Chris Cooper, who plays Sheriff Sam Deeds, is such an interesting actor. He has a great voice, deep and gravelly, but not too much so. I like the way he pronounces his words and I am fascinated by his face. He is what I would call "out of prime handsome". In other words, his face is attractive and has hints of handsomeness, but there's a sort of droopiness to it that keeps him from being too attractive and that's all a good thing. He has a little pot belly too, at least in this movie.
He stars in this very good, very well constructed murder mystery. However, the 40 year old unsolved murder is only the cornerstone of this skyscraper of a movie. Many characters are introduced with all of their accompanying predicaments and stories. Layer upon layer is added. You become totally absorbed up until the ending that has it's own special twist.
All of the acting is good. The love interest for Sheriff Deeds is a Hispanic school teacher well portrayed by actress Elizabeth Pena. Petite and pretty, she and the Sheriff have a past together that comes to play throughout the movie.
There is a lot of skipping around between various "stories", past and present. In a couple of instances this is a little distracting but not so much so that you lose interest.
The old unsolved murder also has an unknown victim for a short time until forensics are completed and the skeletal remain are identified leading Deeds to begin the process of investigation of this death.
Kris Kristofferson plays a really bad guy - a corrupt Sheriff of a prior era who is cruel and has no compunction in shooting people who are brown or black at the slightest provocation. KK is another one with a great speaking voice and although I have never considered him a particularly gifted actor, he does manage to create a very unpleasant and threatening presence on the screen here.
I can't go into much of the plot without giving a lot of it away. You will have to watch this movie to find out what happens.
Oh and a very, very young looking Francis McDormand plays a bubbleheaded ex-wife named Bunny. You've got to see her to believe her. She really gets on your nerves, so it's a good thing she only has a small part.
Oh and Matthew McConaughy is also in this movie. It appears that some of the movie trailers and posters try to make him look like one of the main stars, but actually he is only in the movie for maybe a maximum of 10 minutes. I have to say that he is not one of my favorite actors - he seems like he would be very conceited and careless with other people's hearts, but I could be wrong.
Go the the Internet Movie Database here to see trailers and just about anything else you want to know about this movie and it's stars.
Rating for "Lone Star"
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