Michael Barnes|Austin American-Statesman
To salute Texas Independence Week in 2019, my former American-Statesman colleague Dave Thomas and I put out a list of the53 best books about Texas.
It contained some beloved classics, such as John Graves’ “Goodbye to a River,” and some thrilling newcomers, like Attica Locke’s “Bluebird, Bluebird" andMonicaMuñoz Martinez’s “The Injustice Never Leaves You.”
We encouraged readers to respond with their favorites. They did. On June 14, 2019, Ipublished those provocative responses, including several from folks who wondered why we had left off James Michener’s doorstop novel, “Texas.”
“I had admired Michener’s early novels,” I wrote,“but I could not in good conscience recommend ‘Texas,’ which felt to me overlong, stale and lugubrious.”
I was not done.
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For a “Think, Texas” column on May 1, 2020, Iexpanded the list to include60 volumes of essential Texas books.
Some, such as Willie Morris’ “NorthToward Home” and Nate Blakeslee’s “Tulia: Race, Cocaine and Corruption in a Small Texas Town,” were oversights from the first round. Others were new to me, such as Elizabeth Crook’s “The Which Way Tree” and Stephen L. Davis’ “The Essential J. Frank Dobie.”
If I revisited thatlist yet another year later, I’d probably add 10morebooks. Although some of our original choices did not land well with critics, I’m not ready to disavow any of themwithout further reflection.
The important thing wasthedirect and ongoing engagement with readers.
So why not try the something similarregardingmovies about Texas?
In“Think, Texas” newsletterno. 78, I wrestled with the shifting idea of a Texas movie: What qualifies as a movie about Texasanyway?
The brilliant "There Will Be Blood,” I wrote, was made in Texas, but is not about Texas.
It is not alone.According to an amazing online document provided by the Texas Film Commission,thousands of movies and TV projectshave been filmed in our state since 1910, but a good number of those have not been about Texas or Texansat all.
“The Searchers,” on the other hand, is about a famed subject in Texas history, the twice-kidnapped Cynthia Ann Parker, but was filmed in Monument Valley, split between Utah and Arizona.
Does that disqualify this classic film?
Early Texas filmslooked almost exclusively tothe past, specifically the 19thcentury,the era of cowboys, American Indians and wars with Mexico. By the mid-20thcentury, other mythic aspects of Texas — oil wildcatters, military leaders, growing cities — became film subjects.
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The Old West never went away — in fact, thetheme reacheditsapex in “Lonesome Dove,” a 1989TV miniseries that manyfanstreatas a cohesive movie — yet Texas movies grew smaller, more personal.
Screenwriters such as Horton Foote and Larry McMurtry contributed to this trend, as did a new set of filmmakerssuch asRichard Linklater, Wes Anderson and Mike Judge. (FireballRobert Rodriguez brought back the broader gesture and introduced an element of fantasy.)
In the past couple of decades,audienceshavebegunto see more movies told from freshTexasperspectives,coming fromvoices that had not been heard in the past, among them “Miss Juneteenth” and “Selena.”I look forward to more of that.
So,fully aware that my listishighly subjective,here are some movies that could start our exchange onfilmsabout Texas.
Note that my criteria lean more toward the anthropological rather than the aesthetic, although something like “Days of Heaven” gets a lot of points for sheer beauty.Is your favorite missing from the list? Send us the title and a short argument for it atmbarnes@statesman.com.
“The Trip to Bountiful”(1985)—Set in Houston as well asintowns and rural areasalongthe Gulf Coastal Plain during the 1940s,this was among the first Texas movies to reflect backtomethe lives of my parents and grandparents. Afantastic2014 TVremakefeaturing Cicely Tyson demonstratesthat Horton Foote’sscriptcould echo theBlack experiences in that part of the state as well.
“Lonesome Dove”(1989) —Most of us thought theWestern was dead. Then along came the TV miniseries adapted byBill WittlifffromLarry McMurtry’s unforgettable novel.(Both writersdied not long ago.)Like any good storytellers, they employed history to turn theoldmyths of Texas cattle drives intocohesive,three-dimensional human dramas.
“Days of Heaven”(1978)—I could have sworn Terrence Malick’s ravishing drama abouturban drifters who end upworkingat a Panhandle wheat farmin the early 20thcenturywas filmed in Texas. YetI found out years laterthe locations were found in Canada.Nevertheless,it is among the best films ever about Texas.
“Hud”(1963)—This revisionistwestern wasindeedfilmed in the Panhandle and was drawn from McMurtry’s novel, “Horseman,Pass By.”Tensions between the Old West and New West, honor and ego,are just part of this culturally thick drama.
