This Boy's Life (1993)
12-month trend
12-month trend
Monthly article views
2025-09 to 2026-08
A young boy navigates a tumultuous upbringing marked by a free-spirited mother and a domineering, abusive stepfather.
The story
In 1957, young Tobias Wolff and his nomadic, free-spirited mother Caroline arrive in Salt Lake City in search of a fresh start. After being followed by an unwelcome ex-boyfriend, Caroline impulsively moves Toby to Seattle instead. Six months later, Toby has become a juvenile delinquent, prefers to be called Jack, and is unimpressed with Caroline's pompous new suitor Dwight Hansen. For Thanksgiving, Dwight brings Caroline and Jack to his home in Concrete, a small town near the northern Cascade Mountains. The story follows Jack as he is thrust into the influence of his stepfather, Dwight, whose domineering and controlling nature begins to shape his life in the rural setting.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In 1957, Toby and his mother Caroline move to Seattle to escape a stalker. Toby becomes a delinquent and is eventually sent to live with his mother's suitor, Dwight, in the town of Concrete. Dwight is a domineering and abusive man who treats Toby harshly, including a humiliating boxing lesson and physical abuse. Despite this, Toby befriends a misfit named Arthur. Years later, while Caroline works for the Kennedy campaign, Toby realizes he is becoming like Dwight and seeks to distance himself. With Arthur's help, he manages to get a scholarship to the Hill School in Pennsylvania. They eventually leave Dwight and Concrete behind. The film concludes with a montage of the characters' lives: Dwight dies in Concrete, Arthur becomes a successful businessman in Italy, Caroline remarries, and the real-life Tobias Wolff becomes a writer and professor.
- Original title
- This Boy's Life: A True Story
- First release year
- 1993
- Runtime (minutes)
- 115
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Michael Caton-Jones
- Writers
- Robert Getchell · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Robert De Niro · Dwight; Ellen Barkin · Caroline; Leonardo DiCaprio · Toby; Chris Cooper; Carla Gugino; Eliza Dushku; Tobey Maguire
- Genres
- biographical; coming-of-age; drama
- Themes
- abuse; coming-of-age; family dynamics
- Tone and mood
- harrowing; moving
- Premise and plot tags
- biographical; true story; domestic violence
- Source material / true-story basis
- the eponymous memoir by author Tobias Wolff
- Reception
- The film received mixed to positive reviews, praised for its cast and the breakout performance of Leonardo DiCaprio.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 76% · scale: percentage · review count: 37; Metacritic · score: 60 · scale: 100 · review count: 16
- Production trivia
- First feature-film lead role for Leonardo DiCaprio; First credited appearance for Tobey Maguire; First on-screen collaboration of Maguire and DiCaprio
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
Your lists
Loading your lists…