What do A Trip to Bountiful, No Country for Old Men, and The Last Picture Show all have in common? They're just a few of the iconic Texas films we're discussing in this episode. Join us as we explore our favorite movies that capture the essence of Texas life and the unforgettable characters and landscapes that make these films so memorable.
From the captivating West Texas depictions in the works of the Coen Brothers and Tommy Lee Jones to the emotional journey of Geraldine Page's character in A Trip to Bountiful, we delve into the various themes and experiences that these Texas movies encompass. We also discuss the violence and grittiness found in Cormac McCarthy's books and their film adaptations, as well as the controversial yet iconic The Searchers, which showcases both the beauty and the brutality of Texas life.
Grab some popcorn and check out these classic films, as they offer a fascinating glimpse into the heart and soul of Texas. So sit back, relax, and let's talk Texas movies!
What do A Trip to Bountiful, No Country for Old Men, and The Last Picture Show all have in common? They're just a few of the iconic Texas films we're discussing in this episode. Join us as we explore our favorite movies that capture the essence of Texas life and the unforgettable characters and landscapes that make these films so memorable.
From the captivating West Texas depictions in the works of the Coen Brothers and Tommy Lee Jones to the emotional journey of Geraldine Page's character in A Trip to Bountiful, we delve into the various themes and experiences that these Texas movies encompass. We also discuss the violence and grittiness found in Cormac McCarthy's books and their film adaptations, as well as the controversial yet iconic The Searchers, which showcases both the beauty and the brutality of Texas life.
Grab some popcorn and check out these classic films, as they offer a fascinating glimpse into the heart and soul of Texas. So sit back, relax, and let's talk Texas movies!
This podcast is not sponsored by. it does not reflect the views of the institutions that employ us. It is solely our thoughts and ideas, based upon our professional training and study of the past ["The.
Speaker 1:There's been I don't know hundreds, probably thousands of movies there were either. You know about Texas, filmed in Texas Had the Texas theme. So that's a big list to talk from. In fact, jean, do you know that one of the earliest films ever put out was about Texas and started Texas 1903? there was a movie short movie I think, it was only seven minutes long called the dance of the little Texas magnet and it featured a young man. It from Galveston in Galveston, knew he. What he did was impersonate old South dances Like they used to have on the old plantation balls and such, and he danced something like one of I have no idea What it is buck and wing dancing and everything.
Speaker 1:There's no copies of this film left there. We've lost them all, but it was one of the first films ever put out. What 1916, when movies were just starting to become commercial. One of the first big hits For the studio system in 1960 was a movie called old Texas and that was a biopic of Charles Goodnight. It actually had good night was, you know. It actually said some footage of good night himself. And there's grainy footage of Tiawa Indians who they came brought from a reservation in Oklahoma To film them hunting bison in Palo Veracan. Of course It was the bison that Charles Goodnight had saved, so Texas is fertile ground for movies, so we should have a good topic about that.
Speaker 2:I show that to my students.
Speaker 1:Oh.
Speaker 2:I'm glad you brought that up.
Speaker 1:That's really, it's also interesting that it's old Texas in 1916, which what they're filming wasn't that old, like about. Won't you tell us what it? what would have to be the Qualification for to be a Texas movie for us?
Speaker 2:Okay. So I think, if we're gonna talk about Texas movies and let's just talk about our favorite ones in this episode right, that Texas has to be an essential part of the movie. Right, not just filmed in Texas, but that it's about Texas, that it captures the essence of Texana, texas characters. It has to be a good story. There's a lot of films that are good films but bad stories. Well, maybe not even good films, but there's bad stories. This has to be a good story. It doesn't have to be historically correct, however it's fiction, after all And it has to be a feature film. I'm gonna say that. You know, we talked the other day when we were talking to Gordon. A great film and a good movie is His the example, but it's only 25 minutes.
Speaker 1:It's a short you know, before we go on and start this list, i think we should some of our people know we should give a salute out to The person who, more than anybody else, i think, made Judging Texas movies an academic pursuit, and that is the late Don Graham. Held the J Frank Dobie chair at University of Texas. Don died a couple of years ago. I remember him Coming and give the, giving the lay-all lecture for the ETHJ one time and he went on about movies, about this and and he's so good, was so engaging. So this is somewhat, i guess we could say, dedicated to the memory of Don Jean. So well, how about you? let us know about your list and Jean?
