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Tex (film)

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Wikipedia article




'Tex' is a 1982 American drama film directed by Tim Hunter (his first film as a director) and written by Charles S. Haas. It is based on the novel of the same name by S. E. Hinton. Matt Dillon and Jim Metzler play brothers who struggle after their mother dies and their father walks out on them.

'Tex' is seen as one of the earliest efforts for Disney to put mature content in its movies and received positive reviews for its realism and its content.

Premise



A coming-of-age adventure about two brothers, Tex and Mason McCormick, struggling to make it on their own when their mother dies and their father leaves them in their Oklahoma home.

Fifteen-year-old Tex McCormick and his 17-year-old brother Mason are trying to make it on their own in the absence of their rodeo-riding father. Mason takes over running the household and, to make ends meet, sells Texs beloved horse, Rowdy. Tex gets mad at Mason and heedlessly tumbles into scrape after scrape. When his Pop comes home, Tex is shocked to learn that he isnt his real father. But Tex realizes that Mason and Pop do love him, and it is time to start growing up.

Cast



* Matt Dillon as Texas "Tex" McCormick

* Jim Metzler as Mason "Mace" McCormick

* Meg Tilly as Jamie Collins

* Bill McKinney as Pop McCormick

* Frances Lee McCain as Mrs. Johnson

* Ben Johnson as Cole Collins

* Phil Brock as Lem Peters

* Emilio Estevez as Johnny Collins

* Tom Virtue as Robert Bob Collins

* Jack Thibeau as Coach Jackson

* eljko Ivanek as Hitchhiker Mark Jennings

* Pamela Ludwig as Connie Peters

* S.E. Hinton as Mrs. Barnes

Production



The film was rated "PG" rather than the "G" then customarily earned by Walt Disney Studios productions, and was noted as an early effort by Disney to incorporate more mature subject matter into its films. The film was somewhat edgy for Disney at the time for its scenes that depicted marijuana use as well as featuring a moderate amount of profanity. Tim Hunter, who had previously co-written the 1979 film 'Over the Edge' with Charles Haas, brought the project to Disney and asked for the opportunity to direct it himself. The film was shot entirely on location in and around Tulsa, Oklahoma and its suburbs,Stephen Farber, [https://www.nytimes.com/1982/10/10/movies/oddball-who-brought-tex-disney-stephen-farber-freelance-writer-based-los-angeles.html "The 'Oddball' Who Brought 'Tex' to Disney"], 'The New York Times', October 10, 1982. the setting of the S. E. Hinton novel on which it is based.

Reception



'Tex' received mainly positive reviews from critics, and has an 85% "fresh" rating from the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes from 13 reviews.[https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tex 'Tex (1982)'] at Rotten Tomatoes (accessed 2014-01-31). Janet Maslin of 'The New York Times' lauded the picture as "an utterly disarming, believable portrait of a small-town adolescent" that "captures Miss Hinton's novel perfectly" and that would "make a star out of Matt Dillon" and "forever alter the way moviegoers think about Walt Disney pictures." Roger Ebert gave the film 4 stars out of 4 and noted that Hunter and Haas, as in their previous writing effort, the 1979 film 'Over the Edge', were "still remembering what it's like to be young, still getting the dialogue and the attitudes, the hang-ups and the dreams, exactly right." David Sterritt of 'The Christian Science Monitor' called it "probably the best picture turned out by the Disney studio since the heyday of the legendary Walt himself."

On the other hand, 'Variety' wrote that "writers Charlie Haas and Tim Hunter (latter making his directing debut) seem intent on incorporating every conceivable adolescent and adult trauma into their script [from the novel by S.E. Hinton], thus leaving the film with a very overdone, contrived feeling."

Accolades



; Golden Globe Award

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| 1983

| Jim Metzler

| Best Supporting Actor Motion Picture

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; Young Artist Awards

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| rowspan="2"| 1983

| Matt Dillon

| Best Young Motion Picture Actor

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| 'Tex'

| Best Family Motion Picture

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Home video release



Tex was released on VHS in 1983 by Walt Disney Home Video. The film was released on DVD by Walt Disney Home Entertainment on September 7, 2004.

References




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