Customer Reviews

Lone Star

5 star:		(70)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is one of those films where words of praise seem to be almost always inadequate. I think LONE STAR may turn out to be a classic. It is certainly one of the best films Sayles has yet given us. The story is richly textured and wonderfully complex in it's characters, it's social themes and it's who-done-it mystery.

This film covers a potpourri of subjects: racial strife, national identity, interfamily relationships, political corruption and political correctness, among others. That Sayles is able to contain all these tumultuous matters in one film and make them work naturally within the structure of that film is nothing short of miraculuous.

The performances are uniformly excellent, with Chris Cooper and Elizabeth Pena standouts as former high school sweethearts who were torn apart by their parents. The reason for their separation is not what it at first seems to be and it is one of the "kickers" of this movie. Francis McDormand is featured as Cooper's bipolar ex-wife in a wonderful cameo. McConaughey is fine in flashbacks as Cooper's legendary lawman father. Kristofferson is all snake venom as a corrupt and murderous sheriff. Joe Morton is properly reserved as the commander of a local military installation, a man who has worked his way up in a formally structured institution, coming to terms with his estranged father, a former numbers runner and gambler who is now the owner of the only local bar that caters to the Afican American community.

This film is gorgeously shot in Super 35 by Stuart Dryburgh, who has captured the modern American Southwest in a way that few other cinematographers have. You can almost feel the sun on the back of your neck.

The DVD is light on extras but that is compensated for by the Amazon price. Grab this and settle back for an evening of challenging, adult entertainment.

Lone Star is about a lot of things. It's about a small town sheriff's investigation of a thirty year old murder which may have involved his father, a local hero. It's about his childhood sweetheart, a Latina public school teacher, and her mother, a successful restauranteur who pretends her roots are Spanish rather than Mexican. It's about a black army colonel who is posted to command a closing base near his estranged father's nightclub. It's about his father and his son. It's about a small town on the border between the US and Mexico, and it's about the borderlands between history and legend, between fact and truth, between love and enmity. It's a romance, a mystery, an unblinking portrait of an American town at the end of the twentieth century.

It's possibly the most intelligent commentary on American history I have ever seen or read, and the fact that it's so damned smart doesn't make it one iota less entertaining. John Sayles is a master, and this is his best film yet. The cast, the screenplay, the cinematography, the setting--everything is perfect, and everything combines to make a film one can watch over and over and over again, gleaning something new each time.

If I could make every US citizen watch one movie, this would be it.

First I would like to thank John Sayles for his unique style.

A somewhat sleepy Southwest Texas border town provides the backdrop for this most unusual film. There is nothing uncommon about the demographic mix here: Anglo, Hispanic, Mexican, Black, yet Sayles hand creates an unforgettable experience through the use of warts-and-all character development and beautiful insight.

I realize some may have issues with the regional nature of this film but make no mistake, having lived most of my life in the Southwest, I can name actual persons that closely match each character in this film.

Chris Cooper plays the part of Sam Deeds to perfection. Recently divorced, Chris returns to Rio County as its new Sheriff, following in his legendary fathers' footsteps. As Chris states in the film, 'I spent the first 15 years of my life trying to be just like my old man, and the next 15 trying to kill him'. For those who do not have larger-than-life fathers, Cooper's portrail is a direct hit. For those who do, I need not say anything.

Although the plot revolves around the discovery of the remains of long-dead Sheriff Charlie Wade, this film is about conviction and human frailty, not solving a murder. An example of the wisdom of Sayles is when Otis Payne, bar owner, explains to his black-and-white thinking Colonel son Chet Payne, poignantly played by Eddie Robinson that most blacks in Rio County patronize both his bar and the church. And Sayles holds true to these words. With the exception of Charlie Wade's character, each shares strengths and weaknesses, frailty and prejudice, practicality and remorse.

Sam Deeds and Elizabeth Pena as Pilar Cruz fit together wonderfully as high-school sweethearts who are reunited after Sam's divorce. Convictions play heavily into both characters: Sam's ambivalent feelings toward his fathers' graft and political gain, Pilar's fight against a canned school curriculum. Sayles wisely points out that people of conviction are not perfect but are special. And when two special meet and fall in love, it is for a lifetime. Circumstances are not on their side, which makes their love affair that much more poignant. The few moments they are able to share are full of deep emotion and affection, just as they should be.

kris Kristoferson delivers the performance of his career in the flashbacks-only portrayal of crooked Rio County, TX Sheriff Charlie Wade. When his shot-up corpse is found, 40 years later, Sheriff Sam Deeds (Chris Cooper) must confront his own past and the shadow of his father, the late, legendary Sheriff Buddy Deeds. A lot of still-hot embers are dug up as the modern-day lawman rakes through the ashes of a sordid local past. The plot twists keep coming right up until the end.

Yet, the murder mystery, interesting though it is, is not the great strength of Lone Star. Director John Sayles, a New Yorker, must have has some local Texas assistance because STAR is one of the most accurate slice-of-life films ever. As a resident of a place with nearly the same cultural, ethnic, and linguistic tensions and taboos, I vouch for the keen dialogue, sharp eye for detail, and dead-on accurate portrayals of the people and opinions of the region. The human drama and social issues add as much to LONE STAR as the murder mystery.

