Rating: 
Summary: Slow but engaging
Review: If you are looking for an action flick or suspense thriller, look elsewhere, this movie will disappoint you. Fans of overdone, unrealistic, nearly plotless action movies (such as the John Woo action movies "Broken Arrow" and "Mission Impossible II") will probably be severely disappointed by Lone Star.However, if you find overdone action movies like "Broken Arrow" and "Mission Impossible II" to be contrived, formulaic, and shallow, to the point of being boring, you will love this movie. You must be comfortable with a slower movie pace to appreciate the masterful plot and character development in this movie. For example, if you enjoyed The Shawshank Redemption (I loved it, though it was long and slow at times), you will also love this movie. The plot, setting, etc. are probably less relevant than simply asking yourself what type of movie you enjoy. An action-film lover could easily give Lone Star a one star review, while a filmgoer who doesn't need a lot of action will surely love this movie, and give it an enthusiastic five star review. Final caution: If you have children younger than teenagers, don't watch this as a family or the children will likely be very bored. There's no really objectionable content, but the kids will not follow the movie well enough and will get bored.
Rating: 
Summary: FORGET THE ALAMO
Review: In my opinion the best american film of 1996, LONE STAR established at last John Sayles as the most interesting american writer-director in activity. This subtle allegory of the History of the United States features, in the same movie, the fights of the minorities and thoughts about the legendary icons that made the U.S.A. If the screenplay of LONE STAR is complex and superb, one also appreciates the performances of Chris Cooper as a wry and disenchanted sherif and Frances McDormand as Cooper's neurotic ex-wife. Their performances alone should justify your investment. A trailer and subtitles as bonus features. Meager. Sound and images OK. A DVD zone your library.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best films of the 1990s
Review: Whatever the reasons are that John Sayles has managed to elude the attention of the mainstream entertainment media, he has had no trouble developing and mastering his craft. Lone Star is quite possibly his finest accomplishment thus far ...and is as well-executed and thought-out as any movie I have ever seen. The subtlety employed in the style and in the performances keeps the emotional maelstorm just slighly under the reins; Sayles' style is about provoking ideas in the viewer, not about spelling things out for the lowest common denominator. This film demonstrates its superior quality in every important filmic element: acting, direction, cinematography, dialogue, and plot. The actors are honest and real, and have an excellent grasp on how to deal tastefully with mystery and taboo. The direction is smooth and seamless (check out the scene where the camera pans from the contemporary scene in a Mexican border town to a historical scene invloving Eladio Cruz on the other side of the border). The cinematography is beautiful (I always thought that it was done by Haskell Wexler - the greatest ever - but recently learned that it was Stuart Dryburgh.. Wexler has filmed other Sayles films, including Matewan and Limbo), offering a version of border-country Texas that both illustrates and conflicts with the insiduous, corrupt reality. The dialogue is simple and elusive, and tends to talk "around the point," leaving the true meaning to be dealt with by other cinematic means. The plot is complicated yet not difficult to follow, and reveals information only as it is needed, creating an aura of suspense and mystery not known in the cinematic world since Coppola of the 70's. Like the Godfather films, Lone Star is ultimately a movie about familial relationships. As far as love stories go, the one included in this film is one of the most painful and beautiful I have ever seen.
This movie is flawless.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best films of the past 10 years
Review: "Lone Star" is terrific as both a mystery and as a snapshot of small town America, Texas-Mexican border style. However, it is something else going on here. As Sam moves between the Hispanic, White, and Black communities in Rio County, we see how members of each group feel that their ethic group is different and separate from the others. However, in the end, the movie shows us how we are all pretty much the same and the degree that our lives are intertwined. (Look for a scene in an African-American bar where a record is playing on a jukebox. Later, virtually the same record, this time sung in Spanish, is played on the jukebox in a Mexican restaurant.) At the end of the film there is a final surprise that pretty much left me stunned while driving home the point of just how closely related to each other we all are.
Rating:
Summary: This is one of those Rare Gems!
