Monday, July 18, 2011

50 Years Of Movie Magic In Marfa, Texas

The tiny West Texas town has been the backdrop for movies like No Country For Old Men, There Will Be Blood and Giant. Hollywood -- and plenty of other people -- can't seem to get enough of Marfa's wide-open spaces. Marfa is a tiny town in West Texas with just 2,000 residents, about 60 miles from the Mexican border and nearly three hours by car from El Paso. But it's been the backdrop for some of Hollywood's most notable movies. It was the site of the 1956 epic Giant, which starred James Dean as a rancher turned oil tycoon, and recently, two Oscar winners, No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood. Why is Hollywood so attracted to Texas? The drive-in movie critic, Joe Bob Briggs, says it's "because evil thrives in Texas." People seem especially drawn to West Texas, a land of limitless desolation — and possibilities — onto which they can project greed, lust and violence. Which makes it perfect to visit as part of our series On Location, which looks at the places where great American movies were filmed...more

No comments: