''Tex'' is a 1982 American

coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

film directed by Tim Hunter in his directorial debut, from a screenplay by

Charles S. Haas Charles Stephen Haas (born October 22, 1952), also known as Charles Haas or Charlie Haas, is an American screenwriter, actor, and novelist. Biography Haas was born in Brooklyn, the son of Eunice ( née Dillon) and Philip Haas, who was an atto ...

and Hunter, based on

S. E. Hinton Susan Eloise Hinton (born July 22, 1948) is an American writer best known for her young-adult novels (YA) set in Oklahoma, especially '' The Outsiders'' (1967), which she wrote during high school. Hinton is credited with introducing the YA genr ...

's best-selling 1979 novel of the same name. It follows two teenage brothers in rural

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

and their struggle to grow up after their mother's death and their father's departure. The film stars

Matt Dillon Matthew Raymond Dillon (born February 18, 1964) is an American actor. He has received various accolades, including an Oscar and Grammy nomination. Dillon made his feature film debut in '' Over the Edge'' (1979) and established himself as a te ...

in the title role, with

Jim Metzler Jim Metzler (born June 23, 1951) is an American actor, best known for guest-appearances on popular TV series. In 1983, he received a Golden Globe nomination for his supporting role in the 1982 film ''Tex''. Filmography Films *''Squeeze Play!' ...

Meg Tilly Meg Tilly (born Margaret Elizabeth Chan on February 14, 1960) is an American-Canadian actress and writer. For her role in the 1985 film ''Agnes of God'', she won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting A ...

Bill McKinney William Denison McKinney (September 12, 1931 – December 1, 2011) was an American character actor. He played the sadistic mountain man in John Boorman's 1972 film ''Deliverance'' and appeared in seven Clint Eastwood films, most notably as Capt ...

, and

Ben Johnson Ben, Benjamin or Benny Johnson may refer to: In sports Association football * Ben Johnson (footballer, born 2000), English footballer * Ben Johnson (soccer) (born 1977), American soccer player Other codes of football *Ben Johnson (Australian foot ...

in supporting roles. Metzler was nominated for a

Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

for his performance. ''Tex'' is seen as one of the earliest efforts for

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

to put mature content in its movies and received positive reviews for its realism and its content.

Premise

A coming-of-age adventure about two brothers, Tex and Mason McCormick, struggling to make it on their own when their mother dies and their father leaves them in their Oklahoma home. Fifteen-year-old Tex McCormick and his 17-year-old brother Mason are trying to make it on their own in the absence of their rodeo-riding father. Mason takes over running the household and, to make ends meet, sells Tex’s beloved horse, Rowdy. Tex gets mad at Mason and heedlessly tumbles into scrape after scrape. When his Pop comes home, Tex is shocked to learn that he isn’t his real father. But Tex realizes that Mason and Pop do love him, and it is time to start growing up.

Cast

as Texas "Tex" McCormick *

as Mason "Mace" McCormick *

as Jamie Collins *

as Pop McCormick *

Frances Lee McCain Frances Lee McCain (born July 28, 1943) is an American actress. Early life and education McCain was born in York, Pennsylvania and grew up in New York, Illinois and Colorado in addition to California. She graduated from Ripon College with ...

as Mrs. Johnson *

as Cole Collins * Phil Brock as Lem Peters *

Emilio Estevez Emilio Estevez (; born May 12, 1962) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the son of actor Martin Sheen and the older brother of Charlie Sheen. Emilio Estevez started his career as an actor and is known for being a member of the acting Br ...

as Johnny Collins *

Tom Virtue Tom Virture (born November 19, 1957) is an American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals ...

as Robert “Bob” Collins * Jack Thibeau as Coach Jackson *

Željko Ivanek Željko Ivanek (né Šimić-Ivanek; ; ; born August 15, 1957) is an American actor, known for his role as Ray Fiske on '' Damages'', for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award. Ivanek is also known for his role of Ed Danvers on '' Homicide: Life on ...

as Hitchhiker Mark Jennings * Pamela Ludwig as Connie Peters *

S.E. Hinton Susan Eloise Hinton (born July 22, 1948) is an American writer best known for her young-adult novels (YA) set in Oklahoma, especially '' The Outsiders'' (1967), which she wrote during high school. Hinton is credited with introducing the YA gen ...

as Mrs. Barnes

Production

The film was rated "PG" rather than the "G" then customarily earned by Walt Disney Studios productions, and was noted as an early effort by Disney to incorporate more mature subject matter into its films. The film was somewhat edgy for Disney at the time for its scenes that depicted

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...

use as well as featuring a moderate amount of profanity. Tim Hunter, who had previously co-written the 1979 film '' Over the Edge'' with Charles Haas, brought the project to Disney and asked for the opportunity to direct it himself. The film was shot entirely on location in and around

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

and its suburbs, the setting of the S. E. Hinton novel on which it is based.

Reception

Critical response

On review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, ''Tex'' holds an approval rating of 85% based on 13 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10.

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' lauded the picture as "an utterly disarming, believable portrait of a small-town adolescent" that "captures Miss Hinton's novel perfectly" and that would "make a star out of Matt Dillon" and "forever alter the way moviegoers think about Walt Disney pictures."

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

gave the film 4 stars out of 4 and noted that Hunter and Haas, as in their previous writing effort, the 1979 film '' Over the Edge'', were "still remembering what it's like to be young, still getting the dialogue and the attitudes, the hang-ups and the dreams, exactly right."

David Sterritt David Sterritt (born September 11, 1944) is a film critic, author and scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of stud ...

of ''

The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...

'' called it "probably the best picture turned out by the Disney studio since the heyday of the legendary Walt himself." On the other hand, ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' wrote that "writers

Charlie Haas Charles Doyle Haas II (born March 27, 1972) is an American professional and former amateur wrestler. He is best known for his time in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) from 2000-2009 and Ring of Honor (ROH) from 2010-2013. In WWE he was a me ...

and Tim Hunter (latter making his directing debut) seem intent on incorporating every conceivable adolescent and adult trauma into their script

rom the novel by S.E. Hinton Rom, or ROM may refer to: Biomechanics and medicine * Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient * Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac * ...

thus leaving the film with a very overdone, contrived feeling."

Accolades

Home video release

Tex was released on VHS in 1983 by Walt Disney Home Video. The film was released on DVD by

Walt Disney Home Entertainment Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc., doing business as Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, is the home entertainment distribution arm of The Walt Disney Company. The division handles the distribution of Disney's films, television series, an ...

on September 7, 2004.

References

External links

* * * {{Tim Hunter 1982 films 1982 drama films 1982 directorial debut films 1980s American films 1980s English-language films 1980s coming-of-age drama films 1980s high school films American coming-of-age drama films American high school films Films about brothers Films about father–son relationships Films about friendship Films about teenagers Films based on American novels Films directed by Tim Hunter Films distributed by Disney Films produced by Tim Zinnemann Films scored by Pino Donaggio Films set in Tulsa, Oklahoma Films shot in Oklahoma Walt Disney Pictures films