Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: A Texas Funeral (1999) - Stars shine in Herron's under-seen and underrated dramedy

6/13/2021

A Texas Funeral (1999) - Stars shine in Herron's under-seen and underrated dramedy

♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best Box Office Disaster + Best Independent Movie of the Year + Best Texas Movie of the Year + Most Under-Appreciated Movie of the Year

A Camel and an old Buick on the flat plains of Texas on this sepia-toned poster for William Blake Herron's A Texas Funeral

The patriarch of the Whit family has past away, so the family gather in the house in Texas around the time of the funeral with their time there and engagement with the old man's will laying bare some secrets, resentments and envies - among the family's virtues.

A Texas Funeral is written and directed by great Illinoisan filmmaker William Blake Herron (Skin Art (1993)).

It is a refreshing, thoroughly well-made, Texan yarn, which both has the child's perspective (the boy is enormously well acted by Quinton Jones (Walker, Texas Ranger (2001, TV-series))) on the incidents in the strange family, along with adult issues concerning race, wealth, abortion and sexuality. From being a realistic drama about a colorful family, A Texas Funeral turns into a condensed boiler-room type story in the vein of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), when all the characters stay together one night, but it is still managed to feel natural, when dawn breaks, and Herron ties several very satisfying ends together on his funny and moving, worldly story.

There's outstanding performances from the fine cast: Robert Patrick (Kill Speed (2010)), Chris Noth (Crossing Jordan (2001, TV-series)), Grace Zabriskie (Psycho Sushi (1997)), Jane Adams (Wonder Boys (2000)), Isaiah Washington (Hurricane Season (2009)), Martin Sheen (Badlands (1973)); and particularly Patrick and Sheen are masterly. Michael Bonvillain (Felicity (1999-01)) has done the excellent photography. A Texas Funeral is a thoroughly pleasurable nightcap kind of movie.

1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Watch a 2-minute scene with Chris Noth from the film here

Cost: Unknown

Box office: Unknown

= Uncertain - likely a box office disaster

[A Texas Funeral premiered 7 September (Venice Film Festival) and runs 98 minutes. Shooting took place in October 1998 - ? in Texas. It was released in Italy and Germany in 2000 and 2001, and it is unclear whether the film was ever released more widely than at a couple of minor film festivals in the US. Its gross is unreported. Most likely this points to the independent film being a box office disaster. Herron withdrew from directing but did return as a screenwriter with The Bourne Identity (2002). Patrick returned in The Angry Beavers (1999, TV-series) and theatrically in Shogun Cop (1999); Sheen in 3 TV credits prior to his theatrical return in A Stranger in the Kingdom (1999). 678 IMDb users have given A Texas Funeral a 6.3/10 average rating.]

What do you think of A Texas Funeral?

No comments:

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (6-24)

6/13/2021

A Texas Funeral (1999) - Stars shine in Herron's under-seen and underrated dramedy

No comments:

Post a Comment

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (5-24)

My Blog List