I just watched "Fishbelly White" about two weeks after I first saw "The Mudge Boy." I was surprised to see that "Fishbelly" is a shorter, earlier version of "Mudge Boy" (kinda like "Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade" and "Sling Blade"); some scenes are almost identical, but the shorter version is, of course, less fleshed-out and less detailed. For examples, neither boy's father plays any significant role.
Unlike the shorter "Sling Blade," though, "Fishbelly" does tell the whole story.
I think Emile Hirsch in "Mudge" made a better "Chicken Boy" than Jason Hayes in "Fishbelly", but just because he's less "geeky" and therefore, to me, more heartbreaking in the end. "Mudge Boy" is all the more tragic because Duncan at first thinks he's been accepted by the other, older kids.
Unlike the shorter "Sling Blade," though, "Fishbelly" does tell the whole story.
I think Emile Hirsch in "Mudge" made a better "Chicken Boy" than Jason Hayes in "Fishbelly", but just because he's less "geeky" and therefore, to me, more heartbreaking in the end. "Mudge Boy" is all the more tragic because Duncan at first thinks he's been accepted by the other, older kids.