The King Of Texas

[neferetus]

Has anyone seen the made-for-TV movie, THE KING OF TEXAS? Based upon William Shakespeare's KING LEAR, it's supposed to be about a Texas cattle baron (Patrick Stewart) who has Travis' slave Joe working on his ranch.

[neferetus]

At first I thought it was supposed to be about the famous King Ranch of Texas, but after seeing the advertisements for it, I'm not so sure. (It aired several years back and I have not seen it listed in any repeats, since.)

[neferetus]

The June, 2002 TNT film, KING OF TEXAS, got a none too favorable review in the Austin Chronicle. Still, Alamo references seem to abound in this Shakespearian adaption of KING LEAR. The Alamo slave though has been given the name of "Rip" by screenwriter Stephen (GATES OF THE ALAMO) Harrigan.



MAY 31, 2002: SCREENS

Texas Tragedy

BY BELINDA ACOSTA

Patrick Stewart in King of Texas

That timeless Shakespearean tragedy King Lear wears all the great themes of life like a fine tapestry mantle: loyalty, power, ambition, pride, jealousy, and love. Now, it wears a cowboy hat.

Set in 1840s Texas, King of Texas is the newest in the stable of original dramas and the 12th Western produced by cable network TNT. Uli Edel (The Mists of Avalon) directed the telefilm.

The tagline, "Based on the play by William Shakespeare," ordinarily causes groans. Many have tinkered with the great Bard's works; few have succeeded. But the script, by Texas author Stephen Harrigan, is a respectable rendition of the great drama.

"Texas in that period was in many ways like the England of King Lear," the Austin-based Harrigan says in TNT press materials, "a wild and feudal place under constant threat of invasion from a foreign power. In Shakespeare's play, this threat comes from France. In the movie, there is an uneasy peace between Texas and Mexico."

Asked to pen the script from an idea originally proposed by Patrick Stewart (who plays Lear in the film), Harrigan had just finished eight years of research and writing The Gates of the Alamo. While the original King Lear provided the characters, plot, and themes, Harrigan added the necessary flourishes to transport King Lear from England to the wilds of Texas.

Stewart stars as the headstrong but tragically narrow-sighted Lear. In this rendition, he is an aging Texas rancher and hero of the U.S.-Mexican War. The classically trained Stewart brings a bullheaded crustiness to this cattle-busting Lear that obliterates any resemblance to his most well known performance as Captain Jean-Luc Picard from the Star Trek franchise.

Aging and ready to relinquish his land -- though not quite ready to give up his iron fist of authority -- Lear decides to divvy up his vast ranchland between his three daughters. To decide who gets what, he commands each to express their love for him. His two eldest daughters, Suzannah (Marcia Gay Harden) and Rebecca (Lauren Holly) perform well and are amply rewarded. When he comes to his youngest and most honorable daughter Claudia (Julie Cox), she refuses to participate in the game. Enraged, Lear disowns the one child who truly loves him, and sets free the greedy desire of his older daughters for power.

Cox's doe-eyed Claudia (King Lear's Cordelia) is suitably devoted to her father even in his exasperating cruelty toward her. As the eldest daughter Suzannah (aka Goneril), Harden is icy and unrepentant in her ambition to expand her newly acquired empire. Holly's Rebecca (aka Regan) is at turns vengeful or spineless, whichever is most convenient for the moment. Harden and Holly are especially venomous in the famous scene in which Westover (aka Gloucester, and played by Roy Scheider), is maimed for taking a stand against them.

In a supporting but significant role, David Alan Grier plays Rip (aka the Fool), a former slave and the only person who can speak candidly to Lear without inciting the storm of his temper. As in the play, he is the only character who sees the world as it is, while Lear (and Westover) is blind to the truth. Grier's scenes with Stewart are delightful, so it's a shame that he's used in cheap reaction shots or uttering lines like, "This is just like the damn Alamo." Or, "The fear got scared out of me at the Alamo."

Did I mention this takes place in Texas? The Alamo references are so thick, they could provide the foundation of a new drinking game. In the end, the references to the Alamo -- along with its contested history -- is a nuisance. The real story isn't about Texas (or ancient England). It's about humans strangled in their own webs. Yep, this is a tragedy. Nearly everybody dies, and those that don't probably wish they had.

Though Shakespeare's glorious poetry is not captured here, the performances and a spectacular scenic backdrop make up for it. King of Texas premieres Sunday, 8pm, on TNT. Encores are June 2, June 6, June 7, June 9, June 15, and June 16. Check local listings for airtimes.

[neferetus]

David Alan Grier, who portrays
Rip, a slave from the Alamo, with
Patrick Stewart, as Lear.

[neferetus]

I saw the DVD for this a while back in the $4.95 bin, at
WALMART, but could not afford it, at the time. If anyone
is intertested, that might be a good place to look for it.

[Greg C.]

i have never heard of the movie but i'll look for it at walmart.

[neferetus]

Yeah, Maybe I should go back there and look for it too.

[tman56]

I saw this when it first appeared on TNT, and I liked it quite a bit. I have mixed feelings about Uli Edel as a director (I think I liked his supernatural western "Purgatory" about the best of his work), and Stewart is great at snarling, ranting and raving, but to me the best part about the movie is Steve Harrigan's script (as noted by the reviewer above). I saw a production of "King Lear" in Stratford, ON a few months after seeing "King of Texas" (with Christopher Plummer as Lear), and I was struck with how faithful and yet creative Harrigan was in adapting Shakespeare's story, if not his language, to early Texas. While not really an "Alamo" or even Texas Repuplic movie per se, it's an interesting piece, and worth seeing.

tman56