Tex

I first came across writer SE Hinton's work when the great Francis Ford Coppola adapted two of her books and made contrasting films. The Outsiders and Rumblefish. Both were released in 1983 having been shot back to back and both featured Matt Dillon.

A year earlier, Dillon starred as Tex, in this adaptation of a SE Hinton book made by Disney. It is not as memorable as the Coppola movies.

It is one of these coming of age dramas filled with teenage angst and Matt Dillon gives an early brat pack performance. Someone should had told him back then to do some comedy.

Tex is the younger of two brothers growing up on their own, the older brother cares for Tex. Their mother has died, their dad has walked out on them. Tex likes the sister of his best friend, their father does not like Tex hanging out with either of them.

Tex and his brother get to be heroes when they apprehend a villain on the run who initially holds them hostage. Later Tex gets involved with a drug dealing friend.

The film is a slice of life drama about young adults. It features some early brat packers, apart from Dillon it also has Emilio Estevez and Meg Tilly. It does feel a bit to contrived and cliched but also shows a direction that Disney were moving away from its family friendly roots.

Matt Dillon has acted wisely and quite good in this flick. A typical American indie film reflecting local people's stories from '70s-'80s . I expected a deeper snese of realism in here but it is not there. The one I can think of as a better option is Buffalo '66 and it does a really good job there. The very theme of parent-children disturbed relationships has not much depth in this. But looking forward to watch more Matt Dillon films.

I would rank "Tex" as the second best of the S.E. Hinton adaptations starring Matt Dillon (happy birthday, Matt!) behind "The Outsiders"; "Rumble Fish" was too weird to make any sense. This one casts him a young man trying to make his way in Oklahoma after his mother dies. Although its status as a Disney movie gives it kind of a strange feeling, it still comes out very well, with good performances by pretty much all the cast members. But I will say that he reached his apex with "The Outsiders". In all these movies, he was showing the sort of talent that eventually earned him an Oscar nomination for "Crash". Worth seeing. Also starring Meg Tilly, Frances Lee McCain (the "Gremlins" mom), Ben Johnson, Emilio Estevez and Zeljko Ivanek.

In 1982's rural small-town coming-of-age drama "Tex" the titular simple but loveable Oklahoma high-schooler Matt Dillon lives alone with older brother Jim Metzler (while dad Bill McKinney's away for months at a time with the rodeo) hanging out with friends like siblings Emilio Estevez & Meg Tilly, gettin' into dirt-bikin', horses, drinkin', crushes, pranks, fall outs, run-ins with authority & makin' out... while in the background the realities of real life start to loom. In his first (of many) films as director Tim Hunter, and his co-writer Charles S Haas, don't over-cook it but get the balance just right. It's 42 yrs old, but that just helps it play as pure nostalgic Americana. A magical gem.

From the same woman who wrote The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton comes this story Tex concerning a pair of brothers Jim Metzler and Matt Dillon. They have a widower father Bill McKinney who was a rodeo clown and still follows the rodeo circuit. The two kids are on their own a lot and Metzler becomes the designated adult . Metzler is a star basketball player who wants to go to that Mecca of basketball Indiana state. Dillon is immature and does a lot of foolish pranks with his rich friend Emilio Estevez.

S.E. Hinton has a few adult themes in her work and note that this is a Disney production. Looking at the novel synopsis I see quite a few more adult themed situations have been eliminated to give Tex a PG rating.

Dillon was good and Tex was a step up in his career. But I think you'll be most impressed with Metzler who I thought was best in the film.

Tex is a great coming of age film that is timeless.