Winston Starr

Get Low Winston Starr

No one really knows Felix Bush (Robert Duvall), who lives as a hermit deep in the woods. Rumors surround him, such as how he might have killed in cold blood, and that he's in league with the devil. So, the town is surprised when Felix shows up at Reverend Gus Horton's church with a fat wad of cash and requests a "funeral party" for himself, which Rev. Horton refuses to do. Frank Quinn (Bill Murray), the owner of the local, financially troubled, funeral parlor, covets Bush's money and agrees to advertise and help organize a funeral party. Townsfolk and others in the area are invited to come to the event and tell Felix Bush the stories they've heard about him. To ensure a good turnout, Bush insists upon a raffle, with his property as the prize; many people buy tickets.

Things get more complicated when an old mystery is remembered, involving a local widow named Mattie Darrow (Sissy Spacek), who was Bush's girlfriend in their youth, and her deceased sister, Mary Lee Stroup (Arin Logan[2]). With the help of a preacher who insists upon the truth from forty years ago being revealed, Bush intends to confess his shame about and complicity in a terrible occurrence. He reveals to Mattie his affair with her married sister, Mary Lee, telling her that it was Mary Lee who was his true love, his only love. To the people gathered for his funeral party, he tells the story of how the two of them made plans to run away together and, when she didn't arrive at the agreed place, he went to her home to search for her. He discovered that her husband had attacked her with a hammer, knocking her out. The husband threw a kerosene lamp against a wall to set the house on fire and kill himself, the unconscious Mary Lee, and Bush. Bush freed himself from the attacking husband, but as his clothes caught fire, he also saw Mary Lee catch fire. As he went to put the fire out, he felt himself flying through the window, possibly pushed by the husband, and he was unable to re-enter the house to save Mary Lee.