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Paris, Texas

Play trailer Poster for Paris, Texas R 1984 2h 25m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
95% Tomatometer 58 Reviews 93% Popcornmeter 10,000+ Ratings
A disheveled man who wanders out of the desert, Travis Henderson (Harry Dean Stanton) seems to have no idea who he is. When a stranger manages to contact his brother, Walt (Dean Stockwell), Travis is awkwardly reunited with his sibling. Travis has been missing for years, and his presence unsettles Walt and his family, which also includes Travis's own son, Hunter (Hunter Carson). Soon Travis must confront his wife, Jane (Nastassja Kinski), and try to put his life back together.
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Paris, Texas

Paris, Texas

What to Know

Critics Consensus

A quiet yet deeply moving kind of Western, Paris, Texas captures a place and people like never before (or after).

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Critics Reviews

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Kevin Maher The Times (UK) 09/14/2023
The panoramic vistas from the cinematographer Robby Müller are as breathtaking as any John Ford western, while the naturalistic performances and deft narrative structure make this the strongest movie in the career of its director, Wim Wenders. Go to Full Review
Peter Bradshaw Guardian 07/27/2022
5/5
... An eerie, sad story whose meaning disappears over the vast horizon as if on a highway heading away through the desert. Go to Full Review
Joe Pollack St. Louis Post-Dispatch 10/07/2021
It's a striking, gripping film for most of its length, with Wenders and cinematographer Robby Muller showing a great love of and fascination for the land -- almost as if their European upbringings had made them slightly envious of the wide-open spaces. Go to Full Review
David Harris Spectrum Culture 02/18/2025
Sometimes, the best movies about America aren’t made by American directors. Go to Full Review
Chance Solem-Pfeifer Willamette Week 01/22/2025
Stanton—playing mute for the first act of Wim Wenders’ revered neo-Western—effectively authors the movie’s tone and pathos with his sorrowful, bottomless irises, right alongside Ry Cooder’s soul-quivering slide guitar score. Go to Full Review
Joshua Ryan FandomWire 01/01/2025
9/10
The cinematography, consisting of wide shots, vacant landscapes and minimalist imagery, gives Paris, Texas a distinct visual style that perfectly compliments the mysterious and emotional core of its story. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Rose T @RT28631960 1d I genuinely do not understand why this film is so highly praised. My issue isn’t that it’s slow, and it certainly isn’t the cinematography. The visuals are beautiful. My problem is the story itself. The film takes a child who has finally found stability, routine, and people who care for him, then has his father abruptly remove him from that life. He is taken across the country to reconnect with a mother who abandoned him years earlier, and then the father simply disappears. We’re supposed to view this as emotional or profound, but I found it irresponsible and frustrating. They have already done enough. The entire time I kept asking: why is this being treated as a noble act? Why is nobody questioning the impact on the child? These are huge life-changing decisions being made for him by adults who have already failed him. The narrative left me more confused than touched. Apologies, but I do not get carried away easily. See more Sachin E @sachineldho 3d Absentee fathers don't deserve redemption or closure. To hell with the directors who glorify this trope. See more Nick S @nicktheswan Jun 5 Slow boring avoid this movie See more F P @Effeppi May 13 Definitely a good movie, great analysis about family and mental health I think, but it's absolutely too slow See more Alex Y @RT80280302 May 10 Standout cinematography, but the pacing is painfully slow, and the story is hard to connect with. See more Chad M. @TheChiefCigar May 5 I’m a cinephile and this one just didn’t do it for me. The payoff in the end was worth it, but man it was a slog at times to get there. They could have cut 30-45 minutes and this would have been five stars because when it hits, it hits hard. See more Read all reviews
Paris, Texas

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Movie Info

Synopsis A disheveled man who wanders out of the desert, Travis Henderson (Harry Dean Stanton) seems to have no idea who he is. When a stranger manages to contact his brother, Walt (Dean Stockwell), Travis is awkwardly reunited with his sibling. Travis has been missing for years, and his presence unsettles Walt and his family, which also includes Travis's own son, Hunter (Hunter Carson). Soon Travis must confront his wife, Jane (Nastassja Kinski), and try to put his life back together.
Director
Wim Wenders
Producer
Don Guest, Anatole Dauman
Screenwriter
L.M. Kit Carson, Sam Shepard
Distributor
20th Century Fox
Production Co
20th Century Fox
Rating
R
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Nov 18, 1984, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 23, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA)
$236.0K
Runtime
2h 25m