Directed by:
John SaylesScreenplay:
John SaylesCinematography:
Stuart DryburghComposer:
Mason DaringCast:
Chris Cooper, Elizabeth Peña, Oni Faida Lampley, Kris Kristofferson, Matthew McConaughey, Joe Morton, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Ron Canada, Tony Plana (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
A keen observer of America’s social fabric, writer-director John Sayles uncovers the haunted past buried beneath a small Texas border town in this sprawling neowestern mystery. When a skeleton is discovered in the desert, lawman Sam Deeds (Chris Cooper), son of a legendary local sheriff, begins an investigation that will have profound implications both for him personally and for all of Rio County, a place still reckoning with its history of racial violence. Sayles’s masterful film—novelistic in its intricacy and featuring a brilliant ensemble cast, including Joe Morton, Elizabeth Peña, and Kris Kristofferson—quietly subverts national mythmaking and lays bare the fault lines of life at the border. (Criterion)
(more)Cast
![Chris Cooper](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/161/451/161451798_503ea7.png)
Chris Cooper
USA
Best movies:
American Beauty (1999)
The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
The Bourne Identity (2002)
![Elizabeth Peña](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/000/270/270816_b23b4a.jpg)
Elizabeth Peña
USA
Best movies:
The Incredibles (2004)
La Bamba (1987)
Jacob's Ladder (1990)
![Kris Kristofferson](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/162/361/162361205_997107.png)
Kris Kristofferson
USA
Best movies:
Payback (1999)
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)
We Walk the Line: A Celebration of the Music of Johnny Cash (2012) (concert)
![Matthew McConaughey](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/163/766/163766166_80f9ef.jpg)
Matthew McConaughey
USA
Best movies:
The Gentlemen (2019)
Interstellar (2014)
Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)
![Joe Morton](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/000/267/267502_f2bb7c.jpg)
Joe Morton
USA
Best movies:
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
American Gangster (2007)
Of Mice and Men (1992)
![LaTanya Richardson Jackson](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/160/111/160111716_db8299.jpg)
LaTanya Richardson Jackson
USA
Best movies:
Mother and Child (2009)
Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)
Lorenzo's Oil (1992)
![Ron Canada](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/000/273/273931_38e9ed.jpg)
Ron Canada
USA
Best movies:
Cinderella Man (2005)
The Man Who Wasn't There (1983)
The United States of Leland (2003)
![Tony Plana](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/159/327/159327839_1678ec.jpg)
Tony Plana
Cuba
Best movies:
JFK (1991)
Primal Fear (1996)
Salvador (1986)
Gabriel Casseus
USA
Best movies:
Black Hawk Down (2001)
Get on the Bus (1996)
Fallen (1998)
![Leo Burmester](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/000/273/273929_c7d04f.jpg)
Leo Burmester
USA
Best movies:
The Devil's Advocate (1997)
A Perfect World (1993)
The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
![Chandra Wilson](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/163/058/163058340_d5492f.png)
Chandra Wilson
USA
Best movies:
Philadelphia (1993)
Lone Star (1996)
Frankie and Alice (2010)
![Tony Amendola](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/000/274/274964_095a3e.jpg)
Tony Amendola
USA
Best movies:
Blow (2001)
Columbo (1971) (series)
The Last Don (1997) (series)
![Gordon Tootoosis](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/000/386/386690_ca59c4.jpg)
Gordon Tootoosis
Canada
Best movies:
Into the West (2005) (series)
Legends of the Fall (1994)
Lakota Moon (1992) (TV movie)
![Frances McDormand](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/163/766/163766154_996d62.jpg)
Frances McDormand
USA
Best movies:
Mississippi Burning (1988)
Fargo (1996)
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
![Vanessa Martinez](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/158/502/158502646_c86da1.jpg)
Vanessa Martinez
USA
Best movies:
Warrior (2011)
McFarland, USA (2015)
Shot Caller (2017)
![Jesse Borrego](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/000/386/386825_16e2cf.jpg)
Jesse Borrego
USA
Best movies:
Con Air (1997)
Bound by Honor (1993)
Scooby-Doo and the Monster of Mexico (2003)
![Clifton James](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/000/426/426662_3838d7.jpg)
Clifton James
USA
Best movies:
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
The Untouchables (1987)
The Chase (1966)
![Miriam Colon](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/143/058/143058596_5bcaa4.jpg)
Miriam Colon
Puerto Rico
Best movies:
Scarface (1983)
The House of the Spirits (1993)
Goal! (2005)
Joe Stevens
Best movies:
What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
Secondhand Lions (2003)
True Grit (2010)