Speaker 2:Okay, now, this is in in no particular order, so I'm gonna start off with a film that Man. For me It is. It is a great movie and a real tearjerker, and that is a trip to bountiful. Now, there were a couple of versions of that, the last version in 2014. I think it was Was a remake based upon a Play, the remake of the play that had an all black cast and Sicily Tyson was in it. I Didn't know one of her last performances, my gosh.
Speaker 1:It was. Look that up. I didn't know. They did a remake of the 2014.
Speaker 2:You say yes, but let's just talk about the one with Geraldine Page. She won an Academy Award for it And this is 1985's trip to bountiful. It's written by, the movie is based upon and written by Horton foot, and Horton foot was from Horton, texas, and was a big. You know. He was a playwright. He was a movie To kill a mockingbird was one of his earliest Screenplays and although he didn't write the book right, but he adapted it, he was and I didn't know this but I was looking him up He was cousins with Shelby foot.
Speaker 1:I didn't know that either. Was he really? Yeah, and so He was a much better writer than Shelby was.
Speaker 2:Well, and he was also related to Peter Masterson, who's the father of Mary Stewart Masterson, and Peter Masterson was one of the directed some of his early films. So but a trip to Bountiful, if you haven't seen it, was based upon a play that he wrote and it's about going back to the past. And it's just a woman here in Houston. She wants to go back to the home where she grew up and the place where she grew up, but nothing can. it's hard to find transportation back there, set in the depression, and when she finally gets there, it's a very eye-opening experience. I'm just gonna leave it at that. If you haven't seen it, you gotta see it, but to me it was very emotional. It hits all the right notes.
Speaker 1:You know you're right, gene, that's a great, great film. That's a good starter list And keeping with that, since we brought up Horton Foot and this, i wanna start off with another Horton Foot written movie that I think is fantastic. That is Tender Mercies. That stars Robert Duvall. Horton Foot wrote that. Robert Duvall plays and down on his luck mainly because he's crawled into a bottle as soon as he achieved fame of a country singer by the name of Max Sledge, which is, i mean, if you're gonna come up with a character's name from Texas, max Sledge is what you come up with, right. But Mac rolls up at an old roadside motel run by a woman and her son. Her husband had been killed in the Vietnam War. He comes in there drunk, he goes to work for they end up getting married. It's a great storyline. And he involves a very, very young Ellen Barkin as his daughter, who was tragically killed in a car accident in the movie. But what I think of the movie of Tender Mercies, why so much? The movie captures Texas in the modern Texas.
Speaker 1:The film was set in the early 80s is when the film was set And it captures that starkness of Texas, the rough edge of so many Texas characters And again this is because Horton Foote understands Texas and the texaness of those characters really does come out in the movie And besides that it's just. Some people would tell you that Tender Mercies is boring because nothing really happens.
Speaker 2:It's kinda slow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but that's the beauty of it, because you have time to develop these characters, you feel like you really know them by the end, and when Mac actually gains back some of his fame at the end, you're ready to cheer for him. So Horton Foote movie Tender Mercies is the first one on my list.
Speaker 2:Now, scott, i'm gonna talk about a film I know you're not crazy about and this isn't on your list, but it's one that I like and it's one that I sometimes show students in class, and that is the 2004 film Friday Night Lights, and it's based upon HG Bissinger's 1990 book about the 1988 playoff between the big five A schools of the time Midland, permian.
Speaker 1:It's Odessa, permian. Jean, do not put Permian in Midland. Ha ha ha. That would get you killed if you go to the Permian Basin.
Speaker 2:I can see the hate mail pile in it already.
Speaker 1:The other school is Dallas Carter.
Speaker 2:Right. so you know, let's talk a little bit about the background for this. It's based upon the big rivalry football rivalry in Texas. Now in the 1980s I was going through high school and I worked at my local radio station And the big thing we did was cover high school sports And football. it was the big show, right, it was the big thing on Friday nights And you know three hours of covering that. we had a color commentator, we had a caller, we had, you know, all these advertisements. this is a little bitty town in those days, but it was the big thing. I thought it was a very good representation of what 1980s, early 1990s, high school football meant to Texas.
