True Stories (1986) on Netflix
A stranger in a cowboy hat arrives in Virgil, Texas, on the eve of a sesquicentennial celebration. He meets Louis Fyne, a Varicorp technician and country-western singer unlucky in love.
- Netflix3.8/5
- IMDb7.3/108,582 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes78%
Trailer
Plot summary
Virgil, a fictional Texas town, is preparing for the Celebration of Specialness, which marks 150 years since Texas declared its independence and is sponsored by the local computer manufacturer, Varicorp. A visitor in a cowboy hat wanders through the town and its rituals, among them a fashion show and a sermon. Louis Fyne, a clean room technician at Varicorp who sings country-western songs, has no luck with love and hires Mr. Tucker, the assistant to Miss Rollings, to help him find a wife. Miss Rollings never leaves her bed, civic leader Earl Culver does not speak to his wife Kay directly, Ramon, a Tejano singer, says he hears tones from people, and one woman tells fantastic stories about her life to anyone who listens.
Cast
- Amy Buffingtonas Linda Culver
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about True Stories (1986)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- David Byrne rewrote Stephen Tobolowsky and Beth Henley's original screenplay draft almost entirely, keeping only a few lines and their sesquicentennial framework, yet asked to list their names ahead of his own as writers so the film would not look like his personal vanity project.
- The psychic character Ramon, who claims to hear 'tones' from people, and the song 'Radio Head' were both drawn from a real experience co-writer Stephen Tobolowsky described to Byrne: a series of psychic episodes in college where he heard tones that revealed things about other people.
- The band Radiohead took its name directly from the True Stories song 'Radio Head', making the film the unlikely namesake of one of rock's biggest acts.
- A complete soundtrack of the film's songs as actually recorded for the movie was not released until November 2018, a wait of 32 years after True Stories first came out, timed to coincide with Criterion's DVD and Blu-ray edition.
