ACCIDENTAL TEXAN

As a wonderful tale of small-town values, true friendship and personal redemption, the new dramedy movie ACCIDENTAL TEXAN evokes the greatly human character-driven films of the 1970s. Starring veteran Oscar-nominated actor Thomas Haden Church (SIDEWAYS) as a grizzled oil driller and rising star Rudy Pankow (OUTER BANKS) as a young actor named Erwin who meets Merle when his car breaks down outside the fictional small town of Buffalo Gap, Texas, the movie’s tale is simple on the surface but full of engaging characters and a fresh plot.

Erwin has been a struggling actor for 10 years who finally lands the lead role in a new action movie being shot in New Orleans. He’s warned to turn his cellphone off before walking into a set filled with pyrotechnics, but haughtily forgets to do so. This results in electric signals setting off his blood packets too early in a scene where he’s “shot” by a machine gun. The accident destroys the set.

Now fired by both the director and his agent, Erwin is driving back to Los Angeles, In frustration, he pulls his car off the highway and goes deep into the barren wastelands a few miles out of Buffalo Gap to yell at God in frustration. To make matters worse, his car won’t start again after he gets back inside, and he walks into town in hopes of finding a mechanic.

Truly desperate and down to his last $40, he meets a kindly older fellow named Merle who offers to buy his meal and pay for his car repair on the condition that he use his Harvard-educated mind and acting talents to help him save his oil drilling business. Merle is 30 days away from being foreclosed on and losing everything he’s worked to have, but he’s found some land worth drilling on, so he could use Erwin to be his “land man.” As such, he needs Erwin to negotiate for the rights to the oil field and help him beat a rich competitor and his devious minions in obtaining the rights.

Can Erwin manage to pull off the ruse despite knowing nothing about small-town life or the oil industry? Can Merle save his business and the crew he employs from financial ruin? How will they stay one step ahead of their ruthless competitors? And, can Merle and Erwin help each other come to terms with their separate, sad family situations?

Writer Julie B. Denny and Director Mark Lambert Bristol bring a rich portrait of small-town Texas and its colorful inhabitants to life. This is a throwback movie to a time when movies really gave thought and heart and passion to its characters. This results in a movie that resembles the recent Oscar-winning movie THE HOLDOVERS, but with milder swearing that results in a PG-13 rather than an R rating, making it more acceptable viewing for mature audiences.

As the lead characters Merle and Erwin, Thomas Haden Church and Rudy Pankow have a natural and winning chemistry in a father-son type of relationship that’s both fun to watch and profoundly affecting. Here’s hoping that this will revive Church’s career as one of our best character actors and also sets Pankow’s career to leading-man status in bigger movies.

ACCIDENTAL TEXAN is a wonderful, engaging tale of small-town values, true friendship and personal redemption. However, there’s no real God talk, though the opening credits feature a choir singing “Gloria in Excelsis Deo”, and some people are shown coming out of a Christian church.

ACCIDENTAL TEXAN is marred only by its foul language, which consists of one “f” word, three strong profanities and about 25 other obscenities. Children probably won’t be interested in the subject matter. MOVIEGUIDE® suggests extreme caution for older teenager and adults.