By all means get this DVD and prepare to enjoy STAR multiple times!

There are only a handful of movies that I find myself going back to time and again. This is definately one of them. Since it's release in 1999, I have probably watched LONE STAR at least a half dozen times.

This movie just has so much going for it. It is very well casted as the actors really are a great match with the characters they portray. The director has done a magnificent job of fading scenes from past to present and back again. But the storyline itself is what really captures the essence of the movie with its uniqueness. Living in south Texas, I was also most impressed with the accurate depiction of so many of the characters.

The movie contains several great subplots such as cultural interaction, family turmoil and small town politics, but the true focus is centered on renewed love with an incredable twist at the end. The only negative I can give this movie is that I wish Matthew McConaughey had played a larger roll. He is perfect in his characterization of an "I don't take crap off nobody" Texas lawman. This is a great movie which I throughly enjoyed and I think you will too.

This is going to be short. I was moved by this film, the performances are dead on accurate. This is the first time I have payed attention to Chris Cooper and I feel I have payed a price for my oversight. Have you ever experienced something that changed your preferences, expanded your horizons, made you step out of your comfort zone? this film is a revalation to me. It addresses racial issues in a way that is totally non-biased, the point of view is human and not white, hispanic, or black but completly true. That is what makes this movie so important to me, the absolute truth that is involved within this film inspires true joy within all the pain that is displayed on the screen. The message to me is that bad things happen and that life has the proverbial ace up its sleeve for every one but these people are real enough to deal with that and this director is wise enough to let that come across in a way that is so unforced that every one that views this film wishes that they could open their door onto Rio County even with all of its imperfections and misunderstandings just to be able to veiw a society that is honest or willing to at least bend the truth if it will lead to some sort of harmony in a intricately woven tapestry of border living in the south west.

John Sayles is one of the best--and certainly among the most interesting--American directors working in film today. Self-financed on a small budget, using his large number of talented friends as cast and crew, Sayles crafts films that owe allegiances to no one but himself. Virtually never does he make the same film twice, and almost all of them are a great pleasure to watch.

"Lone Star" is Sayles' masterpiece. It succeeds on every level: as mystery, as romance, as social commentary. Set in a Texas border town, it creates a rich world peopled with characters and situations we understand and identify with.

There is plot, mood, color, drama, passion suspense and even humor, but if pressed to say what it really is about, I would say that the theme is how the present is a product of the past, and how people are given opportunities to be imprisoned by it or to transcend it.

"Lone Star" is one of only two American films of this decade (the other is "Shindler's List") to which I would give a '10'. It's been a long time since I have felt so thoroughly challenged, entertained and satisfied by a single piece of art.

I saw this movie when it was first released, and then again this week-end on TNT. It's one of the best films I've seen and I plan to purchase it for my library.

It doesn't have a lot of action and the plots develop slowly, but, like In the Heat of the Night, there is not one throw-away scene.

I've never seen Kristofferson so evil...his work was real enough to be very, very scary. I liked Chris Cooper and Frances McDormand is a riot in her all-too-brief scene as Cooper's strung-out ex-wife.

I live in a small town in east Texas and I know people like the Sheriff, Big O, Buddy and the others.

The plot twist at the end might be a bit off-putting for some, but, to me, it just added to the quality of the writing, directing, acting and drama.

This is a movie to be savored. Do not expect action, car crashes or surrealistice special effects. It's a film about real people facing real issues and doing their best to right some very bad wrongs.

Enjoy!

There have been six Masterpieces produced in American Cinema that go to the heart of being an american (if this doesn't start a war I don't know what will!). They are in order:

Citizen Kane - 1941
Casablanca - 1942
The Last Picture Show - 1971
American Graffitti - 1973
Parenthood - 1989
Lonestar - 1996

They vary as much as they remain cohesive. They were made by visionary Directors, with the exception of Casablanca which represents the best of American film making by committee, and they all share one American attribute that will garner them immortality - they have Heart.

Few films can compare, none can surpass.

While The Last Picture Show is the best of the lot in that it captures the changing of our country from rural to urban from the fifties onward and the beginning of the ache for that lost Americana, Lonestar does the same thing with the results of those changes we are all experiencing now - proving that that ache still resonates in our souls.

The other four movies deal with different aspects of the American experience, but do so equally well in their own arena.

I cannot recommend Lonestar highly enough. You will be moved in ways that cinema moves it's audience best - in your heart of hearts.

this is a great movie. If your like me and require more than special effects in a movie, you should like this one. This is a very character driven movie, not fast paced. the characters are three diminsional, and the flashbacks to the previous generation make the movie. Never really liking Kris Kristopherson, he really does a tremendous job in is role, as do the rest of the cast; including Chris Cooper and Francis McDormand. Well I might have over did it with this talk of characters...the plot is a mystery in which the sheriff is investigating a thirty year old death. Enjoy!!!