Paris, Texas (film)
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| Paris, Texas | |
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 1984 original film poster |
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| Directed by | Wim Wenders |
| Produced by | Chris Sievernich, Don Guest, Pascale Dauman, Anatole Dauman |
| Written by | L.M. Kit Carson, Sam Shepard |
| Starring | Harry Dean Stanton, Nastassja Kinski, Hunter Carson |
| Music by | Ry Cooder |
| Cinematography | Robby Müller |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) |  19 May 1984 (Cannes premiere) 19 September 1984 9 November 1984 11 January 1985 |
| Running time | 147 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Paris, Texas is a 1984 American film directed by Wim Wenders. The screenplay is by L.M. Kit Carson and playwright Sam Shepard, and the distinctive musical score was composed by Ry Cooder. The cinematography is by Robby Müller.
The film stars character actor Harry Dean Stanton as Travis, who has been lost for four years and is taken in by his brother (played by Dean Stockwell). He later tries to put his life back together and understand what happened between him, his wife Jane (Nastassja Kinski), and his son Hunter (Hunter Carson).
The film was a co-production between companies in France and West Germany, but was filmed in the United States.
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[edit] Cast
- Harry Dean Stanton - Travis Henderson
- Sam Berry - Gas Station Attendant
- Bernhard Wicki - Doctor Ulmer
- Dean Stockwell - Walt Henderson
- Aurore Clément - Anne Henderson (as Aurore Clement)
- Claresie Mobley - Car Rental Clerk
- Hunter Carson - Hunter Henderson
- Viva - Woman on TV (as Viva Auder)
- Socorro Valdez - Carmelita
- Edward Fayton - Hunter's Friend
- Justin Hogg - Hunter - Age 3
- Nastassja Kinski - Jane Henderson
- Tom Farrell - Screaming Man
- John Lurie - Slater
- Jeni Vici - Stretch
[edit] Title
The film is named for the Texas town of Paris, but no footage was shot there. Instead, Paris is referred to as the location of a vacant lot owned by Travis that is seen in a photograph. The photograph shows a desert landscape, however in fact the real Paris rests on the edge of the forests of East Texas, far from any desert.
[edit] Style
Paris, Texas is notable for its images of the Texan landscape and climate. The first shot is a bird's eye-view of the desert, a bleak, dry, alien landscape. Shots follow of old advertisement billboards, placards, graffiti, rusty iron carcasses, old railway lines, neon signs, motels, seemingly never-ending roads, and Los Angeles, finally culminating in some famous scenes shot outside a drive-through bank in down-town Houston. The cinematography is typical of Robby Müller's work, a long-time collaborator of Wim Wenders.
The film is accompanied by a slide-guitar score by Ry Cooder, based on Blind Willie Johnson's "Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground."
[edit] Reception
The film won the Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival.[1] It was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 1985 and again in 2006 as part of the Sundance Collection category.[2]
Newsweek referred to the film as "a story of the United States, a grim portrait of a land where people like Travis and Jane cannot put down roots, a story of a sprawling, powerful, richly endowed land where people can get desperately lost." [3]
[edit] In popular culture
- A sample from the film is repeated throughout "She Stands Up" on the self-titled debut of French electronic group M83.
- Irish rock group U2 cite Paris, Texas as an inspiration for their album The Joshua Tree.[4]
- Scottish rock group Primal Scream sampled Nastassja Kinski in the film for use on their critically acclaimed album Screamadelica.
- Both Kurt Cobain[5] and Elliott Smith[6] mentioned this film as one of their favorite movies of all time.
- Brooklyn-based band Nada Surf mentions the movie in their song "Comes a Time" from the album The Weight Is a Gift.
- The last track of Gotan Project's second album Lunático is a cover of Ry Cooder's theme song for the film.
- The Scottish band Travis is named after the main character of this movie and mention the film in their song "New Amsterdam" from the album The Boy With No Name.
- Australian band Cog have a song called "Paris, Texas".
- Scottish band Texas took their name from the movie title; the slide guitar on their hit single "I Don't Want A Lover" is a nod to Ry Cooder's music for the film.
- Francois Bovon was influenced to write Luke the Theologian after he saw Paris, Texas.
- Instrumental rock band The six parts seven have a song called "From California to Houston, on lightspeed" which uses audio samples from the film. The song's title is also an homage to the film.
- Samples from the original motion picture soundtrack's "I Knew These People" were used by the English electronic group The Orb. The samples appear in the performance of "O.O.B.E" as recorded live in Copenhagen, Denmark on August 29, 1993, released on the Live93 album.
- Video game developer Goichi Suda named it his favorite movie in an IGN interview.[7] Suda also named No More Heroes' main character Travis as a tribute to the film's protagonist.
- Lyle Lovett makes reference to the film and Wenders in "The Truck Song" from his album My Baby Don't Tolerate.
[edit] References
- ^ "Festival de Cannes: Paris, Texas". festival-cannes.com. http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/1252/year/1984.html. Retrieved 2009-06-23.
- ^ "2006 Sundance Film Festival Announces Films From the Sundance Collection" (PDF). 2006-01-23. http://festival.sundance.org/2006/pdfs/SFF06%20FINAL%201.23.06%20-%20Sundance%20Collection%20release.pdf. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
- ^ http://www.wim-wenders.com/movies/movies_spec/paristexas/paris_texas.htm
- ^ Kelly, Nick. "From the Lone Star State to outer space" The Independent. April 25, 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-08
- ^ [NFC: The Internet Nirvana Fan Club]
- ^ sweet adeline | 03.28.00 chat at nme.com
- ^ Casamassina, Matt. Interview: Suda 51 on No More Heroes IGN.com.
[edit] External links
- Paris, Texas fan site
- Official website
- Paris, Texas at the Internet Movie Database
- Paris, Texas at Allmovie
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