Paris, Texas (film)
Encyclopedia
Paris, Texas is a 1984 drama 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, and was filmed in the United States.
town of Paris
, but no footage was shot there; filming largely took place in Nordheim, Texas
. Instead, Paris is referred to as the location of a vacant lot owned by Travis that is seen in a photograph. His obsession with the town appears based on the notion that his parents indicated to him that he was probably conceived there. The photograph shows a desert landscape, although in reality Paris, Texas rests on the edge of the forests of East Texas
and the flat to gently-rolling humid farmland of the north-central part of that state, far from any desert.
'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
".
, the film went on to sweep the top prizes from all three juries at Cannes: the Palme d'Or
(Golden Palm) from the official jury, the FIPRESCI Prize
and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury
.
It was screened at the Sundance Film Festival
in 1985 and again in 2006
as part of the Sundance Collection category.
The film also won the BAFTA Awards
for Best Director and was nominated for Best Film
and other categories.
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."
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Wim Wenders
Wim Wenders
Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders is a German film director, playwright, author, photographer and producer.-Early life:Wenders was born in Düsseldorf. He graduated from high school in Oberhausen in the Ruhr area. He then studied medicine and philosophy in Freiburg and Düsseldorf...
. The screenplay is by L.M. Kit Carson and playwright Sam Shepard
Sam Shepard
Sam Shepard is an American playwright, actor, and television and film director. He is the author of several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play Buried Child...
, and the distinctive musical score was composed by Ry Cooder
Ry Cooder
Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder is an American guitarist, singer and composer. He is known for his slide guitar work, his interest in roots music from the United States, and, more recently, his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries.His solo work has been eclectic, encompassing...
. The cinematography
Cinematography
Cinematography is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for cinema. It is closely related to the art of still photography...
is by Robby Müller
Robby Müller
Robby Müller is a cinematographer whose name is most often associated with film director Wim Wenders.-Life and work:...
.
The film stars character actor
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
Harry Dean Stanton
Harry Dean Stanton
Harry Dean Stanton is an American actor, musician, and singer. Stanton's career has spanned over fifty years, which has seen him star in such films as Paris, Texas, Kelly's Heroes, Dillinger, Alien, Repo Man, The Last Temptation of Christ, Wild at Heart, The Green Mile and The Pledge...
as Travis, who has been lost for four years and is taken in by his brother (played by Dean Stockwell
Dean Stockwell
Dean Stockwell is an American actor of film and television, with a career spanning over 65 years. As a child actor under contract to MGM he first came to the public's attention in films such as Anchors Aweigh and The Green Years; as a young adult he played a lead role in the 1957 Broadway and...
). He later tries to put his life back together and understand what happened between him, his wife Jane (Nastassja Kinski
Nastassja Kinski
Nastassja Kinski is a German-born American-based actress who has appeared in more than 60 films. Her starring roles include her Golden Globe Award-winning portrayal of the title character in Tess and her roles in two erotic films , as well as parts in Wim Wenders' films The Wrong Move; Paris,...
), and his son Hunter (Hunter Carson
Hunter Carson
Hunter Carson is an American actor, screenwriter, producer and director.Carson was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of actress Karen Black and actor, producer, screenwriter and director L. M. Kit Carson. He is stepson of Stephen Eckelberry and stepbrother of Celine Eckelberry, Stephen's...
).
The film was a co-production between companies in France and West Germany, and was filmed in the United States.
Cast
- Harry Dean StantonHarry Dean StantonHarry Dean Stanton is an American actor, musician, and singer. Stanton's career has spanned over fifty years, which has seen him star in such films as Paris, Texas, Kelly's Heroes, Dillinger, Alien, Repo Man, The Last Temptation of Christ, Wild at Heart, The Green Mile and The Pledge...
- Travis Henderson - Sam Berry - Gas Station Attendant
- Bernhard Wicki - Doctor Ulmer
- Dean StockwellDean StockwellDean Stockwell is an American actor of film and television, with a career spanning over 65 years. As a child actor under contract to MGM he first came to the public's attention in films such as Anchors Aweigh and The Green Years; as a young adult he played a lead role in the 1957 Broadway and...
- Walt Henderson - Aurore ClémentAurore ClémentAurore Clément is a French actress. She has performed in a number of motion pictures in both the French language and the English language as well as in television films and miniseries.-Early life:...
- Anne Henderson - Claresie Mobley - Car Rental Clerk
- Hunter CarsonHunter CarsonHunter Carson is an American actor, screenwriter, producer and director.Carson was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of actress Karen Black and actor, producer, screenwriter and director L. M. Kit Carson. He is stepson of Stephen Eckelberry and stepbrother of Celine Eckelberry, Stephen's...