Review: A very well done and highly under-rated mystery and drama. Kris Kristofferson plays Sheriff Buddy Deeds, ruler of a small Texas border town. A crooked, racist man, whose exploits are uncovered again and delved into some 40 years later, when his son and the current sheriff; Sam Deeds, played by Chris Cooper (of Lonesome Dove fame) comes across a badge and some bones in the desert with the help of some off-duty soldiers, out treasure hunting. Very fine acting and excellent character studies by all, including Elizabeth Pena, Matthew Mconaughey, and Frances McDormand (Fargo).
Rating:
Summary: Fiction or Non-Niction? THAT is the question!
Review: Lone Star appears on the surface to depict your typical murder mystery, but if you "dig" a little deeper, there's more to it than that. There is an underlying theme in that everyone,no matter your race, sex, or color, is all somehow related. It's all about a common ground and how "family" is not restricted to blood relatives. (Although sometimes it is, even when you least expect it.) This movie is also clever to point out that many people continue to live lives filled with lies rather than give up the comfort and security in finding out the facts. The evidence for this movie is found in reality. Pay close attention to the many symbols, from "Charlie," to "Buddy Deeds," to a flag or even a Colt 45. These symbols give meaning to give people interaction. Also, keep track of names or you will get " buried" too. And, "Remember the Alamo!"
Rating:
Summary: Lone Star Perspective
Review: Edgar Allen Poe once said, "all that we see or seem is nothing but a dream within a dream". This principle applies to the citizens of Rio County, Texas of the movie Lone Star. Everything that the characters hold true is really just part of another truth.
Each character must face everything all that they "see or seem" when the skeleton of former county sheriff, Charley Wade, is unearthed. Present sheriff Sam Deeds sets out the mission to find out what the truth is behind a local legend. Sam's father Buddy Deeds, Rio County hero, is the main suspect. The investigation into the past affects the future of many citizen. Pilar, Sam's high school sweetheart, who wants to reconnect with Sam. Her mother Merceedes, who is prejudice against her own heritage. Otis and Mayor Hollis who would prefer to keep the legend alive, and forget the past.
The small town culture lends to the intertwining storylines. Cultural and racial divisions cause Rio County citizens to coexist with an underlying tension. Their viewpoints on what happened in the past affects their present day lives. Also, the races divide: Otis's bar is a "haven" for the African-Americans, Hispancis battle with whites over the majority rule. All groups coexist under the small town politics. This is most evident in the Marshall law of Charley Wade and Buddy Deeds favor system. In the end, what the audience, and the characters, are led to believe is true, is shown to be another, convoluted reality affecting their relationships.
Rating:
Summary: Real Rio County
Review: Charlie Wade (Kris Kristofferson) was a corrupt, evil Sheriff of Rio County, Texas in the 1950s. When he disappears one night, along with $10,000, the community is only too happy to accept his Deputy Buddy Deeds (Matthew McConaughey) as the new Sheriff. Buddy is a legend. Almost the entire community loved, and still reveres, Buddy Deeds. While Charlie Wade antagonized the black and Mexican members of the County, Buddy Deeds kept peace and harmony.
Years later, when Charlie Wade's long-dead body is found in the desert,the new Sheriff, Buddy's son Sam Deeds (Chris Cooper), must find out what happened.
While Sam Deeds is trying to solve the old crime, he is also trying to come to terms with his father's legacy and reunite with his old girlfriend Pilar Cruz (Elizabeth Pena).
Director John Sayles intertwines the stories of the Cruz family, the Deeds family and the Payne family.
The very interesting thing about this movie is that most of the problems revolve around fathers. Pilar Cruz, Sam Deeds and Delmore Payne's (Joe Morton)lives are all very much influenced by how they perceive their fathers.
Sayles uses music and flashbacks to enhance and explain the story, and he uses them both extremely well. He uses the music to set the scene, and it is never overbearing.
All of the acting is terrific, especially Joe Morton as Delmore Payne. An incredibly important part of the movie is the location. Very close to the border, Rio is home to many different cultures. Sometimes these cultures do not co-exist peacefully. This was especially a problem during Charlie Wade's time as Sheriff. There is conflict in the schools about the teachers teaching Texas history from the Mexican perspective, and there is only one bar in town for the black residents to visit.