Speaker 1:Gene, i think you're right. Here's why I do not like Friday night lights, and it's probably something that is personal. First off, the movie does not reflect Bissinger's book at all. Bissinger's book follows the whole 1988 season of Odessa Permian, the ups and downs of it, and it's almost more about how the city of Odessa is so entwined with the identity of the football team at Permian High School And it gets on race and class and various other things like that. And so the movie of course just really gets into that one game And also, of course, as far as you know, it does capture the what do you want to say? the celebratory bigness of high school football in Texas. I mean, i grew up in San Angelo and started high school at San Angelo Central. Then I graduated and played in both places. But Midland Lee, also Permian, was our big rival Midland. We were 19 miles away from that, i have to add right now, although I was just out of high school by then. In that 88 season Midland Lee beat Permian. So in their annual rivalry game they lost that game, but that was the same business.
Speaker 1:Now, but also to get to Bissinger's book, somebody asked me one time So Is this book true? Is it? did he get it right? And my answer to him, to people and they asked me that is It's. It's accurate, But it's not true. And this is the reason why. Because Bissinger was from Philadelphia and Bistra came and lived in Odessa for a year. what he saw is a Desuans Fascination with high school football. He saw that as an obsession and he saw it as a negative and he didn't quite Understand why the Texas communities are so tied up into the football. So, alright, so I will go with your Friday night lights and I'll let you have that number two. Let's just let make everybody know for sure.
Speaker 1:It's not on my list of any case, but we're talking about Friday night lights, west Texas, and I think some of the best movies about Texas are West Texas movies, movies that take place in West Texas, because West Texas, i think It's the image for many people of what Texas is this unforgiving landscape with rough-hewn characters with hard edges and things like that. So my next movie on the list takes place in West Texas. It is another adaption, adaptation from a book, and it is the great Cormac McCarthy just died last week the great Cormac McCarthy, mccarthy's Best movie. A lot of movies been made for Cormac McCarthy, but this is the best one. No country for old men. Tommy Lee Jones, a Texan, stars in this movie. It is Talk about Stark. It's violent. I mean, all a Cormac McCarthy's books are violent, but that violence captures what it is to be living almost still on the frontier in West Texas. It's on the border, it's in a border town. He doesn't ever really say what town it's in. And no country for me. But those of us and you know who you look at you know this town has got to be probably Marfa, perhaps, or it could be Pekas. They does talk about making a quick trip to Monahans and catching a bus And in Odessa. So it could be Pekas or a place like that. So but it's the, the filming. They filmed it out there in West Texas. They got it right with the film, they got it right with the characters and it's just a great story. It's what it is. It's just you're on the edge of your seat. And the end.
Speaker 1:Javier Barton plays the quintessential villain in this thing. I mean he is, oh, he's evil, oh, he's even well, definition of a psych, sociopathic psychopath. I mean he has no morals and he doesn't care. But I mean, and so many in the film is so well done. That scene where he is in this goes in the old Gas station and the old guy was there and he's asked questions and everybody he's met with and he asked questions. He kills them afterwards. I don't have some right. So he looks at that old man. The old man has the look of fear in his eyes because he can just tell this guy is evil when he asked him a question And he evidently gets the right answer and he chooses not to kill him And you know, at that point this guy's got some serious problems. But it is, and it's a Cohen brothers film, which I will have another one on that, and the coin brothers for two people from Minnesota. They seem to understand taxes pretty well, i guess. So country for me and also Academy Award winner for best picture.
Speaker 2:That is a great movie and it almost made my list. Let's go to a film that's on both of our lists. Three burials for Melchitas Estrada. Tommy Lee Jones, of course, is the, the San Sabra born Texan. So he gets the, the Texan character and he plays an old rancher and a hired man is killed by a border patrol agent and a corrupt border patrol agent and The story kind of follows as I lay dying by William Faulkner's, as I lay dying. So there's some. There's some surreal scenes in there, but It is a. I think it portrays Border. You know it's another film based on West Texas, right in the border area, in the borderlands, and that I the confronts race and culture and personal friendship, right, and how that transcends a lot of that stuff. I Like that movie. It is like no country woman is stark, but it is a powerful movie I think you're right, so right about that.
