Tex (film)

Tex
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Tim Hunter
Screenplay by	Charles S. Haas Tim Hunter
Based on	Tex by S. E. Hinton
Produced by	Tim Zinnemann
Starring	Matt Dillon Jim Metzler Meg Tilly Bill McKinney Ben Johnson
Cinematography	Ric Waite
Edited by	Howard E. Smith
Music by	Pino Donaggio
Production company	Walt Disney Productions
Distributed by	Buena Vista Distribution Company
Release date	July 30, 1982
Running time	103 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$5 million
Box office	$7.4 million

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, Frances Lee McCain and Ben Johnson in supporting roles. Metzler was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his performance.

Tex is seen as one of the earliest efforts for Walt Disney Productions 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

• 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
• Željko Ivanek as Hitchhiker Mark Jennings
• Pamela Ludwig as Connie Peters
• S.E. Hinton as Mrs. Barnes

Production

The film was given a PG-rating by the Motion Picture Association rather than a G-rating traditionally 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, the setting of the S. E. Hinton novel on which it is based.

Reception

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 85% of 13 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.8/10. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 78 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Janet Maslin of The New York Times lauded Tex 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." Maslin concluded her review by stating, "This is a film that accomplishes everything that it attempts, and does so expertly. On its own terms, it is a success through and through."

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

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.