What it’s about
In a Texas border town, Sheriff Sam Deeds (Cooper) investigates a forty-year-old murder after the remains of sadistic, corrupt former sheriff Charlie Wade (Kristofferson) are discovered. Via flashback, we learn Sam’s own father Buddy (McConaughey), Wade’s deputy and successor, had both the motive and opportunity to put him out of the way. As Deeds delves into the crime, he uncovers a number of shocking secrets about his father, revered by town elders but despised by Sam for coldly tearing him away from Pilar (Peña), a Mexican girl he loved fiercely as a teenager.
Why we love it
Reuniting Sayles with his “Matewan” star Cooper, this border-town mystery exemplifies Sayles’s talent for telling compelling human stories that deal with important social issues — in this case, illegal immigration, family legacies, and the scourge of racism. Cooper, Pena, and then-unknown McConaughey are superb in their roles, and Kristofferson stands out as the mean, rough-edged, intimidating Wade. Sayles’s low-key approach works in favor of the film’s almost novelistic feel, which nicely balances elements of suspense with heartache as it alternates between past and present. “Lone Star” is a complex, thought-provoking look at love, race, and border culture in the American Southwest.