With the help of some of the state’s film buffs, critics, and cinephiles, The Barbed Wire has rounded up a list of love stories as big as Texas. Whether they were filmed here, set here, or brought to life by some Texas-raised talent, we’ve curated a selection of essential, unexpected, and heartwarming romances that showcase the Lone Star State.
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982)
Filmed in Austin, and based on an actual brothel known as the “Chicken Ranch” in La Grange, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas was a Tony Award-winning musical before it became a cult classic. And while the movie toned down some of the Broadway show’s more explicit escapades, it’s still a delightful rom-com led by Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds as secret lovers, Miss Mona (the Chicken Ranch madam) and Ed Earl Dodd (the small-town sheriff) who have to work together to save the brothel from a tawdry investigative TV reporter (Dom DeLuise). It’s campy, it’s fun, and it has a solid soundtrack that includes “Hard Candy Christmas,” “Sneakin’ Around,” and “I Will Always Love You.”
Before Trilogy: Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Before Midnight (1995, 2004, 2013)
Thank goodness for Texas’ Richard Linklater. His three part series is a love story told over the course of eighteen years. Linklater’s sparse and intimate Before trilogy follows Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Céline (Julie Delpy) — two strangers whose chance encounter on a train to Vienna kicks off a decades-long journey. Their journey takes the characters from idealistic young lovers to adults grappling with regrets, setbacks, and the everyday complexities of life. With its naturalistic approach — Delpy and Hawke collaborated closely with Linklater on the scripts, often drawing inspiration from their own lives — the trilogy is an honest, messy, beautiful romance that stands the test of time. “I think as you get older it gets more poignant because you realize that when you’re that age, you think life’s always going to be like that,” Linklater said of Before Sunrise in an interview with Huck Magazine. “You think you can get off a train with someone you’ve just met. It’s a specific place in time that’s, by definition, taken for granted by people in that age range.”
Giant (1956)
Clocking in at nearly three and a half hours, George Stevens’ epic romantic drama brought three of Hollywood’s biggest stars — Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, and James Dean — to the West Texas desert. Starting in the mid-1920s, the film traces 25 years in the lives of wealthy cattle rancher Bick Benedict (Hudson), his headstrong wife, Leslie (Taylor), and their rags-to-riches former ranch hand, Jett Rink (Dean). It’s a film about rapidly changing times set against the backdrop of the oil boom during an era of extreme prejudice and discrimination toward Mexican-Americans in Texas. It’s these fraught circumstances that shape the characters’ lives, giving rise to longstanding resentments and feuds. At the heart of all of this though, is the tumultuous, ever-evolving romance between Bick and Leslie.
Down With Love (2003)
It would be easy to single out Bridget Jones’ Diary when thinking of Renée Zellweger’s best romantic performances (I mean, how many Texans have managed to pull off a British accent as effortlessly and convincingly as her?). But that would be too predictable. Instead, tread off the beaten path with Down with Love. An homage to 1960s rom-coms, Zellweger stars as Barbara Novak — an ambitious self-help author who wants to empower women to think of their own desires rather than prioritizing relationships with men. Her writing puts her in the crosshairs of Catcher Block (Ewan McGregor) — a magazine writer and womanizer who sets out to prove Barbara isn’t as “anti-love” as she claims to be. There are more twists in this movie than you can possibly imagine, and each one is delicious. It’s a blast watching Zellweger and McGregor go back and forth in this tongue-and-cheek battle of the sexes, and it’s especially enjoyable with the film’s use of 60s-inspired sets, costumes, and visual effects.
Everybody Wants Some!! (2016)
Linklater’s “spiritual sequel” to Dazed and Confused, Everybody Wants Some!! takes place in 1980s Texas as a group of college baseball players bonds and parties their way through their final days of freedom before their classes start. It’s also a breakout moment for Glen Powell, who steals several scenes as Finnegan, a cheeky playboy who always has a line ready for any girl that happens to cross his path. “Romance is about more than locking lips,” Tanner Carlos Hadfield, co-founder of Austin’s Hyperreal Film Club, told The Barbed Wire. “It’s about big ideas and big characters colliding in wide open spaces. Richard Linklater is America’s most romantic filmmaker, and Everybody Wants Some!! is pure jock poetry. And how can you not be romantic about baseball?”
Ghost (1990)
On paper, the premise of Ghost might seem a little nuts: The spectre of a murdered banker (Patrick Swayze) tries to keep his girlfriend (Demi Moore) out of harm’s way with the help of a psychic medium (Whoopi Goldberg). As Austin-based film critic Alejandra Martinez told The Barbed Wire, the film’s plot might be improbable, but its central romance grounds it in reality. “The love story, anchored by Houston’s own Patrick Swayze, is what lingers the longest after all these years,” she said. “Beneath the humor and mystery, there’s an aching heart that Swayze embodies perfectly. The pottery scene is iconic, but look at Swayze’s eyes any time he’s watching Moore. There’s a hunger, a longing there that could make anyone believe in the potency of love — in this life and the next.”
