ABCs at the Movies: The Doubles Round!

[Fran]

The "Don't Mess with Texas" Round!

Featuring movies set in or with a
connection to the state of Texas

=aside= Paul
I've edited the announcement to borrow your color scheme for "Texas."  (Wish I had thought of it.)

         

[southendmd]

IMDb:  Eulis 'Sonny' Dewey is a preacher from Texas living a happy life with his beautiful wife Jessie. Suddenly his stable world crumbles: Jessie is having an affair with young minister Horace. Sonny gets enraged and hits Horace with a softball bat, putting him into a coma. After that he leaves town, takes a new name, 'Apostle E.F.' and goes to Louisiana. There he starts to work as a mechanic for local radio station owner Elmo, and Elmo lets him preach on the radio. E.F. starts to preach everywhere: on the radio, on the streets, and with his new friend, Reverend Blackwell he starts a campaign to renovate an old church.

[memento]

Plot: Harry Palmer no longer spies for the British and is instead a starving private detective. He receives a package of money which is followed by a mechanical voice that gives him his instructions over the phone. He accepts the assignment and finds that he has entered the world of a Texas Billionaire who thinks he can bring about a popular uprising in the Soviet Union with the help of a highly sophisticated computer.

[Lynne]

From IMDb:

Sexy TEXAS gal storms her way through life, brawling and boozing until her luck runs out, forcing her to learn the errors of her ways. 

[southendmd]

From the original poster:  HERE COME THE TEXAS PLAINSMEN! Swinging Down the Battle-Blazed Trail...Singing the Songs of the Saddle!

(Of course, I can't find  the poster...)

(Photo courtesy of Fran.)

[Fran]

From IMDb:  When they were kids, Texas Ranger Jack Benteen used to be best friends with drug kingpin Cash Bailey. At present, however, the only element linking them together is Jack's girlfriend Sarita, who used to be with Cash. She returns to Cash as a voluntary hostage to make certain that Jack keeps his hands off the drug lord's operation. On top of that, there is a meticulously planned drug bust, in which both Jack and Cash butt heads with CIA-funded paramilitary Maj. Paul Hackett, following his own agenda.

[memento]

Plot: Expectations are high for the 1988 football team at Permian "MOJO" High School in the blue-collar, football-crazy town of Odessa, Texas. MOJO is a traditional powerhouse in Texas high school football, and the community lets coach Gaines know in many not-so-subtle ways that nothing short of a state championship is a failure. But when the team loses its star tailback in the first game of the season, hopes seem dashed, and MOJO goes into an early tailspin. Everyone is ready to hang coach Gaines in effigy, and the team is left for dead. But miraculously, coach Gaines pulls the team together, and MOJO makes a now-unlikely run into the state playoffs.

[oilgun]

PLOT: In 1966, Texas Western coach Don Haskins led the first all-black starting line-up for a college basketball team to the NCAA national championship.

[southendmd]

User comment:  I don't want to scare anyone away with the "D" word, so let's just say that this non-fiction gem is one of the year's best movies and worth begging your video store manager to stock. Using a no-frills action-and-interview technique, director S. R. Bindler follows the fate of 23 Texans who enter a bizarre annual promotional contest run by the local Nissan dealer. The contestants are to stand around a blue pickup truck, with one hand touching it at all times, and the last one left standing (70-80 hours later) wins the truck. Yes, I did say this was non-fiction! Fortunately for Bindler (or perhaps through his expert handling of them) the contestants turn out to be a colorful cross section, and you soon find yourself picking favorites and even rooting for them! The film manages as much suspense as any sporting event, with a lot more curiosity. Also, some profound themes start creeping in. This movie is sure to invite comparisons with those of Errol Morris, due to the eccentricity of its subject, and those who like Morris's work will surely like this. But Bindler deserves credit for forging his own less flashy style, and for giving us this one-of-a-kind, unforgettable experience.

[Fran]

From IMDb:  The foreman of a cattle-ranch located on the Texas-Mexico border is the leader of a gang of alien-smugglers bringing Chinese immigrants illegally into the United States. An under-cover Texas Ranger is sent to investigate.