Dancer, Texas, le rêve de la ville

Dancer, Texas isn't a perfect film, but at least it's watchable. Initially the cast didn't really turn any heads or catch my attention, but the naturalness the actors encompassed in their characters was quite endearing. Considering the lackluster filmographies of the four main characters, this film will be a standout in their careers.

What I especially enjoyed was the fact that the film didn't poke fun at small town life. While small town people are often times ridiculed in most films, McCanlies tries honoring them by portraying their humility and honor. What I especially liked was how slow the film was, a perfect juxtaposition to the speed of small-town life. The only thing I was somewhat down on was the lack of development in terms of father-son relationships. While Terrell Lee's relationship with his father was revealed quite nicely, we didn't get much in the way of Squirrel's or John's father.

Beyond that one little oversight, I felt the film had a solid enough ground to stand on.

In 1998, Tim McCanlies had a crazy idea. He made a movie about a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, in which no one gets killed, nothing gets blown up, no one has sex, and there aren't any aliens from outer space. Thank goodness he saw his crazy idea through; the result is a fabulous movie that I saw in the theater in 1998, and I am not sure I have seen a better movie since then.

The setting of the movie is the fictitious town of Dancer, located in Southwest Texas, where the counties are bigger than the states in the northeast and the people are outnumbered by rattlesnakes. The movie begins on Friday, when four boys are graduating from high school. We learn that, while they were in junior high school, they made a "solemn vow" that as soon as they graduated, they were going to get on the next bus to California to make their mark on the world. Easy to say when you're in junior high, and graduation is years away. But now it's here, and the bus is pulling out on Monday morning. The question is whether any of the boys will follow through.

That's pretty much the plot. What's so special? Simple: the relationships between the boys, between each of them and their family members, and between the folks in the town. This movie, like all great movies, is about the characters' reactions to the circumstances they are in. The characters are real, fleshed out not in bold strokes but in nuances, and their actions, not always predictable, are always believable. Most of us have faced the decision whether to leave the town that we grew up in. It is fascinating to watch these teenagers begin to grow into men -- at an accelerated pace, because of their childhood pledge.

Someday, when you are at the video store and you don't know what to get, you will see this on the shelf. Get it. You will be very, very happy.

Before getting the movie, I was puzzled at the sharp disparity in the comments here. Now I think I understand them!

A character in the movie says something like this: "Some people aren't meant to live in a small town. Some can't live anywhere else." There's truth to that, and I think it's reflected in the differing responses to the movie here.

If you have experienced small-town life, and either love it or at least are wryly comfortable with it, you'll like this movie a lot. You'll feel you've met these people, you've been to their church, you've been at their picnics. You'll enjoy the scenery, the decent neighborliness, the conversations, the characters.

If you're more of a big-city type, you'll be very impatient. Nothing "happens"! No heads explode, no alien invasions, abductions, or even flyovers. No sex, virtually no profanity, no fist-fights. Everyone keeps most of his clothes on. Kids love and respect their parents and families, even when they're a little daft. People fight, but basically care about each other. It's boring - to some!

I offer no judgment, just this filter to help you decide whether the movie's for you. If you like movies that make you ache for small-town life, you'll like this. If you need action and adrenalin, you may very well not. I like both, and I liked this movie.

OK, for all you people who came from "smalltown, America" who are complaining about this, you should really think about it. This was a really great movie, that shows that you have it all if you just take a look at what you think you are missing. I grew up in Southern Ca, and i moved to a small town when i was 21, but even growing up in a town just shy of a million people, i got an appreciation for it when i left that i would have never had, had i stayed there. This was a great movie, one i would recommend to anyone looking for a good way to spend an evening. not only does it show that a movie can be good without being raunchy and filled with sex, its worth the time that you spend watching it. I would watch it again.

I spent a pleasant evening last night viewing this superb portrait of americana. I only wish that I had grown up in such a small town. These kids, teenagers, had it all, most of all solid friendships. I never was able to determine for certain how many if any would leave that fateful Monday morning on the journey to Los Angeles, leaving the small town and its people behind. That some left was inevitable. That some stayed was natural. I would have stayed. As the song at the end said, Dancer may not be on the map, Mr. McNally but it ought to be. I agree. My next visit to West Texas will include it. What a delight I have waiting for me. I feel SO good!!!