Tex (film)

Tex is a 1982 American coming-of-age drama film directed by Tim Hunter in his directorial debut, from a screenplay by Charles S. Haas and Hunter, based on S. E. Hinton's best-selling 1979 novel of the same name. It follows two teenage brothers in rural Oklahoma and their struggle to grow up after their mother's death and their father's departure. The film stars Matt Dillon in the title role, with Jim Metzler, Meg Tilly, Emilio Estevez, in his film debut, Bill McKinney, and Ben Johnson in supporting roles. Metzler was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his performance.

Tex
Theatrical release poster
Directed byTim Hunter
Screenplay by
Based onTex
by S. E. Hinton
Produced byTim Zinnemann
Starring
CinematographyRic Waite
Edited byHoward E. Smith
Music byPino Donaggio
Production
company
Distributed byBuena Vista Distribution Company
Release date
  • July 30, 1982 (1982-07-30)
Running time
103 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$5 million[1]
Box office$7.4 million[2]

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 Tex’s 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 isn’t his real father. But Tex realizes that Mason and Pop do love him, and it is time to start growing up.

Cast

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,[3] the setting of the S. E. Hinton novel on which it is based.

Reception

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Tex holds an approval rating of 85% based on 13 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10.[4] 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."[5] 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."[6] 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."[7] 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."[8]

Accolades
Year Award Category Nominee Result Ref.
1982 4th Youth in Film Awards Best Young Motion Picture Actor Matt Dillon Nominated [9]
Best Family Motion Picture Tex Nominated
1983 40th Golden Globe Awards Best Supporting Actor Jim Metzler Nominated [10]

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
  1. Farber, Stephen (October 10, 1982). "THE 'ODDBALL' WHO BROUGHT 'TEX' TO DISNEY". The New York Times. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  2. "Tex". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  3. Stephen Farber, "The 'Oddball' Who Brought 'Tex' to Disney", The New York Times, October 10, 1982.
  4. "Tex". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  5. Maslin, Janet (September 28, 1982). "'Tex,' Parentless Boys in Oklahoma". The New York Times.
  6. Ebert, Roger (January 1, 1982). "Tex". Chicago Sun-Times. Chicago, Illinois: Sun-Times Media Group – via rogerebert.com.
  7. Sterritt, David (August 5, 1982). "'Tex,' Disney's sensitive story of a teenager's life". The Christian Science Monitor. Boston, Massachusetts: Christian Science Publishing Society.
  8. "Review: 'Tex'". Variety. December 31, 1981.
  9. "Fourth Annual Youth in Film Awards 1981-1982". Young Artist Awards. Archived from the original on March 10, 2008. Retrieved December 22, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  10. "Tex". Golden Globe Awards. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
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