Lone Star

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Lone Star

R,

1996,

2h 14m,

Drama

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Watchlist

91%

140 Reviews

Tomatometer

83%

5,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

91%

Tomatometer

140 Reviews

83%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

In the Texas border town of Frontera, Sheriff Sam Deeds (Chris Cooper) digs up the past when he finds an old skull in the desert. As he traces the murder of Sheriff Charlie Wade (Kris Kristofferson) 40 years earlier, Deeds' investigation points toward his late father, the much-loved Deputy Buddy Deeds. Ignoring warnings not to delve any deeper, Sam rekindles a romance with his high school sweetheart while bringing up old tensions in the town and exposing secrets long put to rest.

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Critics Consensus

Smart and absorbing, Lone Star represents a career high point for writer-director John Sayles -- and '90s independent cinema in general.

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Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

Aug 15, 2024

5/5

one Star is a richly and densely achieved movie that gets a lot of storytelling done in two and a quarter hours; it is thoughtful and complex and grownup.

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Jake Cole

Slant Magazine

Jan 24, 2024

John Sayles’s Lone Star is among the most literary films ever made.

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Robert Faires

Austin Chronicle

Sep 6, 2023

4/5

Sayles is able to touch on the humanity of each [character] and the details of the region -- the heat, the beautiful but often unforgiving landscape, and especially the pride of the residents -- are vivid and true.

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Michael J. Casey

Boulder Weekly

Jan 25, 2024

5/5

If you haven’t seen "Lone Star" before, you’ll be gob-smacked a movie this good isn’t talked about more.

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Apr 6, 2019

Very poor quality i felt like the spearkers were set for dog ears. They must have drank something before they sang so out of toon

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Feb 1, 2019

The best Western movie ever made!

George M

Nov 11, 2018

A multiple story murder mystery in a small Texas border town sounds cool in theory, but damn.. all the side stories were for the most part dull. If it had just focused on the murder mystery part, I probably would have rated this a bit higher(Kris Kristofferson is awesome in the evil cop role). Unfortunately there's just way too much other unimportant crap going on and the drag time is way too long.

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Theodore S

Apr 7, 2018

What starts out as a murder mystery, slowly -- and I mean slowly -- expands itself into a thin, unfocused portrait of an border town with so many prejudices dwelling within its inhabitants, yet so little at stake overall. If I only had a nickel for every time I looked at the TV screen after a character explained the implications of some event and asked, simply, "so?" There's just no urgency at all here, and though some of the political undertones are undoubtedly relevant and timely, a political ensemble piece isn't the movie I was sold by the film's logline or first few minutes. This is a watchable, competently performed, yet ultimately droll, sluggish, and forgettable, low-energy drama with a poorly-realized, thinly veiled mystery at its center.

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Han S

Mar 18, 2018

John Sayles scores again with this great contemporary western with a great cast performing in a modern story!

Theodore S

Feb 12, 2018

one of my favorite films of all time

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John Sayles

Director

Chris Cooper

Sheriff Sam Deeds

Elizabeth Peña

Pilar Cruz

Joe Morton

Colonel Delmore Payne

Ron Canada

Otis Payne

Clifton James

Mayor Hollis Pogue

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Synopsis

In the Texas border town of Frontera, Sheriff Sam Deeds (Chris Cooper) digs up the past when he finds an old skull in the desert. As he traces the murder of Sheriff Charlie Wade (Kris Kristofferson) 40 years earlier, Deeds' investigation points toward his late father, the much-loved Deputy Buddy Deeds. Ignoring warnings not to delve any deeper, Sam rekindles a romance with his high school sweetheart while bringing up old tensions in the town and exposing secrets long put to rest.

Director: John Sayles
Producer: Maggie Renzi, R. Paul Miller
Screenwriter: John Sayles
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Production Co: Castle Rock Entertainment, Columbia Pictures Corporation
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 21, 1996, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 1, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA): $13.1M
Runtime: 2h 14m
Sound Mix: Surround

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