Tex: Um Retrato da Juventude

Matt Dillon shines in the role he was made for-a troubled teen. Though not as effective as The Outsiders, Tex has a special charm all its own. Matt Dillon's excellent acting and the moving storyline bring the tale to life. Charming.

I first came across writer SE Hinton's work when the great Francis Ford Coppola adapted two of her books and made contrasting films. The Outsiders and Rumblefish. Both were released in 1983 having been shot back to back and both featured Matt Dillon.

A year earlier, Dillon starred as Tex, in this adaptation of a SE Hinton book made by Disney. It is not as memorable as the Coppola movies.

It is one of these coming of age dramas filled with teenage angst and Matt Dillon gives an early brat pack performance. Someone should had told him back then to do some comedy.

Tex is the younger of two brothers growing up on their own, the older brother cares for Tex. Their mother has died, their dad has walked out on them. Tex likes the sister of his best friend, their father does not like Tex hanging out with either of them.

Tex and his brother get to be heroes when they apprehend a villain on the run who initially holds them hostage. Later Tex gets involved with a drug dealing friend.

The film is a slice of life drama about young adults. It features some early brat packers, apart from Dillon it also has Emilio Estevez and Meg Tilly. It does feel a bit to contrived and cliched but also shows a direction that Disney were moving away from its family friendly roots.

In the small town of Bixby, Oklahoma, 16 year-old Texas "Tex" McCormick (Matt Dillon) is looked after by his 19 year-old college bound athlete brother Mason "Mace" McCormick as their father is often away for extended periods of time working the rodeo circuit leaving Mace as Tex's de-facto parent. As the two struggle to keep their heads above water they must contend with interpersonal drama, financial burdens, class disparity, and the possibility that Mace may leave while Tex will stay behind.

Tex is an adaptation the S. E. Hinton novel of the same name. Tim Hunter and his writing partner Charles S. Haas had come across the writings of Hinton while doing research for their 1979 teen drama Over the Edge and discovering that teens were reading Hinton's books such as The Outsiders. After coming into contact with Hinton's editor, the two learned of Tex and brought the project to Walt Disney Pictures due to the company's desire to branch off from their family friendly staple and dive into broader more mature skewing fare. Covering taboo topics such as teenage drug use and sex, Haas and Hunter experienced surprisingly little interference from Disney regarding the thematic elements present in the novel and the screen adaptation and were given mostly free reign to stick to the core material. Upon release the movie experienced solid acclaim from critics with many praising the film for its realism and down to earth approach to the issues covered in the film, despite warm critical reception the movie only performed modestly making $7.4 million against a $5 million budget due to Disney's marketing department uncertain as to how they should promote the film. Of the adaptations of S. E. Hinton's work the movie never tapped into the mainstream success of The Outsiders nor the endearing cult appeal of Rumble Fish and has been left largely by the cultural wayside despite it being the first S. E. Hinton adaptation to hit the market. It's really a shame the movie isn't better known because it's a solid character piece with a strong emotional core.

Like how Hunter and Haas tapped into the frustrated teenage landscape in Over the Edge, Tex presents a story of two young man who are forced to fend for themselves by circumstances such as an absentee father and a lack of any real opportunities in the rural town of Bixby and the disillusionment that breeds within those whose means are limited. The movie isn't really plot based as it's more a sequence of events that are tied together with Tex as the focal point with topics of personal sacrifice, teenage love, and scrapes with delinquency and danger that reveal more and more of his character as the film moves along. Matt Dillon gives a solid performance as Tex and he really embodies the frustration and disillusionment in the character. Mace is also well played by Jim Metzler who conveys the struggle of balancing his aspirations of obtaining a sports scholarship to Indiana while also providing his brother with at least some form of stability. The movie is rounded out by a strong supporting cast with Meg Tilly as Tex's prospective love interest Jamie, Francis Lee McCain as principal Mrs. Johnson who tries to focus Tex's delinquent behaviors into more constructive efforts, and Zeljko Ivanek has a memorable minor role as a hitchhiker who's brief stretch in the film is edge of your seat tense. The only criticism I can give Tex is maybe there's a few too many elements clamoring for attention as somethings feel like they could've benefitted from a deeper dive and there's also a fortune teller scene used to foreshadow character journeys that does feel a bit on the tropey side and calls attention to itself.

Tex is a solid teen film from Disney and even if it hadn't come from the company as an experiment in appealing to the teen demographic it would still be a solid film regardless. Dillon makes a solid lead as Tex and there's a solid ensemble backing him up as we go through a series of interesting episodes that test Tex's character and relationships with his family and friends. Solid recommendation if you haven't seen it.

I would rank "Tex" as the second best of the S.E. Hinton adaptations starring Matt Dillon (happy birthday, Matt!) behind "The Outsiders"; "Rumble Fish" was too weird to make any sense. This one casts him a young man trying to make his way in Oklahoma after his mother dies. Although its status as a Disney movie gives it kind of a strange feeling, it still comes out very well, with good performances by pretty much all the cast members. But I will say that he reached his apex with "The Outsiders". In all these movies, he was showing the sort of talent that eventually earned him an Oscar nomination for "Crash". Worth seeing. Also starring Meg Tilly, Frances Lee McCain (the "Gremlins" mom), Ben Johnson, Emilio Estevez and Zeljko Ivanek.

In 1982's rural small-town coming-of-age drama "Tex" the titular simple but loveable Oklahoma high-schooler Matt Dillon lives alone with older brother Jim Metzler (while dad Bill McKinney's away for months at a time with the rodeo) hanging out with friends like siblings Emilio Estevez & Meg Tilly, gettin' into dirt-bikin', horses, drinkin', crushes, pranks, fall outs, run-ins with authority & makin' out... while in the background the realities of real life start to loom. In his first (of many) films as director Tim Hunter, and his co-writer Charles S Haas, don't over-cook it but get the balance just right. It's 42 yrs old, but that just helps it play as pure nostalgic Americana. A magical gem.