Dancer, Texas Pop. 81 (1998)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Tim McCanlies

Writer (WGA):

Tim McCanlies (written by)

Release Date:

1 May 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Family

Tagline:

in the middle of nowhere they had everything

Plot:

Four friends from the small Texas town of Dancer are graduating from high school and are planning to move to L.A...

Plot Keywords:

Texas | Best Friend | Digit In Title | Rancher's Son | Period In Title

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Breckin Meyer	...	Keller Coleman
Peter Facinelli	...	Terrell Lee Lusk
Eddie Mills	...	John Hemphill
Ethan Embry	...	Squirrel
Ashley Johnson	...	Josie Hemphill
Patricia Wettig	...	Mrs. Lusk
Michael O'Neill	...	Mr. Lusk
Eddie Jones	...	Earl
Wayne Tippit	...	Keller's Grandfather
Alexandra Holden	...	Vivian
Keith Szarabajka	...	Squirrel's Father
Shawn Weatherly	...	Sue Ann
Michael Crabtree	...	Mr. Hemphill
Lashawn McIvor	...	Mrs. Hemphill
Joe Stevens	...	Leon
Tommy G. Kendrick	...	Rusty
Steven Bland	...	Wayne
Craig Carter	...	Guy
Tennessee	...	Old Fart Rancher
Mary Ann Luedecke	...	Betty Sue
Bill Brooks	...	Reverend
Felipe de Ortego y Gasca	...	Principal
Kessia Randall	...	Jean (as Kessia Kordelle)
Kendra Payne	...	Loretta
Jack Vaden	...	Harvey
Lynn Carter	...	Another Rancher
Jon Bergholz	...	Bus Driver
Lucy Jacobson	...	Flora
Lisa Billing	...	Sandra
Emilie B. Severin	...	Mrs. Caldwell
Leigh Eaton	...	Mrs. Hufheinz
Billie Craddock	...	Mrs. Garcia
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Pat Ridley	...	Town Person (uncredited)

Directed by
Tim McCanlies

Writing credits (WGA)
Tim McCanlies		(written by)

Produced by
Jacqueline Anderson	....	associate producer
Tina Brawner	....	co-producer
Michael Burns	....	executive producer
Leanna Creel	....	executive producer
Chase Foster	....	producer
David Prybil	....	associate producer
Jeff Rice	....	co-producer
Dana Shaffer	....	producer
Alan Stepp	....	associate producer
Peter White	....	producer

Original Music by
Steve Dorff

Cinematography by
Andrew Dintenfass

Film Editing by
Rob Kobrin

Casting by
Laurel Smith
Michael Testa

Production Design by
Dawn Snyder

Art Direction by
Jeff Adams
Jeff B. Adams Jr.

Set Decoration by
Wanda 'Beau' Peterson		(as Beau P. Petersen)

Costume Design by
Susan Matheson

Makeup Department
Dara Jaramillo	....	makeup department head

Production Management
Ted Gidlow	....	executive in charge of production
Tim Swan	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Pamela Altieri-Paterra	....	second second assistant director
Melissa V. Barnes	....	second assistant director
Jim LaClair	....	assistant director

Art Department
Ramona Fabregas	....	assistant property master
Virle S. Reid	....	props
Byron Scott Thomas	....	property master

Sound Department
Willy Allen	....	supervising sound editor
Wayne Bell	....	production sound mixer
Wayne Bell	....	sound effects
Trip Brock	....	foley editor
Pamela Kahn	....	foley artist
Stacey Michaels	....	adr mixer
Greg Orloff	....	sound re-recording mixer
Will Riley	....	sound effects editor
Brooke Satrazemis	....	cable person
Kurt Thum	....	sound editor
Lisa Varetakis	....	assistant sound editor
Gregory H. Watkins	....	sound re-recording mixer

Camera and Electrical Department
Austin Goss	....	gaffer
Jeff Graham	....	first assistant camera
Josh Gundling	....	second assistant camera
Kim Guthrie	....	camera operator
Richard Lacy	....	dolly grip

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Jeannine Bourdaghs	....	set costumer
Jeila Gueramian	....	costume supervisor
Beth Rogers	....	set costumer

Editorial Department
Todd Busch	....	first assistant editor
Daniel Fort	....	assistant editor: avid
Asim Matin	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Bob Beecher	....	assistant music editor
Larry Herbstritt	....	orchestrator
Chris Ledesma	....	music editor

Transportation Department
Jon Bergholz	....	transportation coordinator
Justin Nance	....	driver

Other crew
Nellie Adami	....	assistant production coordinator
Craig Carter	....	boss wrangler
Ted Gidlow	....	production executive
Haley McLane	....	script supervisor
Timothy R. Price	....	key set production assistant
Pat Ridley	....	stand-in: Wayne Tippet and Eddy Jones
Michael Saleman	....	legal services
Tim Swan	....	location manager

Production Companies

• Caribou Pictures
• Chase Productions
• HSX Films

Distributors

• Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International (Argentina)
• Columbia TriStar Films
• Columbia TriStar Films de España
• LK-TEL (Argentina) (video)
• Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE)
• TriStar Pictures

MPAA:

Rated PG for language.

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:L | South Korea:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Chile:14 | France:U | Portugal:M/12 (video premiere) | UK:PG | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Alpine, Texas, USA

Company:

Caribou Pictures

Trivia:

The gas station where the four boys go to hang out was built for this movie and never was a working gas station. They left it up for an attraction when people drive into Fort Davis, it just recently collapsed (2006).

Quotes:

Reverend: Squirrel, we've missed you in church these past few years.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Playing by Heart (1998)

Soundtrack:

Where I Come From

Wonderful story, wonderful performances, wonderful movie

In 1998, Tim McCanlies had a crazy idea. He made a movie about a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, in which no one gets killed, nothing gets blown up, no one has sex, and there aren't any aliens from outer space. Thank goodness he saw his crazy idea through; the result is a fabulous movie that I saw in the theater in 1998, and I am not sure I have seen a better movie since then.

The setting of the movie is the fictitious town of Dancer, located in Southwest Texas, where the counties are bigger than the states in the northeast and the people are outnumbered by rattlesnakes. The movie begins on Friday, when four boys are graduating from high school. We learn that, while they were in junior high school, they made a "solemn vow" that as soon as they graduated, they were going to get on the next bus to California to make their mark on the world. Easy to say when you're in junior high, and graduation is years away. But now it's here, and the bus is pulling out on Monday morning. The question is whether any of the boys will follow through.

That's pretty much the plot. What's so special? Simple: the relationships between the boys, between each of them and their family members, and between the folks in the town. This movie, like all great movies, is about the characters' reactions to the circumstances they are in. The characters are real, fleshed out not in bold strokes but in nuances, and their actions, not always predictable, are always believable. Most of us have faced the decision whether to leave the town that we grew up in. It is fascinating to watch these teenagers begin to grow into men -- at an accelerated pace, because of their childhood pledge.

Someday, when you are at the video store and you don't know what to get, you will see this on the shelf. Get it. You will be very, very happy.