You know I remember seeing this film when I was fifteen years old. I was the kind of teenager who didn't break the rules and watch R rated films, so the fact that this was a PG-13 movie meant this was the first film I'd seen Eastwood direct. I thought it was a remarkable movie at the time and I think it holds up incredibly well even thirty years later. Eastwood's repertoire as a director since he turned 60 is arguably the greatest of any American filmmaker since he past that particular age: he's made so many out and out masterpieces and so many great films that its rare that we consider any of them a hidden gem. A Perfect World is. This film clearly is and its one of the highwater mark for Costner as an actor - it would be a long time before he gave another performance this masterful and layered again in a movie. (I'd actually argue the next time he gave a performance that good was in another underrated gem Mr. Brooks, which I considered a masterpiece.) As for Eastwood's work here, I have little doubt it suffered in comparison to his incredible performance as a different time of lawman in the classic In the Line of Fire which came out that same year. The film is also significant as another milepost in Laura Dern's trek to becoming one of the greatest actresses of all time.