“The Last PictureShow”(1971)— Another McMurtry novel inspired this despairingcoming-of agemovie about small-town Texas life. Itwasbased on the writer’s hometown, Archer City.(He cowrote the screenplay with Peter Bogdanovich.) It hit a little too close to homeforhis neighbors, but it regularly lands near to the top of any list of movies about Texas.
“No Country for Old Men”(2007)—AgreattransplantedTexas author, Cormac McCarthy,who grew up inTennessee,provided the story for Joel and Ethan Coen’s harrowing morality movieset in thebleakdesertsofWest Texas.This winnerofthebestpictureOscarwill give you nightmares and itmightmake you paranoid aboutvast open spaces.
“Giant”(1956) — Controversial for many reasons, thiswide-screen West Texas drama featuredthree major Hollywood stars— Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean —along withthehomegrownsubjectsofcattle, oil and racism. The waysthat the movie, based on an Edna Ferber novel,got Texas right and wrong are the subjects of two excellent books by the recently deceasedUniversity of TexasscholarDon Graham.
“Tender Mercies”(1983) — Foote devised this original screenplay about an alcoholic country singer who bonds with a younger widow and her son.Shot in North Texas, it is as true to that part of the state as “The Trip to Bountiful” is to the Gulf Coast.Foote had an ear for Texans.
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“Friday Night Lights”(2004)—Iwouldargue that the subsequent TV series, shot in and around Austin,faroutstripped both the H.G. Bissinger book and the Peter Berg movie about the state’s obsession with high school football.Nevertheless, the movie, and especially Billy Bob Thornton as the coach, still holds up.
“Bonnie and Clyde”(1967)—This sexy,violent and wonderfully erraticmovie about the infamousoutlaws —aboutwhich every Texan of a certain agekeepsareadyanecdoteon hand— took Hollywood by storm. Set in the Depression, it takes quite a few historical shortcuts, but that’s show biz.
“The Searchers”(1956) —Film scholars and historians have analyzed this darkwestern, which stars John Wayne, down to its last frame. For good reason, it is a masterpiece.Based on the real kidnapping of Cynthia Ann Parker by Comanches, it is all the morepotent because it deals directly with thedeepracism of Wayne’s character.
“Bernie”(2011)—I could watch thisbrisk, blackRichard Linklater comedy, based on a Skip Hollandsworth true-crime story published in Texas Monthly,100 times. It soauthenticallycaptures Deep East Texas, where I was born,but left early, andstars perfectly castand coachedJack Black, Shirley MacLaine and Matthew McConaughey.
“Terms of Endearment”(1983) — McMurtry provided the novel that James L. Brooks turned intoabestpicture winner.The leafy neighborhoods of Houston, which McMurtry knew well, providepart of thebackdrop for thisfamilydramastarring Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, Jeff Daniels and Jack Nicholson, who plays a colorful retired astronaut.
“The Three Burials ofMelquiadesEstrada”(2005)—I’ve only seen this movie in fragments, butthat suits thisbroken narrativeofscaldingmorality tales, told from different points of viewwithashifting treatment oftime.To nobody’s surprise, Tommy Lee Jones is brilliant as director and actor.
“Places in the Heart”(1984) — Robert Benton put together this family drama about a widow raising two children on a Texas farmduringthe Depression with the help ofaBlack drifter.While ultimately uplifting, it starts out with an accidental death followed by a brutal lynching.
“Boyhood”(2014) —At first, it is hard to get pastLinklater’sastoundingachievementof filmingactors playing achildandhisdivorced parentsover the course of some 12 years.Yet it stays with you, and so does the insight the movie gives oneaboutthestateof Texas.
“Red River”(1948) —On the surface astandardwesterncentered ona fictional cattle drive, this Howard Hawks filmgrapples withintergenerational andinterregionalstrife, along withunexpected gay subtext. Once again, Wayne plays ahighlyflawed Texan.
“Hellor High Water”(2016) — Notice how many films here could be called “neo-westerns”?The periodicmakingand remaking of Texas myths goesinto high gear in this crime film about two brothers trying to rescue their family ranch.
“Slacker”(1990) — Ikeep expecting to see myselfsomewhere inthe background ofRichard Linklater’sseries of disconnected scenes aboutquirkyAustinitesduring a time beforethecity's big tech boom. I dostill catch glimpses of funky, bohemian Austin today that remind me of“Slacker.”
“Urban Cowboy”(1980) — It would be easy to dismiss this slick treatment of rural and urban Texas set mostlyamongthe industrial suburbs of Houston. Yetsetting aside the troubled romance between John Travolta and Debra Winger’s characters, this moviereally did hit a nerve and redefined the state, mostly for the rest of the country.
