Death in Texas

Excellent movie! Full of action-violence 😬 we really enjoyed this movie!

What a fun ride! Great cast! Explosive action and edgy characters set against a moral struggle to do one last good thing before your time is up. Death in Texas is as hot as the pico at the cantina, so if you're gonna take a shot, make it a double.

If you strip down the core of the story it is very good. However the script and execution would have lots of room for doing it better. Like if they had the time and money to hire a really good script writer and a bit better direction here and there would have improved it greatly.

Set in El Paso (but mostly filmed in New mexico), a 35-ish man is up for parole and ends up getting out of prison, we later find out after seven years. His 50-ish mom has had a hard life and is a receptionist for a legal firm. But she has bigger problems, even as a non-drinker she is experiencing liver failure. The son will do anything to help his mother live.

I really can't say much more without spoilers. It is a hard movie to stick with for the first half hour or so, it seems a bit rough and over-the-top in many places. My wife gave up at about the 30 minute mark but I was curious so kept watching. Overall I am glad I did, there is a pretty good movie in there, cleverly disguised as an amateur production.

On DVD from my public library.

Seriously, who's idea was it to cast Dern as some big rich drug lord/gangster? The guy looks and sounds like a drunk bum. I was cringing every time the camera was on him and his straggly hair, and started talking like a drunk. He may have worked in a comedy version of this story. Worst casting decision I've ever seen; that casting agent needs to change careers. Then you have Ronnie Gene Blevins all monotonic and straight faced, looking like he was bored and only there for the paycheck. I struggled to stay awake when most of the focus was on him. The only stand-out and convincing performances were by Lara Flynn Boyle, Stephen Lang and Cher Cosenza.

The directing by novice writer and director Scott Windhauser wasn't too bad for a newb, and although the stories concept was amazing, the execution was less desirable. There were many plot and technical issues. Some dialogue was cheesy and/or unnecessary. It lacked any type of action. Why just show flashes of him and the bouncer? Some nice exciting action would've been refreshing to give the audience someone to route for - and struggle less staying awake. The pacing needed improvement, as the 101 min runtime felt much longer. The score was actually not bad for a B-film, but I had some issues with the sound, as some dialogue sounded muffled and illegible. It's a shame, because this story had lots of potential, had it been cast properly with some tweaks to the screenplay. So never mind all the bogus high reviews, it's a generous 6/10 from me.

I really enjoyed this film. Didn't know much what to expect. Explores a lot of elements of human emotions and human nature. Evil, redemption, sacrifice, and more. Definitely worth a watch.