Film Forum

Directed by Wim Wenders
Written by Sam Shepard
Screenplay adapted by L. M. Kit Carson
Starring Harry Dean Stanton, Nastassja Kinski, Dean Stockwell
Approx. 147 mins. DCP.

PARIS, TEXAS follows the mysterious, nearly mute drifter Travis (a magnificent Harry Dean Stanton, whose face is a landscape all its own) as he tries to reconnect with his young son, living with his brother (Dean Stockwell) in Los Angeles, and his missing wife (Nastassja Kinski). From this simple setup, Wenders and Shepard produce a powerful statement on codes of masculinity and the myth of the American family, as well as an exquisite visual exploration of a vast, crumbling world of canyons and neon.

A JANUS FILMS RELEASE

Reviews

"The screenplay was written by Sam Shepard, that playwright of alienation and rage, and it reflects themes that repeat all through Wenders' career. He is attracted to the road movie, to American myth, to those who stand outside and witness suffering... music is by Ry Cooder, and it's lonely and filled with distance... The photography by Robby Muller contains the sense of a far horizon beyond every close shot...Then there are the miracles of the performances by Harry Dean Stanton, Nastassja Kinski and Hunter Carson. Stanton has long inhabited the darker corners of American noir, with his lean face and hungry eyes, and here he creates a sad poetry."
— Roger Ebert 

“A potent combination of superior talents…an unparalleled summation of America as seen by wondering European eyes.”
– Derek Malcolm, The Guardian (UK)

“Wonderful and funny and full of real emotion.”
– Vincent Canby, The New York Times