- Hunter Henderson - Viva - Woman on TV
- Socorro Valdez - Carmelita
- Edward Fayton - Hunter's Friend
- Justin Hogg - Hunter - Age 3
- Nastassja KinskiNastassja KinskiNastassja Kinski is a German-born American-based actress who has appeared in more than 60 films. Her starring roles include her Golden Globe Award-winning portrayal of the title character in Tess and her roles in two erotic films , as well as parts in Wim Wenders' films The Wrong Move; Paris,...
- Jane Henderson - Tom Farrell - Screaming Man
- John LurieJohn LurieJohn Lurie is an American actor, musician, painter and producer. He is co-founder of The Lounge Lizards, a jazz ensemble. Lurie has acted in 19 films including Stranger than Paradise and Down by Law, composed and performed music for 20 television and film works, and he produced and starred in...
- Slater - Jeni Vici - Stretch
Title
The film is named for the TexasTexas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
town of Paris
Paris, Texas
Paris, Texas is a city located northeast of the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex in Lamar County, Texas, in the United States. It is situated in Northeast Texas at the western edge of the Piney Woods. Physiographically, these regions are part of the West Gulf Coastal Plain. In 1900, 9,358 people lived...
, but no footage was shot there; filming largely took place in Nordheim, Texas
Nordheim, Texas
Nordheim is a city in DeWitt County, Texas, United States. The population was 323 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Nordheim is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land....
. Instead, Paris is referred to as the location of a vacant lot owned by Travis that is seen in a photograph. His obsession with the town appears based on the notion that his parents indicated to him that he was probably conceived there. The photograph shows a desert landscape, although in reality Paris, Texas rests on the edge of the forests of East Texas
East Texas
East Texas is a distinct geographic and ecological area in the U.S. state of Texas.According to the Handbook of Texas, the East Texas area "may be separated from the rest of Texas roughly by a line extending from the Red River in north central Lamar County southwestward to east central Limestone...
and the flat to gently-rolling humid farmland of the north-central part of that state, far from any desert.
Style
Paris, Texas is notable for its images of the Texas 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 MüllerRobby Müller
Robby Müller is a cinematographer whose name is most often associated with film director Wim Wenders.-Life and work:...
's work, a long-time collaborator of Wim Wenders
Wim Wenders
Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders is a German film director, playwright, author, photographer and producer.-Early life:Wenders was born in Düsseldorf. He graduated from high school in Oberhausen in the Ruhr area. He then studied medicine and philosophy in Freiburg and Düsseldorf...
.
The film is accompanied by a slide-guitar score by Ry Cooder
Ry Cooder
Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder is an American guitarist, singer and composer. He is known for his slide guitar work, his interest in roots music from the United States, and, more recently, his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries.His solo work has been eclectic, encompassing...
, based on Blind Willie Johnson
Blind Willie Johnson
"Blind" Willie Johnson was an American singer and guitarist, whose music straddled the border between blues and spirituals....
's "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground
Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground
"Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground"Because documentation is scarce in early recordings, the title of the song appears differently in many sources. It is often called "Dark Was the Night" or punctuated as "Dark Was the Night ". is a gospel-blues song written and performed by American musician...
".
Reception
After its premiere at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival1984 Cannes Film Festival
- Jury :*Dirk Bogarde *Franco Cristaldi *Michel Deville *Stanley Donen *Istvan Dosai *Arne Hestenes *Isabelle Huppert *Ennio Morricone...
, the film went on to sweep the top prizes from all three juries at Cannes: the Palme d'Or
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...
(Golden Palm) from the official jury, the FIPRESCI Prize
FIPRESCI
The International Federation of Film Critics is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world for "the promotion and development of film culture and for the safeguarding of professional interests." It was founded in June 1930 in...
and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury
Prize of the Ecumenical Jury
The Prize of the Ecumenical Jury is an independent film award for feature films at the Cannes Film Festival since 1974. The Ecumenical Jury is one of three juries at the Cannes Film Festival, along with the official jury and the FIPRESCI jury. The award was created by Christian film makers, film...
.
It was screened at the Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
in 1985 and again in 2006
2006 Sundance Film Festival
The 2006 Sundance Film Festival was held from 19 January to 29 January 2006. It was held in Park City, Utah with screenings in Salt Lake City, Utah; Ogden, Utah; and the Sundance Resort. It was the 22nd iteration of the Sundance Film Festival, and the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the...
as part of the Sundance Collection category.