Speaker 1:That is a powerful movie. It was directed by Tommy Lee Jones himself, so he knows that. That part in those texts isn't it proves it. But it was written, now I think, written by a man by the name of Guillermo Ariaga, who is a very famous Mexican novelist, and so he also and he's from the border area, he also understands that it is. If you have not seen the three burials of, melchiatis is struck by that. You have to see it. It's, it is so good and it leaves you. It leaves you at the end kind of hanging, because you don't really know whether I Won't give away too much what Melchiatis has been telling Tommy Lee Jones about his home in Mexico, whether that's actually reality And everything once he gets there. And that's what's the deal.
Speaker 2:But you know, I think a lot of people don't know about it because I don't think it was ever Promoted that well.
Speaker 1:No, it wasn't. It was not released very much. You know that, uh, but what didn't get a wide release, i guess, is what you might say Uh, so it is. Well, i'm going to, for my next one is one and another one that may be not a whole lot of people have, uh have seen, and this is one that really launched the career of. You may know the Cohen brothers that we just told, we talked about earlier. The Cohen brothers really launched their career. They did no country, oh man, but they did this much first.
Speaker 1:This is the movie blood simple came out in 1984. It is a I think it's called a, a, a neo noir film. Uh, from the noir, uh genre. It is a mystery and it is one that keeps you guessing all the way to the end. I'm not even going to give you a, any plots, uh plot details, so you can get this. Uh, it really also, besides, launching the career of the Cohen brothers is the first movie.
Speaker 1:I remember Francis McDormand, two time Academy Award winner, right, being in. Uh. Also, the old character actor M M at wash is in it And I believe he was nominated for an Academy Award. He didn't win it for that. He should have, because he's such a fine actor And he's just the. He plays one of the detectives, one of the private detectives in this. Uh, Dan Heddei is in it. It's just. It is such a tightly bound mystery And it is so greatly filmed. The. The cinematography is fantastic And this is where you really get that is these Cohen brothers. They really know a whole lot about filming a movie and everything. But that's another one. It's all set in Texas but it doesn't have a distinctively Texas nature to it. It's could have been set almost anywhere, but still as being in Texas. The Cohen brothers, those two brothers from Minnesota, actually captured Texanist very well in this. So blood simple. You have not seen it. Watch that one.
Speaker 2:I'm going to jump the gun here, scott, and let's talk about a movie that everybody's probably waiting for us to talk about, and that is John Wayne's the Alamo.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh. Yeah, you're going to get all kinds of comments on both side.
Speaker 2:You know and and there's a lot of things about the Alamo. But I got to tell you, every time I'm flipping through the channels at night or on the weekend and I'm thinking, well, what movie am I going to watch? I see the Alamo. I always usually end up watching it at some point. Is it a great historical story about the Alamo? Absolutely not. It's not. It's not historic. In fact, one of my students talking about whenever he was in graduate school was brought up that it was the most historically inaccurate movie that had ever been made. I don't know if I'd go that far, but it's not about what it's about. Right, it is a great story. It is a great movie, i think a great Western. But don't look at it for history.
Speaker 1:I agree with you. The Alamo actually almost made my list. The history in it is horrible, but what's a bigger Texas thing than the Alamo? In fact, we talked about old movies. One of the very first movies made, full-length feature movies made 1950s The Martyrs of the Alamo.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:That one you could come out because it mirrors the resurrection of the Alamo. It came out during the Progressive Era and this whole where you have heritage societies pressing the lost cause The Texas Revolution gets caught up in this and the Alamo. this is when the Alamo narrative sort of gets changed into this more American battle against tyranny than what it really was during the Texas Revolution, which we won't get into. But yeah, so I agree the Alamo, the history is bad, but it isn't very entertaining movie.
Speaker 2:It's a great movie Yeah.
Speaker 1:Unlike the 2004 battle of the Alamo movie that John Lee Hooker did with Billy Bob Thornton starring as David Crockett. It's probably the most historically accurate movie about the Alamo ever made, but it's boring. It's not a good movie. In fact, we do worse movies about Texas. It might make my list so well.