Hope Floats (1998)
Among Sandra Bullock’s stacked romance filmography, Hope Floats is an underrated gem. Earnest and unpretentious, the film picks up when Birdee’s (Bullock) life is upended after learning her husband has been cheating on her. Looking for a fresh start, she and her daughter move back home to Texas, where Birdee strikes up a romance with a former classmate, Justin (Harry Connick Jr.) Directed by East Texas native, Forest Whitaker, the film was also choreographed by famed Texas choreographer Patsy Swayze, who first broke out thanks to her iconic work in Urban Cowboy.
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003)
There’s no doubt that How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days belongs on the Mount Rushmore of 2000s rom-coms. It has all the hallmarks of a true classic: a scrappy, young lead who works as a journalist (Kate Hudson as Andie Anderson), the supportive best friend (obviously played by Kathryn Hahn), a devastatingly charming ladies man (Matthew McConaughey as Benjamin Barry), and an iconic dress. All of these characters are brought together by a don’t-think-about-it-too-much premise involving ulterior motives and (of course) a secret bet that comes to light at the top of the third act. Even when they’re pushing each other to their limits, Hudson and McConaughey’s chemistry is so effortless here, it’s no wonder this role helped him become a rom-com staple in the years that followed. “We challenged each other, we busted each other’s chops and we laughed a lot,” the Texan actor told People last year. “And there was a bit of rock and roll exchange that (we thought), ‘Oh, this could be some heavyweight fun.’ And I think that’s why I was cast and that’s why, to whatever extent, it worked.”
Jason’s Lyric (1994)
Set in Houston’s Third Ward, Jason’s Lyric revolves around brothers Jason (Allen Payne) and Joshua (Bokeem Woodbine) whose turbulent childhoods lead them to follow two different paths in life. As he gets older, Jason is left torn between the obligation he feels to take care of Joshua, and the possibility of a new life with his girlfriend, Lyric (Jada Pinkett Smith). “It’s honest and gripping,” Linda Eaddy, director of film programming for the Denton Black Film Festival, told The Barbed Wire. “It covers a variety of topics from mental illness to the family dynamics between two brothers, and it’s a black romance, which we don’t see enough of in cinema.”
Lone Star (1996)
When the murder of a former sheriff comes to light, the investigation into his death brings several ugly truths to light in this neo-Western drama. “It’s an unusual, sometimes sweet, but not always idyllic love story between a Mexican-American woman and an Anglo-American man,” Mary Beltrán, Radio Television and Film professor at the University of Texas, told The Barbed Wire. “It’s meant in some ways as an allegory for the way Mexican-Americans and Anglo-Americans have an intertwined history in Texas that has been both fruitful and at times heartbreaking. It’s educational about Texas history, while also being an engrossing and touching narrative with a dark secret at its center.”
Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
Wes Anderson’s coming-of-age drama centers around anxious and precocious preteens Sam (Jared Gilman) and Suzy (Kara Hayward) — pen pals who spark concern when they decide to make good on a secret pact to run away together. Rounded out by a full cast of the Houston-born director’s frequent collaborators (Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, and Jason Schwartzman), the film is a testament to the power of young love. In an interview with Vanity Fair, the director said, “What I wanted to do was re-create the feeling of that memory. The movie is kind of like a fantasy that I think I would have had at that age. When you’re 11 or 12 years old, you can get so swept up in a book that you start to believe that the fantasy is reality. I think when you have a giant crush when you’re in fifth grade, it becomes your whole world. It’s like being underwater; everything is different.”
Twister (1996)
Technically speaking, Twister is a disaster movie, and yes, technically it starts with meteorologist and storm chaser, Bill (Fort Worth’s Bill Paxton), serving his estranged wife, Jo (Helen Hunt), divorce papers so he can marry his fiancée, Melissa (Jami Gertz). But, with every tornado that blows through Oklahoma, it becomes impossible to deny that Bill and Jo were made for each other. Honestly, at a certain point, you’re almost rooting for the storms, because you know that the former couple is one big disaster away from putting aside their differences and finally getting back together.
Urban Cowboy (1980)
An 80s classic, Urban Cowboy takes place in Gilly’s (Pasadena’s legendary honky tonk), where “Bud” Davis (John Travolta) meets and falls in love with Sissy (Debra Winger), initiating an on-again-off-again love story that’s pushed to its limits by a mechanical bull-riding contest. “It’s so iconic with its legendary actors and the glittery country music soundtrack,” Adam Rocha, executive director of the San Antonio Film Festival, told the The Barbed Wire. “John Travolta is an undeniable movie star. He’s vulnerable and confident, and his chemistry with Debra Winger rings true. It’s a snapshot of a time and place in American culture.”
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