The film also won the BAFTA Awards
British Academy Film Awards
The British Academy Film Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . It is the British counterpart of the Oscars. As of 2008, it has taken place in the Royal Opera House, having taken over from the flagship Odeon cinema on Leicester Square...
for Best Director and was nominated for Best Film
BAFTA Award for Best Film
This page lists the winners and nominees for the BAFTA Award for Best Film, BAFTA Award for Best Film not in the English Language and Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film for each year, in addition to the retired earlier versions of those awards...
and other categories.
Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
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."
In popular culture
- Irish rock group U2U2U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
cite Paris, Texas as an inspiration for their album The Joshua TreeThe Joshua TreeThe Joshua Tree is the fifth studio album by rock band U2. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was released on 9 March 1987 on Island Records. In contrast to the ambient experimentation of their 1984 release The Unforgettable Fire, U2 aimed for a harder-hitting sound on The Joshua...
. - Scottish bands TravisTravis (band)Travis are a post-Britpop band from Glasgow, Scotland, comprising Fran Healy , Dougie Payne , Andy Dunlop and Neil Primrose...
and TexasTexas (band)Texas are a Scottish pop band from Bearsden, near Glasgow, Scotland. They were founded by Johnny McElhone in 1986 and feature Sharleen Spiteri on lead vocals. Texas made their performing debut in March 1988 at Scotland's University of Dundee...
both took their names from this film. - Travis TouchdownTravis TouchdownTravis Touchdown is an American video game antihero who first appeared in the 2008 Wii video game No More Heroes. 27 years old in No More Heroes, he is both an otaku and a professional assassin, wielding a beam sword weapon. He was created by No More Heroes director Goichi Suda, and voiced by Robin...
, lead character of the No More HeroesNo More Heroes (video game), is an action video game for the Wii video game system. It was directed by Goichi Suda , developed by Grasshopper Manufacture and published by Marvelous Entertainment Inc., Ubisoft and Rising Star Games...
video game franchise took his name from the film. - Musicians Kurt CobainKurt CobainKurt Donald Cobain was an American singer-songwriter, musician and artist, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana...
and Elliott SmithElliott SmithSteven Paul "Elliott" Smith was an American singer-songwriter and musician. Smith was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and resided for a significant portion of his life in Portland, Oregon, where he first gained popularity...
claimed this was their favorite movie of all time. - Defunct instrumental rock band The Six Parts SevenThe Six Parts SevenThe Six Parts Seven was an American post-rock band formerly based in Kent, Ohio. The band was founded in 1995 by brothers Allen and Jay Karpinski , who had earlier played with Old Hearts Club, a band of similar style...
used samples from the film at the beginning of the song "From California to Houston, on Lightspeed". The song's title is also an homage to the film. - Jane Henderson's line "Yep, I know that feeling" is sampled on Primal ScreamPrimal ScreamPrimal Scream are a Scottish alternative rock band originally formed in 1982 in Glasgow by Bobby Gillespie and Jim Beattie and now based in London. The current lineup consists of Gillespie, Andrew Innes , Martin Duffy , and Darrin Mooney...
's 1991 album ScreamadelicaScreamadelicaScreamadelica is the third studio album by the Scottish alternative rock group Primal Scream and was their first to be a commercial success. It was released on 23 September 1991 in the UK by Creation Records, and 8 October 1991 in North America by Sire Records. Screamadelica peaked at #8 on the UK...
, at the end of the song "I'm Comin' Down"; it is also repeated in the song "Space Angel Station" on the 1994 Drum ClubDrum ClubDrum Club was a 1990s electronic music duo of former promoters and DJs Charlie Hall and Lol Hammond. They released several albums and singles on record labels such as Big Life and Butterfly Records. Their 1993 single "Sound System" reached #63 on the UK Singles Chart...
album Drums Are Dangerous. - Dialogue from the film is sampled during the song "O.O.B.E." on the album Live 93 by The OrbThe OrbThroughout 1989, the Orb, along with Martin Glover, developed the musical genre of ambient house through the use of a diverse array of samples and recordings. The culmination of its musical work came toward the end of the year when the group recorded a session for John Peel on BBC Radio 1...
. - Dialogue "Do you think he still loves her? How would I know that Hunter?" is sampled during the song "She Stands Up" on M83M83 (album)M83 is the self-titled debut studio album by M83. It was recorded in 2000 and released in Europe in April 2001 by Gooom. The album was reissued in North America by Mute Records in September 2005 and is thus sometimes referred to as 0905...
by the band M83M83 (band)M83 is a musical act by French musician Anthony Gonzalez. It is named after a spiral galaxy, Messier 83. The band was founded in 2001 by Gonzalez and former member Nicolas Fromageau in Antibes, France...
.