Raising Flagg 2006

Flagg Purdy, Alan Arkin, is a practical handyman who has spent years locked in a petty feud with his neighbor Gus Falk, Austin Pendleton. After losing a checkers game and enduring other perceived slights, Flagg files a lawsuit to gain adverse possession of a well and pumphouse that sits on Falk’s property. The case goes to trial and, though Falk seemed poised to win, he loses on a technicality. In retaliation, Falk shuns Flagg and even bans Ada Purdy, Flagg’s wife, from selling produce in his general store. The town splits; other locals rally to one side or the other, and Flagg’s handyman services are boycotted by some.

Flagg responds by confining himself to his bed and announcing that he is terminally ill, a move that triggers a large family reunion. The gathering includes Flagg’s relatives and acquaintances such as Ann Marie, Glenne Headly; Rachel Purdy, Lauren Holly; Eldon Purdy, Matthew Arkin; Travis Purdy, Daniel Quinn; and Jenny Purdy, Stephanie Lemelin. These family members—radio personality, real estate agent, preacher, worm farmer, and teenager—stream in from nearby towns, each with their own concerns and hopes surrounding Flagg’s illness and the looming question of what he might leave behind. The extended family members also make appearances, some hoping to claim Flagg’s possessions and determine the future of the Purdy clan.

As days pass, a series of tensions surface among the family, Flagg, and Falk. Old disagreements flare up, loyalties shift, and new alliances form as everyone navigates the limits of friendship, grudges, and duty to kin. Through these conversations, arguments, and moments of quiet reflection, the community pieces together what truly matters in this unusually intimate town drama. In the end, many of the rifts are addressed, and Flagg is described as cured, rising from his bed and seeking reconciliation with Falk.

What remains is a nuanced portrait of a town and a family learning to coexist again, where the boundaries between neighborly rivalry and kinship blur, and where a man’s claim on land becomes a catalyst for a broader reckoning about forgiveness, responsibility, and belonging.