Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Saturday Night At The Movies - Texas Style




I have been wanting to go see Tommy Lee Jones in No Country For Old Men for several weeks. So this past Saturday I checked the listings, and only one theater in Dallas was still showing it. My wife said she would take over parenting for a few hours, so off to the movies I went.

Now, I had several reasons for wanting to see this movie: Tommy Lee Jones is a favorite actor of mine, and No Country For Old Men was shot primarily in West Texas (in and around Marfa). For you movie history buffs, this is just a few miles from where Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean starred in Giant back in the late 1950s. In fact, some of the background scenery is the same in both movies.

Also, Tommy Lee Jones plays the Sheriff of Sanderson, Texas - my hometown. I arrived at the theater just a few minutes before showtime, and right as I was about to purchase my ticket, a gentleman and his wife came up to me and asked me if where I was standing was the waiting line for tickets. I said, "yes, and why don't y'all go next." After I let them cut in front of me in line, it suddenly dawned on me that I had just let head coach Wade Phillips of the Dallas Cowboys have my place in line!

Well, the movie was fantastic. Afterwards, I got to visit with Coach Phillips and his wife and tell them a little bit about my connections with the movie. I also had to mention that back in my college days out in San Angelo, the most exciting part of the summer was when Coach Phillips' father Bum Phillips had the Oilers' training camp on the Angelo State campus. I specifically remember Earl Campbell riding around on his motorcycle - equipped with a cassette player and loud speakers - blaring out Country and Western tunes.

I guess I'll have to make sure to visit that theater again. Maybe next time I'll run into Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson!

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