Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

gogoschka-1 John Sayles' best film: amazing, epic story; beautifully told in elegant flashbacks, featuring Chris Cooper in one of his best roles. A film of stunning beauty and humanity - and also very entertaining. 9 stars out of 10.In case you're interested in more underrated masterpieces, here's some of my favorites: imdb.com/list/ls070242495

MisterWhiplash Remember when mainstream movies came out and there could be a movie that was primarily for the adults in the room? John Sayles is a filmmaker who appeals to people who like dramas that don't talk down, and don't get into major hysterics in melodrama. This kind of approach to characters and situations that develop naturally, intrigue in a real world where, in the case of Lone Star especially, racism is institutionalized even when it isn't spoken of and history repeats itself in subtle ways, and it may not be for those expecting big action or showdowns with lots of violence. In fact one of the only misleading things about the movie is the poster, which, when I was younger passing by the tape in the store (without, ignorantly of course, looking at the back of the cover) I thought it was some oddball Texas horror movie.Maybe in its way it is sort of a horror movie, but more about the terror of secrets meant to be buried like the skull and badge of the long-gone Sheriff Wade (Kris Kristofferson) who we see in flashbacks as a mean SOB s***-kicker who didn't take no guff from no one, whether it was his fellow officer (Matthew McConaughey in a small but great role), or a black or a Mexican. It's in this backdrop that the present-day story unfolds as a mix of murder mystery, political scandal and gladhanding, military hiccups, immigration, and interracial romance, with Chris Cooper as the sheriff in present day finding out thing after thing that makes him more disillusioned.It's easy to say the message of the movie, if it has one, can boil down to "It's all BS and it's bad for ya," but what is so engrossing about Lone Star is how Sayles depicts these people as trying to be good as they can be (the ones we're meant to see as good anyway), and that they have to navigate a lifetime full of discrimination and being apart and being told what to do, whether it's someone who is black or Mexican or a white person trying to be with a Mexican (that too, in its way, is a form of racism). The wounds are so deep that we might as well be skeletons rotting in the sun and it will take a long time, long after those reading this review are gone, to heal.But the good people of this story, or trying to be good anyway also comes down to point of view, which I found fascinating. I liked very much the scene where the younger black woman soldier is in front of the Colonel played by Joe Morton and she's in real trouble over drugs being found in her test. But there's this dialog between them in this scene that breaks down about why they're even in the military, or what they think they're doing there. It's a supporting plot line and yet it's not padding, it's not something unnecessary, it like many other scenes that show how characters act and react to the world around them can't help but be shaped by the place they're in - Good ol' Boy land Texas - and how they navigate through being a minority in this place.Acting across the board is solid (even Frances McDormand, who I almost forgot was in the movie by the time she shows up, gets a scene stealer of a performance to give), and the writing is sharp and trusting of its audience that if it takes its time the rewards will be gradual and satisfying. It's got deep messages about how American life, Mexican life too, functions throughout history, with the "Native Americans" also in the background, but it still functions as entertaining drama that gives every character more than a few moments to feel alive and developed. It's assured filmmaking that we don't get to see much at a studio level anymore.

julian-bedale The sad news of Elizabeth Pena's death earlier this week (on 14.10.14) aged only 55 prompted me to watch the DVD of this superb movie again.The action takes place over 6 days commencing on a Tuesday morning with the discovery of a skeleton in an abandoned rifle range outside the border town of Frontera, Texas. This brings the mystery of the sudden, unexplained disappearance 40 years earlier of the town's bullying, psychopath Sheriff, Charlie Wade (played with great menace by Kris Kristofferson - there was a collective intake of breath amongst the cinema audience every time he came on screen when I first saw the film here in London in 1996!), back to the fore amongst the older residents of Frontera.Chiefly concerned is the current Sheriff, Sam Deeds (Chris Cooper) whose father (& long-term predecessor as Sheriff) Buddy had long been suspected of murdering Wade. The twists and turns of the plot as Sam talks to people who had known his two predecessors in the town & across the border in Mexico are gradually skilfully tied together. During these few days, Sam also re-kindles his romance with his high school sweetheart Pilar (played with understated elegance by Elizabeth Pena), which Buddy had forcibly ended 23 years earlier.Mr Sayles also uses a "tracking" technique several times in the film to great effect by switching from events happening now to those taking place in the past, using exactly the same locations.A couple of slight carps - the character of young Hollis (Buddy Deeds' co Deputy Sheriff to Charlie Wade 40 years earlier) is very under-developed, so he unfortunately comes across as a complete nonentity, & the two characters of Wesley Birdsong (Gordon Tootoosis) & Bunny, Sam's "tightly wound" ex-wife (an electrifying 5 minute performance by Frances McDormand) each appear out of the blue 3/4 of the way through the film with very little connection to the action up to that point - but, between them, manage to provide the final clues to enable Sam to solve the murder mystery!These are very minor criticisms in what is a beautifully shot & acted, enthralling murder mystery, which also shows how people of different cultures manage to co-exist astride the US - Mexico border. This was the first John Sayles movies I ever saw, & remains his finest, although all his other 17 films are very well worth seeing as well.

RichardAnthonyArnell I feel sorry for those who think this is the best American film ever made, even though I can't quite believe anyone would genuinely claim such a thing.Mind you, perhaps it did turn out that way in the last 50 minutes - because my perseverance gave out at that point, so I have no idea how it ends. Nor do I care...Slow and boring. One of the most tedious films I've never watched. Others that lost me before the end: Perfect Storm (actually only 10 minutes in) and The Hours (ghastly). Oh yes and Atonement. Strange how the film industry has declined in every department over the years. I suppose it's the audience.Typical clichéd modern film making at its worst. Poor in every department - just another excuse to bash people over the head with the same old liberal politics in place of entertainment. Utter crap.