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Texasville

Texasville (1990)

September. 28,1990
|
6
|
R
| Drama Romance

Summer, 1984: 30 years after Duane captained the high school football team and Jacy was homecoming queen, this Texas town near Wichita Falls prepares for its centennial. Oil prices are down, banks are failing, and Duane's $12 million in debt. His wife Karla drinks too much, his children are always in trouble, and he tom-cats around with the wives of friends. Jacy's back in town, after a mildly successful acting career, life in Italy, and the death of her son. Folks assume Duane and Jacy will resume their high school romance. And Sonny is "tired in his mind," causing worries for his safety. Can these friends find equilibrium in middle age?

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Reviews

Clevercell
1990/09/28

Very disappointing...

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SunnyHello
1990/09/29

Nice effects though.

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StyleSk8r
1990/09/30

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

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Nayan Gough
1990/10/01

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

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GusF
1990/10/02

Based on the 1987 novel of the same name by Larry McMurtry, this is a rather disappointing film. It was quite a good idea to make a sequel to the excellent "The Last Picture Show" but Peter Bogdanovich set the bar too high for himself and is unable to replicate its success. The original film was an often moving and occasionally depressing elegy to the bleak, desolate little town of Anarene, Texas which had been slowly dying for years and its inhabitants' sad, unfulfilled lives of wasted potential. The people of Anarene's lives are no more fulfilled in 1984 than they were in 1951 but it is not presented anywhere near as effectively. On the bright side, Bogdanovich's direction is good but his writing is not up to much.Eight actors from "The Last Picture Show" reprise their roles, most notably Jeff Bridges as Duane Jackson and Cybill Shepherd as Jacy Farrow. Bridges is a wonderful actor and it is unsurprising that he returned to the role that nabbed him his first Oscar nomination at only 22 but the material let him down. Shepherd is not any not on his level but she is still good even though she has the same problem as regards the material. Sonny Crawford was the heart and soul of "The Last Picture Show" so it is a major disappointment that Timothy Bottoms has what amounts to little more than a minor supporting role. Obviously, this is because Bottoms' career did not take off in the same manner as Bridges and Shepherd's did after the earlier film but it was still irritating. On the other hand, the more famous but less talented Randy Quaid has a somewhat larger supporting role as Lester Marlow, a character who only had a few scenes in the original film. I can't say that I had much interest in his financial or marital problems. I fail to see why Bogdanovich brought back actresses of the calibre of Eileen Brennan as Genevieve and Cloris Leachman as Ruth Popper when they barely have any screen time. The only newcomer who particularly stood out was the always excellent Annie Potts as Duane's wife Karla. In the first film, Ellen Burstyn gave the best performance as Lois Farrow and I think that she rather than Leachman deserved the Best Supporting Actress Oscar so it was very disappointing that she did not return. Sex and affairs played a major role in the first film but, on this occasion, I practically needed a flowchart to keep track of all the affairs, if so far as I really cared. In contrast to that film, they take place mostly in the background and only a few really have any impact on the plot. This film takes place in the summer of 1984 and it does a good job of capturing the zeitgeist of the period with its references to Walter Mondale running against Ronald Reagan in the US presidential election, the Soviet Union boycotting the LA Olympics and "Material Girl" and "Karma Chameleon" playing on the radio. Of the many references to "The Last Picture Show", my favourite was one of the simplest: the framed photo of Sam the Lion and Billy in Sonny's store.Overall, this is certainly a disappointing film but I am still glad that I watched it as there are some nice performances and I always like revisiting characters after many years to see what has become of them. To that end, I would like a third film but I really don't see it happening.

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grantss
1990/10/03

Good sequel to the superb The Last Picture Show, also directed by Peter Bogdanovich, 19 years earlier. Whereas The Last Picture Show dealt with the decline of small-town America, Texasville shows it still exists, but barely. Focuses on the lives of several middle- aged people, mostly the main characters from The Last Picture Show, and how their hopes and dreams have faded and reality is less pleasant.The feeling of nostalgia, of tedium, of lives going nowhere, yet hope within that emptiness, is tangible. Among this drama, there is great humour, however.Superb performances all round. This role was probably the one that turned Jeff Bridges into the downtrodden, bedraggled anti-hero, and launched countless roles for home. Cybill Shepherd is solid as Jacy. Next to Bridges, the star turn belongs to Annie Potts who is simultaneously beautiful, funny, sassy and intelligent as Karla.Ultimately does really make as big an impression as The Last Picture Show, and sort of fizzles out towards the end. The destination is quite tame, but the journey is worth taking.

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Joshua C. Scott (swtweath2)
1990/10/04

Having never had the patience or the time of sitting through The Last Picture Show, I picked this movie up on a whim. I had seen once several years ago with my family and remembered it as being OK. For some unknown reason, I came across it at Amazon.com and decided to order it to watch it again. The second time I watched it, I enjoyed it, but some of the nuances of the movie seemed to be lacking. I suppose if I had seen the original movie I might have had more of an idea of what some of the plot twists meant. Annie Potts is at her best here playing the wife of the main character. Cybill Shepherd's character (Jaycee) while having just suffered the loss of a child seemed even more emotionless than one would expect after sustaining such a loss. I did enjoy the location of the movie (Texas) and the craziness of small town living.Overall the ensemble cast is decent, but the movie is somewhat long and tends to drag. There's also not much resolution at the end which disappointed me (I liked my movies to end with a nice wrap up or a decent "pull-together" at the end). If you enjoy any of the actors, it's worth watching.6/10

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wilster-4
1990/10/05

On first viewing I would have voted a 5. But something stuck with me and I've watched the movie - studied the movie - about 8 or 9 times now ... in three weeks. Texasville is brilliant. True to 80s American oil country livin', wonderfully shot to capture big-sky light, and so full of detail one or two or even three viewings are not enough. I'd say the density of nuance is easily twice the standard movie average. That many will dislike this movie is not surprising. Contrary to first impressions, Texasville is not popular culture. As a cut above, this movie will fly right on by most viewers - particularly those many who will not or cannot relate to anything in it. But for those of us who've lived some Texasville ... many thanks are owed Peter, Larry, Cybil, Jeff and the rest.

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