Lone Star 1996 Film Review

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Lone Star Film Review

Films in the Wild West are usually depicted as the white man being the hero, and the Chicano or Indian man the enemy. Lone Star is directed and written by John Sayles in 1996. It is a Western contemporary film that deals with diversity, racism, and incest. It takes a twist and tells the real story where, the white man is the enemy not the minority through flashbacks in time. Sayles really wanted to emphasize this to break through the barriers and stereotypes of the minorities being seen as the villain and the enemy. There is also a contemporary Romeo and Juliet love story that takes place in the film. Racism during the 1950’s was alive and well in the flashbacks of the film, and it continues in this film to the current time of the film. “John Sayles’ 1996 movie “Lone Star” is analyzed as “an attempt to move beyond genre conventions, and reconceptualize and renegotiate the ideas of the frontier and the West on film.” (Sultze, pg.1). Even though this film is not based on a true story, it is based on the history of racism and stereotypes that Hollywood has portrayed in the past. Chicano’s and all other minorities must help to make an impact on Hollywood and gain the acceptance they deserve.
 

Lone Star takes place in a fictional town in Texas. It begins with someone finding remains of a body in a military area. Sherriff Sam Deeds (Chris Cooper) is a main character in this western film. He is the son of Sherriff Buddy Deeds (Matthew McConaughey), who passed away years ago. There are many flashbacks in this film about Buddy Deeds and his legacy in this town during the 1950’s. Sam and his father always had a difficult father and son relationship. It is later revealed in the movie that Buddy Deeds had an affair on Sam’s mother, and Sam has never forgiven him for this. The entire town sees Buddy Deeds as a hero. He was the Sherriff that saved the town from the villain Sherriff Charlie Wade, who was taunting many others in the town many years ago, especially the minorities. There is also a side story about an owner of a bar (Otis) and his estranged son, and both stories tie together, along with the love story of this film. There is a great deal of racism that this film touches up on. During the flashbacks in the 1950’s, Sherriff Charlie Wade treats the minorities with no respect and takes advantage of them by taxing them illegally, and physically abusing them. Charlie Wade got a cut of all businesses, including two black owners of a bar. This is where all the chaos that leads to the present remains of a body that was found. Otis Payne (Ron Canada) works for the two black owners in the 1950’s, and challenges Charlie Wade one evening. Charlie Wade reacts by physically assaulting Otis and holding a gun to his head. Buddy Deeds walks in and prepares to shoot Wade, but another deputy Hollis Pogue (Clifton James), does it before Buddy does. Sam starts to uncover the real happenings of this night by talking to older people of the town that lived during the time of these happenings, and believes his father is the one that pulled the trigger. When Sam was a teenager he fell in love with a girl, Pilar Cruz(Elizabeth Pena). Pilar’s mother and Sam’s father kept them apart for no reasons explained to them, when they were teenagers. Now that Sam has moved back to town, he again has a romance with her. The film ends with Sam finding out the mystery of what happened that night of the murder of Charlie Wade, and also discovers the truth of why he and Pilar were kept apart.

I really enjoyed this film, because I really like when films take a twist as this film did. I also liked that the villain got exactly what he deserved. Matthew McConaughey played a great roll as the hero. My favorite scene of this film is when Otis and Hollis tell Sam the truth of what exactly happened the night of Charlie Wades murder. This is where the twist unfolds, and where Sam feels that his father wasn’t such a bad person after all. The only complaint I have with this film is the incest part of it. This was really not necessary in the film, and it could have had a little better ending to the love story. I do not see how this helps the stereotypes that Chicanos are given. It is just giving a negative stereotype that they also commit incest.

References
Noriega, Chon A., and Ana M. López. The Ethnic Eye: Latino Media Arts. Minneapolis, MN: U of Minnesota, 1996. Print.

Sultze, K. (2003). Rewriting the west as multi-cultural: Legend meets complex histories in la frontera in john sayles’ “lone star” (1996). Film & History, 33(2), 19-25.

www.imdb.com/title/tt0116905

https://youtu.be/UffK-IHM1B0

http://www.imdb.com/videnplayeo/scre/vi4153803033/

 

 

 

4 thoughts on “Lone Star 1996 Film Review

  1. I had to watch this film for a similar class. I am very surprised you did not mention Pilar’s mother and her tendency to ignore her heritage. She was often seen blaming her Mexican employees for her problems in her restaurant. But most notable, she would always call the deportation officers on the individuals crossing the border through the river, which was extremely close to her house. Surprisingly, at the end, it was revealed that she also crossed the border using the river when she was much younger. I found Pilar’s mother the most interesting but also the most hated character in the film. She blatantly disregarded her heritage, loathed her native language and looked down on the people that she was so similar too. Today, people think like Pilar’s mother more than ever.

  2. You are absolutely right when pointing out that I did not mention the mother and how nasty she was, and how she ignored her heritage. I plan to rewrite this post because I am seeing now that I did not connect the stereotypes that Latinos endure in movies, and I did not emphasize enough how this film represents the subject of our class. I think I just got stuck on the incest aspect of it, and the revealing of other truths in the film, that I got off track of how this film is related to our class. So thank your for you constructive and well received comment. It helped me to see where I went wrong.

  3. I have also watched this movie several times for classes dealing with race and popular culture and I agree that the it does show the stereotypes of people living in this closely knit community that harbors many secrets among it’s residents. This little border town has racism ingrained in it through several different generations but it seems to be pretty wishy washy when it comes to the sexual relationships that exist. Buddy Deeds had an affair with Pilar’s mother that resulted in her birth, which makes Pilar and (the love of her life) Sam, brother and sister, yikes! However, Pilar’s mother was Mexican and Buddy Deeds was white. Pilar’s mother doesn’t want to help the illegal Mexicans that are crossing the river near her house but she does so anyway because that is how she got into the U.S. as well. The racial stereotypes in this film seem a bit confused and the lines of right and wrong are extremely blurred.

  4. Yes, and hopefully, the re-write of the post will also include analysis of the history Sayles references. The African / Native American connection, mixing, and shared ancestry that was a part of the southwest, west, and southeast U.S, is largely invisible as represented in film. John Horse, Osceola and others were real individuals. “By blood” as Big O tells his grandson. Gordon Tootoosis has a memorable scene that should have been longer. Also, the Big O / Colonel Payne father / son relationship mirrors the Deeds father / son relationship in certain ways.

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