CONTEMPORARY TEXAS ON FILM

George Stevens’ Giant may very well be, as its admirers claim, the National Film of Texas. And Lonesome Dove certainly stands as the definitive saga of Texas cattle drivers in the Wild West era.

But what about the image of Texas life and death in more contemporary tales?

LOCAL HERO (1983)

Bill Forsyth’s delightfully melancholy comedy takes a sympathetic, even affectionate view of a stock figure usually treated with scornful satire: the Texas oil man. Burt Lancaster has an is a modern-day fairy tale that casts a captivating spell on viewers. And in the character of MacIntyre, beautifully played by Riegert, the film also offers one of the few (if not only) charitable depictions of a Texas yuppie in 1980s cinema.