Best Texas Movie - Last Picture Show (Houston, Dallas: live, eat)

[catman]

I agree that The Last Picture Show is a truly great movie.

loves2read: I never thought of Apollo 13 as being a Texas movie, but I suppose it can be construed as such (although most of it doesn't even happen on the planet!).

It's really good too, but it seems ridiculous to try to compare it and The Last Picture Show, which takes place in Dancer, TX (pop. 81).

[loves2read]

Apollo 13 is an awesome movie that does not really seem to be a TX movie but it is just as much Texas as the Alamo in some ways--because of how it recreates the time of the Apollo push and what Houston was like--the energy, the cocky-ness,
the idea of Houston/Clear Lake being the center of the astronaut program when the launch pad was in FL is really stupid when you think of it--just Lyndon Johnson's power bent Congress to make it happen--that is TX in action--

the movie Terms of Endearment does much the same thing--captures the Houston era of McMurtry's book very well--just like Bottle Rocket does Austin/TX (although partly that is because they could not afford to shoot anywhere else)

I am just grateful that the movies set in TX were filmed in TX instead of some generic no-place with ubiquitous urban or suburban landscapes and set decoration/design given the task of creating authenticity...
I just think for some films a generic background just does not cut it--

that is what is so disappointing about the movie The Searchers by John Ford based on the Alan LeMay novel--it was filmed in Ford's Monument Valley in Utah and also Colorado and Canada and the studio---which shows so glaringly in some shots and totally destroys the credibility/authenticity that it is like having the lights turned on in the movie theater during the film---
This movie is great--love it despite some of the set choices--one of Wayne's best performances and has some decidedly subtle touches by Ford since the love Ethan feels for his brother's wife --which is very evident in the book--is presented very, very deftly in the move...

the last scene focusing on the stark "Texas" landscape with the setting sun and blood-red hills in the farscape as Ethan walks away from the cabin's interior joy caused by Debbie's homecoming has been written about by greater critics than me--

but part of my sadness came after I learned more about the making of the movie

there are areas of TX that could have been used for any scene in that movie--especially the final one--but Ford did not shoot one foot of film in TX--so that connection between a harsh land with its harsh realities which demands harsh choices and creates strong people to survive them is just an image to a certain extent...

The Searchers is an epic film about TX--its history and its people including Native Americans or at least the prejudice against them--so it is almost like a slap in the face NOT to have filmed it where it happened...
to me that is a real loss because the land does not speak for itself--which probably sounds really weird--
but the idea of shooting No country for Old Men any place BUT TX would never have occurred to the Cohen brothers--just as they shot Fargo, Raising Az, The Big Lebowski, Barton Fink---even Ladykillers--on location...that is part of the Cohen package--that authenticity that comes with shooting on location--the real location...

[Rakin]

The Searchers is an epic film about TX

Probably the best John Wayne movie ever made. I fell in love with Natalie Wood as a kid from this movie.

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by loves2read

Apollo 13 is an awesome movie that does not really seem to be a TX movie but it is just as much Texas as the Alamo in some ways--because of how it recreates the time of the Apollo push and what Houston was like--the energy, the cocky-ness,
the idea of Houston/Clear Lake being the center of the astronaut program when the launch pad was in FL is really stupid when you think of it--just Lyndon Johnson's power bent Congress to make it happen--that is TX in action--

the movie Terms of Endearment does much the same thing--captures the Houston era of McMurtry's book very well--just like Bottle Rocket does Austin/TX (although partly that is because they could not afford to shoot anywhere else)

I am just grateful that the movies set in TX were filmed in TX instead of some generic no-place with ubiquitous urban or suburban landscapes and set decoration/design given the task of creating authenticity...
I just think for some films a generic background just does not cut it--

that is what is so disappointing about the movie The Searchers by John Ford based on the Alan LeMay novel--it was filmed in Ford's Monument Valley in Utah and also Colorado and Canada and the studio---which shows so glaringly in some shots and totally destroys the credibility/authenticity that it is like having the lights turned on in the movie theater during the film---
This movie is great--love it despite some of the set choices--one of Wayne's best performances and has some decidedly subtle touches by Ford since the love Ethan feels for his brother's wife --which is very evident in the book--is presented very, very deftly in the move...

the last scene focusing on the stark "Texas" landscape with the setting sun and blood-red hills in the farscape as Ethan walks away from the cabin's interior joy caused by Debbie's homecoming has been written about by greater critics than me--

but part of my sadness came after I learned more about the making of the movie

there are areas of TX that could have been used for any scene in that movie--especially the final one--but Ford did not shoot one foot of film in TX--so that connection between a harsh land with its harsh realities which demands harsh choices and creates strong people to survive them is just an image to a certain extent...

The Searchers is an epic film about TX--its history and its people including Native Americans or at least the prejudice against them--so it is almost like a slap in the face NOT to have filmed it where it happened...
to me that is a real loss because the land does not speak for itself--which probably sounds really weird--
but the idea of shooting No country for Old Men any place BUT TX would never have occurred to the Cohen brothers--just as they shot Fargo, Raising Az, The Big Lebowski, Barton Fink---even Ladykillers--on location...that is part of the Cohen package--that authenticity that comes with shooting on location--the real location...

The Searchers is a great movie, and one of my favorites. But...like you, I find the scenes from Monument Valley just jarring, and it would have been better filmed in Texas...or even NM.

As for No Country for Old Men...it was shot partially in Texas (far southwest), with quite a bit also done in both ABQ and up around Las Vegas, NM.

[lonestar2007]

I know Burt Reynolds made quite a few movies with scenes filmed in Texas, Smokey and the Bandit (Jonesboro), The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (panhandle, Claude, I believe). TBLWIT was a cute show and while these shows aren't what you'd call great movies, they are entertaining. Burt's a likable guy.

[TNRyan23]

How about the George Straight movie " Pure Country " filmed in Fort Worth ?

[latetotheparty]

wow.... lovestoread ...... what a GREAT compilation.......

[NOTAM]

i thought it was filmed in Maypearl...out in Johnson County? i might be wrong...but i believe parts of it were........

Originally Posted by FutureTexan

How about the George Straight movie " Pure Country " filmed in Fort Worth ?

[NOTAM]

one of my favorite movies filmed in Texas, Huntsville and Austin to be exact, is THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE..starring Kevin Spacey and the chick who starred in Titanic.
it captures the essence of Texas...and ESPECIALLY Texas prisons..they even got the TDCJ grey uniforms right! as a former Texas bad a** prison nurse, I appreciated this movie.

also, my other favorite suspense movie is BLOOD SIMPLE-quintessential Texas all the way....great old movie. love the characters and the soundtrack. if you aint seen it yet, rent it (if you can find it, it was filmed in 84)

classic Texas favorite of mine is VARSITY BLUES

honorable mention to SECONDHAND LIONS

[loves2read]

Life of David Gale is great for contemporary TX--should have added it to my list of "modern" TX movies...
and Blood Simple is on my list--shot by the Cohen brothers in Hutto of all places and Austin and Houston--but HUTTO--they probably got a laugh out of that...

Regarding NCOM--it was shot in Albq for the motel scenes at the end of the movie--they used Big Bend for the drug/murder shots---don't know about the trailer park Moss lives in

Pure country does list the lovely Maypearl as one of its locations--along with Fort Worth and Terrell and Cowboy Stadium...