“As a filmmaker, you go through the world thinking of any situation and what kind of film you might make about it,” Richard Linklater once said about making Dazed and Confused. “What would my teen movie be? Growing up in a town like Huntsville, driving around, looking for something to do. That’s what I was always thinking.” Our state has long provided the inspiration and the setting for some of our greatest writers, directors, and actors to shape how people across the country and the world understand Texas. 

Of course, that “understanding” of Texas can take a lot of forms, but it leaves no doubt about the power of movies to shape perception. This column looks back at classic Texas films—some you haven’t seen in years, and some you never quite got around to —with a fresh eye and considers how they have stood the test of time. Are they still relevant? Do they connect to a modern audience? And not least of all, are they fun to watch?

How am I defining a “classic Texas film”? Subjectively, of course. But part of the answer is influence, and the rest is reputation. Neither ensures that I (or you) will love the movie, but it will help explain why my selections—both essential films and ones that have been overlooked—are worth rewatching. 

That said, each movie on this list has one important thing in common. Films exist in our mind and our imagination, but they also exist in a place. All of the movies featured in this column were, at least in large part, shot in Texas, and locations still exist that you can visit. That means Dazed and Confused is in, but The Searchers is out (sorry, Monument Valley). Each column will provide specific information about places you can visit to retrace the steps of the film. There’s nothing quite like standing in the spot where your favorite movie stars once held court and created history.

So come along on the ride with me. At my most sincere, I see this column as a love letter to Texas and Texas films. While I hope I’ll write a few lines you find worth reading, I don’t pretend to have all the right opinions. Drop us a line at [email protected] and let me know what I should be writing about—or what I wrote about and missed.