazy Sunday afternoon movie, and it's entertaining, and it's nice to see trees and country. I just wish the film were just a bit truer to reality, and not a romantic view of what "country people" are in screen writer's minds, with the girls in pretty floral dresses and the token man on horseback.
Now, I have lived in one of the poorest and most rural areas of North Carolina myself before a mere ten years after this film was released- I can say that probably not a whole lot changed from 1974. Even homes that weren't as poor as depicted in Where the Lilies Bloom, I remember entering and even the floors inside were not level. The family is supposed to be extremely poor, so poor they barely keep food on the table by bartering and selling herbs and plants gathered from the local woods that are to be used in traditional medicines. The children are wearing brand new Levi's and well made plaid shirts which fit, except the littlest one in a shirt that is just a tad too large (get it? it's a "hand me down"). The clothing is typical mid-70s style, the real poor would have been in very ill-fitting severely outdated, maybe polyester in garish colors and patterns, clothing you'd get second hand. I wonder who the film's clothing consultant was? and since it was filmed practically on location, couldn't they've done just a bit of research? Yeah yeah, it wouldn't have the same aesthetic...
Roy Luther ends up passing away (not a spoiler, the entire plot is about the children trying to keep his death a secret from the authorities) really from poverty, in the book it's given that he died from intestinal worms (film version doesn't elaborate on how he died, however- I think that's a big loss, it's important to the story) yet the film has the kids trying to drive the family truck: late model Dodge maybe? I will say in North Carolina even today a truck is say, what a boat to someone in California is: a luxury, a wish item. If the family were so poor, how could they afford that vehicle? and why wasn't it sold when Roy Luther died, to get them some money? Wouldn't that be the first thing you'd do to be able to put food on the table? Where did they get the coffin for Roy Luther the kids buried him in? Maybe I missed something in the movie. Then, Hollywood has to season it up to make it "country": "Kiser Pease" rides up to the Luther's home on horseback yet. A horse is a luxury item there, as much as it is any where else- yes, even in the 1970s South. Well, the character "Kiser" does bring the object of his desire "Devola" a "couple o' hams" as a gift one day so maybe he's a high roller? But, he doesn't even smoke! EVERY one in North Carolina smokes. Old people, young people, men, women, poor, rich, children smoke. North Carolina is tobacco country. But no one in the movie smokes.
Oh well. It's a lazy Sunday afternoon movie, and it's entertaining, and it's nice to see trees and country. I just wish the film were just a bit truer to reality, and not a romantic view of what "country people" are in screen writer's minds, with the girls in pretty floral dresses and the token man on horseback.