Tex (1982)

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Live-action Disney in the 1980s was interesting, to say the least! The company wanted to delve into less family-friendly content eventually leading to the creation of Touchstone Pictures to release more mature films. One such example of a more adult live-action Disney film prior to the creation of Touchstone is the subject of today’s review: Tex! What do I think of it? Read on to find out!

And remember, SPOILERS AHEAD!

Directed by Tim Hunter and based upon an S. E. Hinton novel of the same name, the film takes place in a small, rural town in Oklahoma wherein we meet two teenage brothers. Tex McCormick, played by Matt Dillon, is the younger, more carefree one and Mace, played by Jim Meltzler, is the older, more responsible one. They live in a small home with some land by themselves as their mother died years ago and their father went away for work with the rodeo, but hasn’t returned yet.

This places the burden of taking care of the household solely on Mace prompting him to make tough decisions such as selling their horses to earn money. That decision in particular angers the younger Tex. Mace does his best to placate Tex and you can tell there is genuine love, affection, and respect between the two brothers.

Tex spends his time attending the local high school with his best friend, Johnny, played by Emilio Estevez, and his sister, Jamie, played by Meg Tilly. Tex and Jamie have a mutual crush on each other which is apparent throughout the film. Tex isn’t the most studious of students, often pulling pranks at school. While not mean-spirited, these pranks do get Tex into trouble.

Mace, on the other hand, spends his time applying to colleges while taking care of the household. He’s also the main disciplinarian when Tex gets in trouble for pulling pranks or drinking alcohol. One day, they even pick up a hitchhiker who threatens them with a gun. They’re able to crash their truck in time to save themselves when police arrive in time to shoot the hitchhiker dead.

Not long after this event, their father, Pop, played by Bill McKinney, returns home. He says he’s left the rodeo for good and is back to be a father to the boys. He apologizes for having been away so long. Tex welcomes Pop home with open arms, but Mace is more cautious.

Pop tries to prove his sincerity by trying to repurchase the horses that Mace sold. Mace doesn’t want his back, but Tex is looking forward to getting his horse back. However, the new owner of the horse doesn’t want to sell. This causes Tex to be angry at Mace for having sold it in the first place. Out of spite, when a college entrance application arrives in the mail for Mace, Tex hides it from him.

One day, Tex and Johnny pull another prank at school.

They’re sent to the principal’s office where Johnny’s father, Cole, played by Ben Johnson, blames Tex for being a bad influence on Johnny. Mace, who’s come since he wasn’t sure if his father would show up, says Johnny is just as responsible for these pranks. After Cole and Johnny leave, Pop arrives. After arguing with Mace for a bit, Mace reveals that he knows Tex isn’t Pop’s son.

Tex can’t believe what he’s heard and runs away from the school. He bumps into another of their friends named Lem, played by Phil Brock, who recently moved to the city after getting his girlfriend? wife? girlfriend/wife pregnant. He’s in town as he’s gotten into drug deliveries to earn money for his family.

He talks Tex into accompanying him on his current appointment as he’s made a mistake with a delivery and doesn’t want any trouble. After they arrive at the house, the client argues with them and pulls a gun on them. Tex manages to push the guy away, but not before getting shot himself. He and Lem flee and realize that Tex is bleeding. Afraid of getting in trouble, Lem is hesitant to take Tex to the hospital, so Tex tells him to drop him off at a nearby lot.

Tex goes to a phonebooth and calls Jamie’s house (since he can’t remember his own phone number) and tells her that he’s been shot. Cole takes the phone and asks Tex where he is. After the call ends, Lem returns (out of guilt, I assume) and takes Tex to the hospital.

Thankfully, Tex survives and Pop and Mace are relieved to see him alive! Pop tells Tex the truth that his mother had an affair with a guy to get back at Pop after he got arrested for some illegal dealings. After he got out of prison, she told him that she’s expecting and she never cared about the guy. Pop wanted her back anyway, so he accepted her and raised Tex like his own.

Tex, feeling better after hearing everything, feels guilty for hiding Mace’s application from him. So he fills it out for him and submits it. Later on, Mace is accepted into the college and realizes what happened. Tex apologizes to Mace, but Mace doesn’t hold anything against him. The film ends with Tex working on a horse farm as a way to prevent himself from being expelled from school due to his prank.

And that was Tex! Honestly, it’s not very heavy plotwise as you can tell. Instead, it’s more of a slice-of-life/coming-of-age story of the characters we’re introduced to. Tex himself experiences many things in the film from love to friendship to betrayal to anger to guilt to stupid decisions, etc.

The acting is very real; I never felt that anyone was giving a performance (well, maybe Meg Tilly, sometimes)! I legitimately thought I was watching some documentary about people living in a rural town. Jim Metzler and Matt Dillon stand out especially!

The film is interesting enough and definitely would have been released under the Touchstone banner had that existed at the time. Instead we get a film that serves as a time capsule of an uncertain time in Disney history.

So, my final score for this film is 26/35 = 74.29% (C) !

The next review will be posted on August 15, 2023.