Best and Worst Movies About Texans/Texas (Houston, Dallas: house, public school)

[palaverer]

Originally Posted by biscuitmom

Tender Mercies

Great movie with a great performance by Robert Duvall.

[radiolibre99]

Did anyone else cringe at Leonardo Dicaprio's "Texan" accent in The Aviator? He sounded terrible. Is that what he thinks Texans sound like?

[texascycling]

"Fandango." Top shelf classic.

[Westerntraveler]

Originally Posted by hooky hornstein

Hey thank you all for joining the topic. Outstanding contributions!



LOVE the five different states of Texas.



I have not seen that. I definitely have to check it out.

But when I read the write up on imdb, it reminded me of another movie I had forgotten: Frailty. I believe it was set in Texas, though probably not filmed in Texas, but in McConaughey, Bill Paxton and Powers Booth, it certainly had a trio of outstanding actors from Texas.



I need to see that one again. I wasn’t too impressed when I first saw it but I was in my 20s so my world and tastes were probably rather small at the time. I do love the name Jett Rink. Has to be one of the best names ever.

Say, joqua. Ever seen Hud? It’s kind of a poor man’s Giant.



Recently saw Rush again. The one you referenced with Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jason Patric. I had forgotten what a compelling movie it was. Gregg Allman was perfect in his role.

I notice you left Slacker off your list, radiolibre. Too Austin-centric?

Good contributions, KathrynAragon, biscuitmom and theone33. You too, WesternTraveler.

Thanks Hooky

[joqua]

Originally Posted by hooky hornstein

Say, joqua. Ever seen Hud? It’s kind of a poor man’s Giant.

I saw it way back when it was first released but have little memory of the plot. Whereas I recall more of the scenes in Giant. But Hud was a great movie, to wit:

Hud was nominated for seven Academy Awards at the 36th Annual Academy Awards in 1963. It won three, including Best Actress (Neal), Best Supporting Actor (Douglas) and Best Cinematography (Wong). Neal also won the BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress. The film was nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, won four Laurel Awards (Top Drama, Top Male Dramatic Performance, Top Female Dramatic Performance and Top Male Supporting Performance) and received the Best Written American Drama Writers Guild of America Award.

[hound 109]

Originally Posted by hooky hornstein

But I notice you’re all very positive. Aside from one askance view of Urban Cowboy, you’re all listing movies you like. Have any of you ever seen a movie about Texans or Texas that just made you groan?

OK, I perused a list of 200+ movies "set" in Texas and have come up with the following.

TEN Worst (or "groan" worthy) Texas Movies ever:

10. - Rolling Thunder - Viet Vet comes home. Low budget (billy jack, sly "first blood" type) film. One scene in the kitchen gave me nightmares for years.
9. - Martyrs of the Alamo (1915) - never saw it, but from the racist description it belongs on the list.
8. - JFK - fascinating, big budget & worth watching, but dang was it jacked up with whopper assumptions & groan worthy moments.
7. Tin Cup - (oops two Costner films). I love golf and Cheech & like Don Johnson, but the Kingwood course was laughable, Rene Russo is a poser and the ending scene (with 7 straight balls in the water) was a head scratcher for 5 different reasons. Film actually p*ssed me off.
6. State Fair - (with Pat Boone & other lamos). Never saw it...don't really need to. But if they feature Fletcher corny dogs or some TX-OU clips, I'd probably bump it up a notch or two.
5. Best Little Whorehouse - Anyone who saw the amazing Play knows why this is on the list. Dolly was fabulous (as always), but Burt s*cked, & his fat friend as Marvin Zindler was a travesty.
4. Suburban Madness - TV movie (I think) about the lady dentist who ran over her husband in a hotel parking lot. Could have been amazing (& maybe Fargo like), instead it was a clunky, with stupid clichés & boring.
3. Texasville - Not Awful, but considering it was a 25 year later movie of Last Picture Show (one of the greatest movies ever) with a fabulous cast, they phoned it in.
2. DOA - with D Quaid & Meg Ryan. A remake of a cool little film noir 40s film. Quite possibly the worst movie ever (& definitely the worst that Quaid or Ryan were ever in).
1. Giant - Yeah, Yeah...I know. I love it too (can't take my eyes off of it....kind of like a train wreck). But it's awful. Hudson as the virile, Texan leading man (& his accent!)...c'mon! E Taylor was OK (& beautiful). I (& everyone) loves J. Dean, but after Rebel & the Steinbeck movie, he was worse than awful in this. Also, the depiction of Hispanics was ridiculous. & they cast Dennis Hopper as a wimp in this, Huh?? Even the great character actors (Chill Wills etc.) over did it with the yee haws & hoot n' hollering. Replace the 3 male leads (Hudson, Dean & Hopper) and this movie might have been pretty good and not a stupid caricature film. BTW... I do think that Giant (& JFK) are MUST watch movies, but they are also filled with whoppers & are groan fests at the same time. But Giant takes #1 as the worst Texas movie (since it could have been SO much better).

btw - John Wayne's Alamo almost made my list, but ultimately I figure that the opposite of love is indifference & I'm indifferent to Wayne's POS version.

(flame away )

[DanielWayne]

Originally Posted by texascycling

"Fandango." Top shelf classic.

Fandango was a great movie. I mean reallly great!


Tin Cup also mentions UH a lot since UH used to have a dominant golf program years ago.

[KathrynAragon]

Not a movie, but the miniseries "Texas Rising" was so painful to watch that my husband and I turned it off after about 45 minutes. The accents, the stupid topography, the over the top artsiness of it, and most of all - the ridiculous script! Ugh, it was probably the worst movie/series supposedly about Texas that I've ever seen.

Texas Rising (TV Mini-Series 2015) - IMDb

[theone33]

Can yall give descriptions for these movies you like?

[radiolibre99]

Lone Star captures the racial tensions of a half Mexican-half white town in a West Texas small town. It's also a mystery movie about solving the death of a Sherriff who died thirty years prior. Excellent movie, highly recommended. And it stars a young Matthew McConaughey.

That's my fav. Go watch it!