The Lone Star Film Society and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth present

A Tribute to Larry McMurtry

Weekends, July 31 - August 15

Join us this August as we pay tribute to the acclaimed novelist and screenwriter Larry McMurtry, Texas’s most famous literary and cinematic son, who passed away in March 2020. Through his books, screenplays, and the films adapted from his books, some feel that McMurtry, more than anyone else, shaped the way that the world sees Texas. 

Guest host and McMurtry devotee Bud Kennedy of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram will kick off our exploration of McMurtry’s cinematic works, including Hud, The Last Picture Show, Texasville, and Lonesome Dove. Film scholar and SXSW co-founder Louis Black will join remotely.

McMurtry grew up on a ranch in North Texas with only an oral tradition of storytelling, never seeing a book until he was six years old. His stories jumped through many media—print, film, television—and in each he excelled, garnering 13 Oscars, 7 Emmys, and a Pulitzer in 1985 for his novel Lonesome Dove.

It has been said that what the South was to William Faulkner, Texas was to Larry McMurtry. His passion for the land and people made it impossible for him to fully inhabit the self-proclaimed role of "western revisionist." Even when he depicts Texas at its worst, he only makes you love it, and him, more.

 Screenings will be held in the Modern’s auditorium. Tickets are $10, $9 for Modern members, $7 for Modern Reel People members. Tickets go on sale July 15 and may be purchased at www.themodern.org or by visiting the museum’s admission desk.

SCHEDULE

Lonesome Dove

July 31, Part I noon & Part II 2 pm

August 1, Part III & IV 4:30 pm

Prepare yourself for a cinematic experience as epic as a Texas cattle drive! More than any other work of McMurtry’s, Lonesome Dove showcases his extraordinary storytelling abilities. We’re showing this four-part miniseries adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize–winning novel in its entirety during a fun summer weekend marathon session. The television miniseries stars Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones and was directed by Simon Wincer. Originally broadcast in 1989, the series drew a huge viewing audience, earning numerous awards and reviving the television Western.

An estimated 26 million homes tuned in to watch Lonesome Dove, unusually high numbers for a genre considered dead by most people. An enduring favorite with audiences, as well as critics, the Western garnered many honors and awards. At the 1989 Emmy Awards, the miniseries had 18 nominations and seven wins, including one for Wincer. Lonesome Dove also won two Golden Globes, for Best Miniseries and Best Actor in a Miniseries (Duvall).

Join us for this special opportunity to see this great work of art on a large screen. 

Hud

August 7, 2 pm

Hud, which premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, was a critical and commercial success at its general release. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards, winning three: Patricia Neal won Best Actress, Melvyn Douglas won Best Supporting Actor, and James Wong Howe won for Best Black and White Cinematography. Howe's use of contrast to create space and his selection of black-and-white was acclaimed by critics. In 2018, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

Based on McMurtry’s novel Horseman Pass By, Hud is a 1963 American Western drama film directed by Martin Ritt and starring Paul Newman, Melvyn Douglas, Brandon de Wilde, and Patricia Neal. Hud was filmed on location in the plaintive nether regions of the Texas Panhandle and was one of the first revisionist Westerns, choosing to showcase an antihero rather than the typical triumphalist.

The film centers on the ongoing conflict between principled patriarch Homer Bannon and his unscrupulous and arrogant son, Hud, during an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease that put the family's cattle ranch at risk. Lonnie, Homer's grandson and Hud's nephew, is caught in the conflict and forced to choose which character to follow.

The Last Picture Show/50th Anniversary

August 14, 2 pm

Hold onto your cowboy hats! This coming-of-age drama about 1950s Texas town life is one of the most important films in American cinematic history. In 1998, the Library of Congress selected this film for preservation in the United States National Film Registry because of its cultural, historical, and aesthetic significance. This bellringer from the American film renaissance of the seventies, directed by Peter Bogdonavich, includes an ensemble cast of Jeff Bridges, Cloris Leachman, Cybil Shepard, Ellen Burstyn, and Ben Johnson. Featuring evocative black-and-white imagery and extraordinary performances, this is film has earned its place in the crown of cinematic America.  

Based on the semi-autobiographical 1966 novel by Larry McMurtry, The Last Picture Show was theatrically released on October 22, 1971, by Columbia Pictures. It was a critical and commercial success, grossing $29 million on a $1.3 million budget, and was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor for Johnson and Bridges, and Best Supporting Actress for Burstyn and Leachman, with Johnson and Leachman winning.

Texasville

August 15, 4:30 pm

There are so many things to love about this movie. For starters, it’s directed by Peter Bogdonavich and co-written by Bogdonovich and Larry McMurty, getting the band back together for a return tour. The rest of the extraordinary ensemble cast from The Last Picture Show is here, too, 20 years later, and continues McMurtry’s ongoing exploration of what it means to be Texan.  

The summer is 1984 and there is a Friday Night Lights–meets–The Big Chill feeling in Anarene, Texas, as it prepares for its centennial celebration. This is fully mature McMurtry, exploring time, place, love, loss, and, most of all, friendships of the deepest order. All of the characters remain yearbook-picture fresh in memory, which adds yet another layer of meaning. The two decades have wrought many changes, and revelations, too. The romance between Dwayne (Jeff Bridges) and Jaycee (Cybil Shepard) has matured into something Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn would be proud of. Join us for more Texas time travel.

LOCATION

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth

3200 Darnell Street

Fort Worth, Texas 76107

Telephone 817.738.9215

Toll-Free 1.866.824.5566

Fax 817.735.1161

www.themodern.org