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The King Of Texas |
 Getting the general American audience to sit still for Shakespeare is a difficult thing. And to do it on television where there are so many distractions is even more difficult. But if you transport a Shakespearean play into another landscape, you may have an interesting enough project with which to gather an audience.Thus, King of Texas, a new TNT Original production, was born. Loosely based upon the Bard's King Lear, King of Texas debuts on Sunday, June 2,2002. Screenwriter Stephen Harrigan (Take Me Home: The John Denver Story) said that "Texas in the 1840's was in many ways like the England of King Lear, a wild and rather 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 In the title role, we have Patrick Stewart (the "efficient" captain of the Enterprise), as Lear, the owner of a vast cattle ranch who has decided it is time to enjoy the fruits of his years of labor and struggle. He wishes to split the ranch into three pieces for his three daughters, but problems arise when one of them isn't willing to play the games he wishes to play in order to become a land baroness. The movie, like the play, becomes a story about ambition, arrogance, love, treachery and one powerful man seeing how futile his power has become in the face of his own approaching death. Stewart is wonderful in the part of Lear, no doubt drawing from his vast experience of playing Shakespearean roles. Also excellent are Roy Scheider (All That Jazz, Jaws) as Westover, one of Lear's closest friends, and David Alan Grier (DAG, In Living Will the King of Texas hold your attention? As pure Shakespeare, probably not. But if you enjoy a good old-fashioned Western, I think it will. King of Texas is scheduled to air on TNT on: Sunday, June 2nd @ 8pm(ET) Sunday, June 2nd @ 10pm(ET) Monday, June 3rd @ 12am(ET) Thursday, June 6th @ 9pm(ET) Thursday, June 6th @ 11pm(ET) Saturday, June 8th @ 10:30pm(ET) Sunday, June 9th @ 1:30pm(ET) Saturday, June 15th @ 2pm(ET) Hank Yuloff reviews out of Los Angeles and would like it noted that his favorite western is Blazing Saddles. Got a problem? Email us at filmmonthly@hotmail.com |
peace between Texas and Mexico that could break into open warfare at any moment."
Color) who plays Rip, a freed slave who has worked for Lear for many years. One part I couldn't enjoy was Lear's eldest daughter Susannah, played by Marcia Gay Harden (Education of Max Bickford, Miller's Crossing). Her "Texas" accent was distracting at best.