MovieChat Forums > Paris, Texas (1984) Discussion > Boring Film, Plus That Age Difference

Boring Film, Plus That Age Difference


I like Harry Dean Stanton and Sam Shepherd but this film really dragged. Yes, it's nice to see a film that takes its time and lets scenes play out but Paris, Texas took that way beyond the extreme.

Plus, this film would have worked if Kinski had portrayed Stanton's daughter instead. She was 23 and he was 58 when the film was made. Yup, suspend that belief big-time...


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stick to iron man

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Everything isn't for everybody, I guess. There is always Iron Man..

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Everyone keeps talking like the age difference is a flaw in the movie. It's practically the whole point. This isn't a love story. It's a story about a disturbed abusive man who took in a poor teenage girl.

We don't know too much about Jane's background, but dollars to doughnuts she was a poor teenager, probably running away from an abusive (or at least dysfunctional) family, and had nowhere else to go. It happens to young women all the time.

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Everyone keeps talking like the age difference is a flaw in the movie. It's practically the whole point. This isn't a love story. It's a story about a disturbed abusive man who took in a poor teenage girl.


I take your point, but let's not be in denial that Travis and Jane apparently did in fact fall in love with each other, according to the backstory.

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Older males are romantically attracted to much younger females all the time and vice versa.

But being attracted to someone isn't the same as wanting to marry the person or even have sex. You can be naturally attracted to someone, but dismiss any further entanglement for numerous reasons, such as you're married, s/he is married, s/he is too young, s/he is too old, you prefer being single, etc. You have to keep wisdom (common sense) in view when dealing with passions.

This was touched on in "Lost in Translation" and, less so, "Entrapment"; several other flicks as well, I'm sure.

I'm just offering my two cents, not criticizing anything anyone said.

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True enough in a general sense. All relationships are complicated and can drive people's lives off the rails for a virtually infinite number of reasons. But I was referring specifically to what was presented in Paris, Texas. There's really no reason to doubt Travis and Jane were once truly madly in love. You'd have to drag in irrelevant hypotheticals to conclude otherwise.

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Thanks. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I put it on my watchlist.

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Oh! I assumed you'd seen it since you were on the board for it. =P

I saw it about 25 years ago, watched it one lazy weekend afternoon with a couple of friends. We were probably drinking beers and talking during it. I don't recall thinking much of it. Was in my early 20s and didn't relate to anything about it I guess.

I just watched it for the second time last weekend. For most of it, I kept thinking, "I thought I saw this back in the 90s, but I've definitely never seen this movie before." Finally towards the end there was a key scene that I did remember. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since.

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Not seen it for a long time but it used to be a favourite. It was about a couple deeply in love but he couldn't handle it and wandered off in to the desert. I always thought it was a beautiful film and the age difference just wasn't an issue. Be interesting to see it again though.

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The age difference doesn't matter. She was in love with him and married him. There is nothing immoral or illegal about that. If she was attracted to a guy twice her age, that's her business.

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