Travis Henderson has been wandering through Paris, Texas for the past four years without letting his family know where he is. His brother, Walt, picks him up after getting a call from a doctor saying he was overheated. Walt takes Travis back to his place. Walt and his wife, Anne, have been looking after his son, Hunter, while he has been gone. The wife took off after she and Travis had an argument. Travis feels he should go looking for his wife, Jane. Travis goes on a road trip to go look for Jane and Hunter joins him.
Blaine: Wim Wenders and Sam Shepard had known each other for years and they wanted to work on a film together. Sam had written a lot of plays in his career and both him and Wim had written a script together, but it got tuned down by a lot of studios so they came up with a new story. The story for “Paris, Texas” slowly came together about a strange man who comes out of no where and is on his way to no where. Principal photography began even though Sam had written only half a script. They wanted to see how the film would look first in order to continue the story. The film was called “Motel Chronicles” at first, but when Wim and Sam were on location the words Paris and Texas told so much of the main character of where he was for the past four years.
Wim wanted Sam Shepard to play the lead character, Travis Henderson, but Sam felt that he shouldn’t because he felt he wasn’t suitable to play the character. Wim had seen Harry Dean Stanton in a lot of movies playing supporting characters and Wim thought he was a terrific actor. Harry Dean had never been the lead actor in a movie before. Harry was able to turn this part into his own life story and Wim felt very lucky to have him in “Paris, Texas”. Harry Dean was always into character. He would even cry when he was supposed to during a scene without Wim having to tell him.
Sam Shepard had left after they shot the first half of “Paris, Texas” to work on another project. Problem was “Paris, Texas” couldn’t continue shooting because when they started shooting only half a script was written. Wim didn’t know what else was going to happen in the movie. He needed Sam to write the rest of the story. “Paris, Texas” took a two week break from shooting until Wim could figure out how the story could continue. A man named L.M. Kit Carson had written the rest of the story for “Paris, Texas”. They sent it to Sam Shepard asking what he thought of it. Sam had added a few things to it, but other than that he liked it. The second half of “Paris, Texas” would be about Travis looking for his wife, Jane.
Sam had thought about Travis finding Jane at a peep-show. Travis would see Jane through a one-way mirror, but she couldn’t see him or know who she was talking to. Sam had written down the whole sequence when he re-wrote the finished script. L.M. Kit Carson’s son, Hunter Carson played Hunter Henderson, the son of Travis and Jane. Wim was really impressed with Hunter’s performance as the son and how he acts like a grown up when he is on the road with his father. Hunter realizes that he has to be tough and be a pal to his father.
A lot of people have complimented on how good Nastassja Kinski did the American accent in “Paris, Texas” because she’s German. She spent a lot of time practicing that American accent. Nastassja needed to look like she could pass as Hunter’s mother so she dyed her hair blonde to make herself look like him. Nastassja looks good as a blonde. When Travis visits Jane for the second and last time she gets all emotional over the story he is telling her. As the story goes on, she realizes that it’s Travis. They only shot one take of Nastassja getting all emotional because she was so perfect in that scene that there was no need to do another take. Wim Wenders really liked the way Sam Shepard wrote the dialog for “Paris, Texas” because he liked hearing it come out of the actors’ mouths. It was Wim Wender’s idea to end “Paris, Texas” with Travis leaving Jane in charge of Hunter. Wim said it felt right with Travis walking away from the family he feels he doesn’t deserve and to have his son be with his mother again.
My rating on “Paris, Texas” is five out of five stars.
