Kicking up Dust

The movie Lone Star, set in a small boarder town in Rio County Texas, is full of racial tensions. A whodunit murder mystery with a clash of cultures and times. Sam Deeds must make a decision whether to go along with the way things have always been done or choose a new path. From the beginning, it is apparent that he wants to make the right choice and get to the bottom of what really going on in his hometown. Two major themes that run throughout the movie are Sam’s search for the truth of the past and the meaning of his future.

A perfect scene that shows directly how Sam Deeds is not about to go along with the status quo and turn the other cheek with the murder investigation would be at the end of chapter 10. With the newly discovered body possibly being Charlie Wade, the Mayor very plainly tells Sam to just leave it alone as things of this matter should be left in the fog. As Sam is about to walk off the dock, the Mayor starts to use fishing as a metaphor for their situation. He says, ”Look at everything that is required here; tackle, bait, a boat … just to catch a little old fish just minding its own business on the bottom of the lake…. It hardly seems worth the effort, doesn’t’ Sam?” With Sam immediately walking away in disgust shows that Sam is not about to go along with this thinking as he knew something “fishy” was going on. It also shows that the last thing the people of prominence in this small town want to do is dig up any past skeletons.

The filmmakers use this scene to create a distinct line showing how Sam was going to handle this whole situation. The mayor represents the people who really run the show around Rio County Texas. This is set up earlier when at the Santa Barbara Café the Mayor is shown sitting around badmouthing all of the Mexicans, saying they are “taking over” their town. He goes on to say, “Bad enough all of the street names are in Spanish”. Sam calmly reminds him that this region was founded by Spaniards. With this subtle correction and the apparent disgust that is on his face as he leaves the dock, Sam clearly marks his periphery. This strongly foreshadows conflicts between Sam and the traditional leaders that would be unavoidable in the upcoming scenes.