Speaker 1:You put on one that's kind of controversial. I think my next one might be a little bit controversial in that I'm not sure people think of this as a great movie, but I do and there's been. I'll explain the reasons why. That is Urban Cowboy. That came out in 1988 starring John Travolta and Deborah winger Deborah winger in our first real role that came out. That's very Corbin in it. Texas Tech Grant, of course, right, so we have to get that in there. Urban Cowboy, of course. Is it over the top? Yes, does it almost Deal in every stereotype that you might have of Texas? to some extent, yes, but it's also Capture such an accurate slice of Texas in the late 1970s and early 18th and more specifically, houston in those times.
Speaker 1:Urban Cowboy is adapted from an article that appeared in Esquire magazine.
Speaker 1:I believe it was about refinery workers in Pasadena and Channelview right there in Houston, how they worked hard all day and then took out their their frustrations when they played at Gillies nightclub. They're in Pasadena, outside of Houston, but Urban Cowboy is a movie about working-class Texans And about what it really meant to be a young working-class Texan and couple in Texas, and how. Not only did you have to deal with all the vagaries of Young love it's a, it's a wrong, it's a romance movie to some extent, but not only that you'd have to deal with that, but also you have to deal with this image of being a Texan Bud, he has to be a cowboy, but it's 1980 so he can't ride a horse and he can't punch cows. But he can go to Gillies and put on his big hat and dance and say he's a cowboy. In fact, one of the running themes in the movie is who's a real cowboy? It is just. I mean I bet people don't think of Urban Cowboy being a great movie. It is a great movie.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know I've got a teacher that was in that film. In fact he was in every film, i think, made in Texas in the 80s, 70s, 80s and 90s until he passed away. That was James Harrell. Had lots of stories about John Travolta in those days. You know, as a young aspiring actor had only been in Welcome Back Carter that American public had seen him in, and and Deborah winger, and he just had some great stories about those that movie.
Speaker 1:Yeah, i think I believe I had this story right when he went to film Urban Cowboy and started. He'd already filmed Saturday Night Live, but it hadn't come out yet, it hadn't been released yet. So it while he's doing both of those movies back-to-back, he's kind of this Unrecognized star at that time, that's where you got his dancing Chops right.
Speaker 2:That's where people said oh.
Speaker 1:Yeah, two movies in a row. He did dancing and everything. So yeah, exactly right.
Speaker 2:Scott, speaking of Picture shows, let's talk about the last picture show, and I think that's on both of our list right.
Speaker 1:Yes, it would have been on both of our list. Great move, God. Well it's, you know it may be. I let you have this. It may be my favorite Texas move.
Speaker 2:You know it's, it's iconic and I've heard so many people say this, but you know I remember watching it and you know it's It's a it's bittersweet. in many ways It's funny. I mean there's some hilarious, i think, scenes in there, because it is it's kind of like the antithesis of Friday Night Lights. right, football dominates This little town which is based upon Larry Mercury's Archer City, right and, and It is about kind of this dying town and The kids who are trying to get out and trying to make their way and the people who still live there And it, you know it's black and white, it's filmed in black and white even though you know came out in When was it 70s?
Speaker 2:74 72, but so you know it was. it was came out in black one, i think, for I think that's part of the reason, right, because it's showing the of the town And it's a you know What draws people and why people who want to leave stay about coming of age, it is about friendship, it's just an all-around Good movie. I think it really captures maybe even as well, if not better than some of the other movies we talked about That Texas spirit, especially of small town Texas.
Speaker 1:I agree, and of course, last picture shows, adopted from a Larry McMurtry novel The same name, but it's sometimes and McMurtry Bay. If we ever do a series on Texas riders, mcmurtry will be my number one. I don't think anybody captured Texas better than Larry McMurtry. And that and that's what makes the last picture show, for all the reasons you said Why it is so great because it does just capture that perfectly of what it means to be small town of Texas. Well, my last Movie for us is a somewhat controversial movie, older movie, but I think it has to be included in any list on best Texas.
