Summer is always a good time to see a Western, especially in Texas, where the landscape and local lore can really help the cowboy fantasy come to life – and extra especially on the beautiful big screen at the Paramount. But this 1996 Western isn’t just escapism. It also reckons with the ugly racism buried in the foundation of Texas through a suspense-filled journey into the crimes of the past. Chris Cooper stars as Sam Deeds, a sheriff who investigates the murder of his racist predecessor (played by Kris Kristofferson) after finding decades later his skeleton buried in the desert near his small border town. That murder may or may not have something to do with Deeds’ own father (Matthew McConaughey), who broke up his relationship with his Mexican high-school sweetheart Pilar (Elizabeth Peña), now a history teacher. The tension between the past and present in the same place is crafted here with particular sweeping gravitas that only Nineties dramas could pull off. – Lina Fisher
