ABSTRACT
The Gardener’s Son ought to be evaluated and analyzed as a television film. is was the form in which it was conceived and indeed brought into being. e project, originated by Richard Pearce and created by Pearce and McCarthy jointly,¹ was completed successfully and broadcast on American television in January 1977. In order to perform this critical task adequately it would be necessary to have access to repeated viewings of the film itself, but this is not possible. A video does exist but copyright conditions are such that it is not available, even to academics. e Cormac McCarthy Society has been able to show it at conferences and I have seen it once.² e conditions for viewing left something to be desired but I was able to form an overall impression of the film, to gauge its atmosphere and respond to the actors’ performances. However it would be quite inappropriate to base a detailed response on this one experience and I shall not attempt to do so. Instead I shall base this chapter on the screenplay published by Ecco Press in 1996. e film as broadcast does vary slightly from this text, but the differences do not seriously alter the overall meaning of the piece or the way in which its is structured. e details of these variations are contained in Dianne Luce’s 1993 article on the production.³ My own viewing confirmed the impressions gained from the screenplay that The Gardener’s Son exhibits those concerns that have provided the thread of continuity I have traced in all McCarthy’s “Tennessee” or “Southern” works.