John Sayles does a fantastic job of creating a believable, entertaining, interesting and easy to follow story.
Rating:
Summary: Some Twists and Turns in the Desert
Review: Almost anything said about the plot of this movie would ruin the experience for anyone who hasn't already seen it, but anyone who likes a great ride at the fair will love it. I mean, right out of the shute, imagine Kris Kristofferson as one seriously bad S.O.B. and then imagine that he pulls it off beautifully. Riding the razor edge of almost but just not quite overplaying it, he winds up being perfect. The rest of the cast is made up of (aside from Matthew McConaughey, who actually made this movie just prior to his breakout) good character actors, people you've seen in any number of movies but who's names just won't come to your lips. But, to be honest, the scene seques are the real treat of this movie, which, again, to explain would ruin the effect of. All in all, a really satisfying film and, for the real videophile, a must see and, no doubt, must have movie.
Rating:
Summary: Hot, Dry, Down and Dirty
Review: More than history is buried in the dry dirt of the fictional Texas town of Frontera in John Sayle's latest movie. LONE STAR's opening scene depicts two idling military men poking around in the desert sprouted up around one of the abandoned rifle ranges at Fort Mackenzie. One of these guys is interested in learning a little bit about the flora and fauna of the local environment. "You should know a little something about the place you're living in," he shouts. His pal, equipped with a metal detector, can't hear him. He's on the track of a surprising discovery, a tarnished sheriff's badge and a human skull jutting from the sun-baked cactus plain. Looks like a murder mystery, right? Well, yes and no. This story of a decades old murder in the Southwestern American desert is the passage to the long and dark tunnel of Texas history, a fabric interwoven from the blood of Mexicans, Texans, and Southwest "indians". Within that historical tableau, this film veers in and out of the past like a searchlight scanning the night sky, moving in several directions. The skull and badge, we soon suspect, belongs to mean sheriff Charlie Wade, vanished from Rio County in 1957. No one in Frontera is unhappy about that but there are some older folks about town who have secreted haunting memories from the period. Town mayor Hollis Pogue is one of them; so is 'Big O' , proprietor of the one saloon in town frequented mostly by off-duty black soldiers.. Charlie Wade, we learn, was run out of town in 1957 by young and razor-sharp sheriff's deputy 'Buddy Deeds'. Buddy Deeds is a legend in Frontera but it's hard for his son, Sam Deeds, to live under the shadow of a legend. As he's told by an elderly resident of 'darktown' when the young sheriff introduces himself as Sheriff Deeds: "Honey, you ain't Sheriff Deeds.....you're Sheriff Deeds Junior!" Sam Deeds is the current sheriff of Rio County, and he's more than a little disturbed to discover his father's tracks in the dust of local history, especially when they lead to the abandoned rifle range at Fort Mackenzie. Sam Deeds remembers his father differently than do the reverential old-timers who are ever ready to sing his praises. As he goes about poking into his father's past, he peels back layers of personal and social history. It's sometimes hard to tell text from subtext in this film but few people will miss the cultural points of view. The community depicted in this Texas border has deep historical roots, dating to a period when Texas didn't exist. The Anglo settlers who later became powerful were invited to settle there by the Mexican government. In the early 1800s, Texas became its own country by declaring itself a republic. This, of course, precipitated a bloody war which established the Rio Grande river as the border between the two countries, a line of questionable integrity, a place of frequent illegal border crossings. It wasn't until mid-century 1800s that it became part of the United States. It's only natural there would be considerable blending of culture, politics, custom, and law and abundant frictions, too. The irritable school board meeting depicted in LONE STAR isn't quite the Battle of the Alamo but then it isn't Ozzie and Harriet either. The story of mean Charlie Wade and how he came to be murdered is the story of a fragile balance between governments, places, and individuals in this mythical Texas town. In Frontera, culture clash is not the chief menu item on the agenda, but it hangs over the border town like the ghost of Charlie Wade and the tall shadow of Buddy Deeds.
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