Happy, Texas (film)

Happy, Texas
Directed by Mark Illsley
Produced by Mark Illsley
Rick Montgomery
Ed Stone
Written by Ed Stone
Mark Illsley
Phil Reeves
Starring Steve Zahn
Jeremy Northam
William H. Macy
Ally Walker
Illeana Douglas
Music by Peter Harris
Cinematography Bruce Douglas Johnson
Edited by Norman Buckley
Distributed by Miramax Films
Release dates
 October 1, 1999
Running time
 98 min.
Country  United States
Budget $1.75 million
Box office $3.92 million

Happy, Texas is a comedy film released in 1999 directed by Mark Illsley, and starring Steve Zahn, Jeremy Northam and William H. Macy.

It was a positively reviewed film, and was a box office hit, grossing $3.7 million against a $1.4 million budget, and is now considered a cult classic.

Plot

Three prisoners escape from a chain gang, and two of them, Wayne and Harry (Zahn and Northam) run away to Happy, Texas, where they pose as the gay organizers of a beauty pageant. They put on a show with the small girls of the town while hiding from the law and waiting for the opportunity to rob the local bank.

Their scheme is complicated by the fact that the local sheriff (Macy) is gay, and he's attracted to the prisoner Harry. Straight Harry on the other hand is attracted to lady banker, Josephine (Walker). Meanwhile, "gay" David gets it on with the local pageant coodinator, Doreen (Douglas).

Cast

Production

With the exception of a few scenes, the film was shot entirely on location in Piru, California. One scene was filmed at Oil Can Harry's in Studio City, Los Angeles.[1]

Reception

The movie received a rating of 81% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 83 critics, stating, "it's nothing epic or grand, but it's a simple, funny film that kicked off Steve Zahn's career." It also holds a rating of 7.2/10 on imdb, and Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun, gave it 3/4. Steve Zahn won three awards for his performance in the film.

Zahn's performance was hugely praised by critics, and although he had appeared in several hit Hollywood movies, this was cited as his breakout film.

Soundtrack

Happy, Texas: Music from the Miramax Motion Picture
Soundtrack album by various artists
Released September 14, 1999
Genre Country
Tejano
Exotica
Length 49:08
Label Arista
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic link

The soundtrack album for Happy, Texas features a mix of mostly country music by such artists as Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Lee Roy Parnell, Pam Tillis, Brad Paisley and BR5-49. There are also bits of Tejano (Flaco Jimenez) and exotica (Yma Sumac).

Track listing

  1. "Passin' Through" (Randy Scruggs and Joan Osborne) – 5:16
  2. "Good at Secrets" (Kim Richey) – 4:20
  3. "This Little Light of Mine"/"Fort Davis Contestant" (Carly Fink) – 0:17
  4. "Are You Happy Baby?" (Lee Roy Parnell and Keb' Mo') – 2:27
  5. "Ordinary Heart" (Emmylou Harris) – 2:58
  6. "Baila Este Ritmo" (Flaco Jiménez) – 3:17
  7. "After a Kiss" (Pam Tillis) – 4:10
  8. "Me Neither" (Brad Paisley) – 3:22
  9. "Stay" (Alison Krauss) – 3:26
  10. "Half a Man" (Shannon Brown) – 2:35
  11. "Gopher Mambo" (Yma Sumac) – 2:17
  12. "Honky Tonk Song" (BR5-49) – 2:38
  13. "That Buckin' Song (Saddle Sore Mix)" (Robert Earl Keen) – 3:51
  14. "Hurdy Gurdy Monkey Shine" (Road Kings) – 2:17
  15. "Happiness" (Abra Moore) – 4:28
  16. "It's Oh So Quiet" (Happy Girls) – 1:29
    • Cover of song popularized by Björk

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Oil Can Harry's - Los Angeles - Our History". www.oilcanharrysla.com. Retrieved 2016-08-02.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/28/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.