So Delmore (Joe Morton), the rigid colonel newly put in charge of the local Army base, is estranged from Otis (Ron Canada), who runs the only local bar where black soldiers feel welcome. In each of these stories, parents and children display stubborn, Sending Sam Deeds off to explore the past, the film also examines Sam's troubled memories of life in his father's shadow and looks at theįrontera where Buddy once wielded great power, especially over its black and Hispanic citizens.ĭrawn into this exploration are whole families of other characters, and their pasts are tied to Buddy Deeds in ways that are made clear by the film's stunning denouement. This crime story, while well told, serves 'Lone Star' more as pretext than plot. In the present day, the crime will be investigated by Sheriff Sam Deeds (Chris Cooper), whoseįather, Buddy (Matthew McConaughey), was Charley Wade's deputy and is now the prime suspect in Charley's murder. In the process, they unearth what are probably the remains of Charley Wade (Kris Kristofferson), who in 1957 was the town's bullying sheriff. ('You live in a place, you should know something about it,' And the film's first sight is that of two Army officers cataloguing fauna in the nearby desert. The place is Frontera, Tex., a sleepy little town on the Rio Grande. Indeed, 'Lone Star' exists so far outside the province of slam-bang summer movies that it seems part of a different medium and a different world. Handles this film's dozens of significant characters and the many interwoven strands of its story line with ease.Īs writer, director and editor of 'Lone Star' (the fluid editing is a particular asset, letting the story glide seamlessly between past and present), he assures the viewer that this film's many elements will converge in ways Sometimes decent but didactic in his earlier work (including 'Matewan,' 'Eight Men Out,' 'Passion Fish' and 'The Secret of Roan Inish'), Sayles this time displays nothing but soft-spoken grace. Its first scene to a magnificently apt ending, is utterly right. Every moment of the film, from the quiet foreshadowing of Plain and forthright as it looks, 'Lone Star' winds up with a scope and overview rarely attempted in American films today, which makes its success that much more exemplary. In the process, it also sustains strong characters, deep emotions and clear dramatic force. Gratifyingly complex and beautifully told, this tale explores a huge array of cultural, racial, economic and familial tensions.

The independence and quiet intelligence of his work, Sayles this time delivers a vibrant history lesson about a Texas border town.

JLone Star By JANET MASLIN he great, stirring epic 'Lone Star' stands as a peak in the career of John Sayles, who already has such admirably serious films to his credit.

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