Speaker 1:It's our second one that has John Wayne, who the Texas legislature made an honorary Texan in the 1970s right before he passed away, although he wasn't from Texas, and that is the searchers. Yes, somewhat controversial, the searchers is a Grip off because we want to call it that of the true story of Cynthia and Parker, of being, of being hit in that during a Comanche raid and taken to live with the Comanches and how she adapted Comanche ways. But more than that, the searchers is A story of a man Ethan Edwards and John Wayne plays who is coming to grips with his would say, foibles, if you want to, his racist leanings to some extent and the bitterness of him living where he lives And that is on the edge of a frontier, because it makes Ethan Edwards rough edged, makes him cold, makes him calculated, makes him violent, and he doesn't want to be seen as that way And I think that's a perfect metaphor for Texas during that time and during that. So and the searchers, of course, directed by John Ford, the cinematography on the searchers is out of the world for its time.
Speaker 1:Once they filmed in Texas wasn't filmed in Texas. He filmed it Monument Valley in Utah. He had, you know, supposedly Ethan Edwards straight to an all over central Texas and into New Mexico And what are you seeing are spires of Houdos and Utah, monument Valley and things like you had mentioned, grand Canyon, nothing like Texas is like. But it's a multiple story of Texas on the frontier but also a man coming to grips with who he is and what he's becoming. Great movie The Searchers.
Speaker 2:You know what I?
Speaker 1:like You know. But you know it is a racist movie, i mean it uses terrible stereotypes for Native Americans.
Speaker 2:But it's a good movie, but I think it's intended to do that. I think that was, you know, hollywood's kind of asking people to look, and I think John Wayne knew that It's. I think it's an interesting movie because people make a lot of fun of John Wayne. You know from that he's not that he wasn't a good actor And you know they point to Genghis Khan. Okay, that was a bad, that was a bad casting call. But I think in The Searchers and the Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, john Wayne is not a hero, he's an anti-hero And you don't want to like him because there's a lot of things not to like about those two characters, even though they carry the movie. But I think in that one John Wayne did a great, great job.
Speaker 1:He really did, and that's it's interesting that two of his best acting jobs was when he was two of the times when he didn't play John Wayne, when he didn't do what John Wayne normally was. He should have won an Academy Award for The Searchers, and probably for a man who shot Liberty Valance. He should have. He did, but he should have. Well, that's a great list, jean. I think we came up with good lists for everybody.
Speaker 2:Yeah, i think so too, And if you haven't seen any of those and I don't think we gave anything away, right, that we didn't give away all of the plot, we just kind of talked about why we like them And if you haven't seen them, i really encourage you to go out, look at those films that we talked about. I mean, you can look at other films too, but check those films out and see if you don't agree with us.
Speaker 1:That's correct, and there are others that could have made this list. I mean, if we went to Artem will mention one. I talked about what talk about the late Don Graham and he teased me about this. I told him it's so good, the movie Lone Star we could have put on this list, which is a great movie about again on the border. But Graham told me one time when I told him I guess you know Lone Star's a good movie but it's not as great as all you academics which he was one think it is. He goes. You know why you like Lone Star so much? You've been an academic. And I said why? And he goes? because so many things in that movie you can write about and fit in. That's why you like it. And so well, we're not done with movies, gene. Our next episode after this, we're gonna go back to movies. What are we gonna do when we go back to them?
Speaker 2:Well, i think we need to think about, and I don't know, because there's a lot that could go into this category. Talk about the worst movies.
Speaker 1:Oh, that would be a voluminous list because there's been a lot of really, really, really, really really bad ones And one movie everybody thinks is great. I can give you a little preview about a certain ranch and a certain place and a certain family. It's gonna be at the top of my list as a worst movie is about Texas, so people can stay tuned for that one. Well, this has been a great one, gene. We did a good job.
Speaker 2:We didn't have to interview anybody. No, but I think the movies were the guests of the show.
Speaker 1:I would agree. So another one's in the books. We're happy We're getting close to a year, having done a podcast. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:And people are still listening.
Speaker 1:Three or four everyone.
Speaker 2:Both of them are still listening.
Speaker 1:Thanks to both of them.
Speaker 2:Hey, great talking to you and we'll catch you soon. Thank you, unreasonable.