“Apollo 13”(1995) — Texas screenwriter William BroylesJr.deservesalot of credit for gettingHouston and NASAright in this Ron Howard space movie about theaborted1970 Apollo 13 lunar mission.Of course, the all-star cast and technical assistance from NASA helped, too.
“Blood Simple”(1984) — Long before they became household names, at least in the homes of cinephiles, Joel and Ethan Coen shot this noirish crime thriller in Austin and Hutto. Lean and raw,it can still sneak up on you.And it feels very Texan.
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“Miss Juneteenth”(2020) —A breakthrough movie written and directed by Channing GodfreyPeoples,this family drama is set against the background of a beauty pageantstaged during an annual celebration ofemancipation in Texas.Among other things, itpoints the way for morescrutinyof Texas suburbsasfuture film fodder.
“Lone Star”(1996) — Amurdermysteryset in SouthTexas,this is one of prolific filmmaker John Sayles’best films.Have you noticed that southern and southwestern Texastend tomake great backdrops forstories about crime and corruption?There is much more to be said about thattrend, but not in this space today.
“Paris, Texas”(1984)—It took German director Wim Wenders to nail the places, timesand moodsof modernTexas, from the desertsinthewestern part of the stateto the big-city sprawl of Houston. No, it is not set in Paris, Texas.Althoughthe story isslow-moving, I find it spellbinding.
“Dazed and Confused”(1993) — What, Michael, four Linklater movies on your list? That’s right. Thisensemblecult film helped define a whole generation ofsuburban Texans. OK,the coming-of-age movie isset in Huntsville, not a suburb,and was filmed in Austin,but it reallyfeels like a suburban exegesis.
“Selena”(1997) — In some ways a standardcelebritybio-picwith a tragic ending, this movie benefits from threeamazingthings:its subject, Tejanosuperstar Selena Quintanilla-Pérez;itsblazingstar,Jennifer Lopez;andthe cultural context of the music and the times in Texas.
“True Stories”(1986) — Satireis hard. David Byrne gets it. Set in the Dallas suburbs during theTexas sesquicentennial, this movie,whichincludes music by the Talking Heads,goes far beyonditswinningbirthright. Itsdry-as-bonetreatment of our statecan be harsh, but Texans can take it.
“The Thin Blue Line”(1988) —I haven’t included many documentaries here, but this one has haunted me since its first showings.Informed by noir, filmmaker Errol Morrisfollows the trialof Randall Dale Adams for the murder ofapolice officer, a crime he did not commit.Philip Glass provided the music;Dallas plays a starring rolein this story ofthecorruption of justice.
“Happy, Texas”(1999)—I had to include this delightful little comedy starring Steve Zahn, Willam H. Macy andJeremy Northam aboutescapees from a chain gang who pose as gay organizers of a beauty pageant.It’s cute. You decide if thatqualitymakes or breaks it. There is arealHappy, Texas, by the way.I’ve been there.
“Tower”(2016) — I was genuinely shocked that this documentary,part of it rotoscoped, was notevennominated for an Oscar. KeithMaitland scrupulously interviewed survivors of the 1966 UT Tower shooting andmade their stories utterly human. It isa work ofgenius.
“Texas Chainsaw Massacre”(1974) — The first in a horror franchise ofexcruciating bloodiness, it is among the founding movies of modern Texas. I include it here for its immense influenceand because it really doescome withsomeseriousunderpinnings. Still … yuck.
MoreTexas moviesto see:“The Alamo" (1960 & 2004, nofurtherexplanation needed at this point), “Dallas Buyers Club,”“The River and the Wall,”“The Southerner,”“Beauty Knows No Pain,”“Hope Floats,” “Bottle Rocket,” “The Border,” “The Getaway,” “Pit Stop,” “Rio Bravo,”“Hands on a Hard Body,”“The Tree of Life,” “The Chase,” “Sugarland Express,” “Alamo Bay,”“Be Here to Love Me,” "Barracuda,” "InbetweenGirl,” “Without Getting Killed or Caught,”“Charlie Wilson’s War,” “North Dallas Forty,”“Bull,” “Never Goin’ Back,”“The Wild Bunch,” “The Border,” “The Best Little whor*house in Texas,” “Reality Bites,”“Fandango,”“Return of the Native,” "Miss Congeniality," “Peewee’s Big Adventure,”“A SongForYou: The Austin City Limits Story,”“The Evening Star,”“Dancer, Texas Pop.81”and “Old Yeller.”
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