Presented by The Austin Film Festival and sponsored by Texas Film Commission
The 2012 Made in Texas Film Series —featuring movies made by Texans or in Texas, or both —focuses on literary adaptations. Screenings are in the Texas Spirit Theater at the Museum on the second Wednesday of every month. Tickets are FREE to Austin Film Festival and Museum Members; $5 for general admission. Reservations are recommended and can be made by calling (512) 936-4649. Tickets are also available at the door.
The Trip to Bountiful
Wed. March 14, 7:30 pm
with producer Dennis Bishop in attendance*
The Trip to Bountiful (1985), set in the 1940s, tells the story of the elderly Mrs. Carrie Watts, who's only desire is to return to Bountiful, the small Texas town where she grew up. But Watts is prevented from leaving her Houston apartment by her daughter-in-law and an overprotective son who won't let her travel alone. The all-star cast includes Geraldine Page, John Heard, Carlin Glynn, Richard Bradford and Rebecca De Mornay. Geraldine Page won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Carrie Watts.
The Trip to Bountiful is adapted from Texas playwright Horton Foote's television play and was filmed in and around Irving, Dallas, and Waxahachie.
Producer Dennis Bishop ("The Fast and the Furious", HBO Pictures “Dexter”) will be in attendance for a post-screening Q&A.*
Two Rode Together
Wed. April 11, 7:30 pm
When the desperate relatives of Comanches captives pressure the United States Army to rescue them, cynical and corrupt marshal Guthrie McCabe (James Stewart) is brought in to assist in the efforts. McCabe bargains with Chief Quanah Parker (Henry Brandon) for the ransom, but when two of the surviving captives are released, their reintegration into white society proves highly problematic.
Two Rode Together (1961) is a classic western film directed by John Ford, and starring James Stewart, Richard Widmark, and Shirley Jones. The movie was based upon the novel Comanche Captives by Will Cook and was filmed in Bracketville, Texas, on sets built for John Wayne's earlier production of The Alamo.
Toy Soldiers
Wed. May 9, 7:30 pm
with director Dan Petrie in attendance*
When terrorists sieze control of a boarding school, a group of trouble-making boys decide to resist them. Billy (Sean Astin) is the leader of a group of rebellious pranksters. His best friend, Joey, is the son of the Head of the New York Mafia; Billy, all their friends, and many other kids at the school have equally influential and prominent parents. When a Columbian terrorist (Andrew Divoff) finds his father has been jailed in the US, he heads for the boarding school to take the son of the judge hostage. Now, with the sons of numerous influential individuals in his grasp, the terrorist takes the entire school hostage.
Toy Soldiers (1991) was directed by Daniel Petrie, Jr. The film was based on a novel by William P. Kennedy and the screenplay is by Daniel Petrie, Jr. and David Koepp. Starring Sean Astin, Wil Wheaton, Louis Gossett, Jr., Andrew Divoff and Mason Adams, it was filmed in part in San Antonio.
Director Dan Petrie will attend the screening and post-show discussion.*
Andromeda Strain
Wed. June 13, 7:30 pm
In Andromeda Strain (1971), based on the novel by Michael Crichton, a group of scientists investigate a deadly new alien virus before it can spread. When virtually all of the residents of a small town in New Mexico are found to have died after the return to Earth of a space satellite, the head of the US Air Force's Project Scoop declares an emergency.
In a secure laboratory facility, the scientists methodically study the alien life form... unaware that it has already mutated and presents a far greater danger than they had imagined.
Directed by Robert Wise and written by Michael Crichton and Nelson Gidding, Andromeda Strain stars James Olson, Arthur Hill and David Wayne. The film was shot partially in Shafter, Texas.
Talk Radio
Wed. July 11, 7:30 pm
Special guests in attendance TBA*
Barry Champlain (Eric Bogosian), a Jewish radio personality in Dallas, Texas, is a host with a caustic sense of humor and a knack for cutting people down with his controversial political views. His controversial late night show is about to be picked up by a nationwide network of radio stations. But on top of trouble with his love life and fears that the network management will try to censor him, Barry has to cope with hostile callers, threatening fan mail, and a neo-nazi group angered by his forthright opinions.
Directed by Oliver Stone, Talk Radio (1988) stars Bogosian, Ellen Greene and Leslie Hope. The film is based on the play by Eric Bogosian and Tad Savinar. Portions of the film and play were based on the true story of 1980s radio host Alan Berg.
Talk Radio was filmed in and around Irving and Dallas.
I
n Cold Blood
Wed., August 8, 7:30 pm
After a botched robbery results in the brutal murder of the rural Clutter family, two drifters elude police, in the end coming to terms with their own mortality and the repercussions of their vile atrocity. In Cold Blood (1967) is based on Truman Capote's book of the same name. Directed by Richard Brooks, the film stars Robert Blake as Perry Smith, Scott Wilson as Dick Hickrock, and John Forsythe as Agent Alvin Dewey.
In Cold Blood, the 1966 book by Capote, detailed the brutal 1959 murders of Herbert Clutter, a successful farmer from Holcomb, Kansas, his wife, and two of their four children. When Capote learned of the quadruple murder, before the killers were captured, he traveled to Kansas with his childhood friend and fellow author Harper Lee, to interview local residents and investigators. Capote ultimately spent six years working on the book which became the greatest true crime seller at the time.
Film director Richard Brooks took the cast and crew to all the actual locations from the true-life crime, across Missouri, Colorado, Texas, Nevada, Mexico, and Kansas, including the Clutter house, where the four murders were committed. Brooks also filmed in the real-life Kansas courtroom in which the two murderers were tried, using six of the actual jurors from the trial. Even the hangman who executed Perry Smith and Dick Hickock performed that role in the film.
The critically aclaimed film was nominated for four Academy Awards and in 2008, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
* Please note all special guest appearances are subject to change or cancellations without notice.
The Made in Texas Film Series is sponsored by the Texas Film Commission. Tickets for each film are FREE to Austin Film Festival and Museum Members; $5 for general admission. Reservations are not required but recommended and can be made by calling (512) 936-4649. Tickets are also available at the door.The Texas Spirit Theater is located in The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum at 1800 N. Congress Avenue at the corner of Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. For more info, call (512) 936-4649.
Previously in the Made in Texas Film Series:
 |