A truly Texas film captures a wild time in the Lone Star State
The imagery of the petroleum industry in Texas is well known. Oil derricks, wildcatters, and gas-guzzling cars are truly a part of Americana. The people behind all of this iconography are less known, and The Iron Orchard means to change that.
Directed by Texan Ty Roberts from a novel by Texan Tom Pendleton starring Texans Lane Garrison and Austin Nichols–See a theme here?–the film had its premiere at this year’s Austin Film Festival. Beyond its production pedigree, The Iron Orchard was shot on location deep in the heart of West Texas. No New Mexico or Louisiana stand-ins here. The end result is a film so steeped in the Lone Start State that audiences from all over will leave the theater saying “Howdy” and hankering for brisket.
Set in the first half of the last century, the film tells the tale of Garrison’s Jim McNeely, a come-from-nothing kid who morphs into a true oil man, making and losing fortunes as he goes. Along for the ride is his wife, Lee (Ali Cobrin), but his first true love Mazie (Hassie Harrison) can’t seem stay out of the picture.
The side characters threaten to steal the show throughout. Nichols’s Dent Paxton (What a name!) is all sly smiles and witty syllogisms. While McNeely attacks everything in life head on, Paxton is there to say, “Slow down, have a drink.”
On the other end of the spectrum is Ort Cooley (Lew Temple), the good ol’ boy of good ol’ boys. He and the men that run the rigs are the crux of the operation, and when the money starts pouring in, the hard life out in the country keeps everything grounded.
The locations are truly amazing in The Iron Orchard. From Austin’s famed Driskill Hotel to its counterpart in Big Spring, Hotel Settles, these backdrops show the elegance of a time when people were flush with cash and itching to spend it in the fanciest way they possible could.
The ranch land where the drilling happens is scenic in a completely different way. While the sunsets are unparalleled, the ground is scraggly and foreboding. Not everyone will call it beautiful, but to those from the area, it’s as pretty as a picture.
With superb camera work by French director of photography Mathieu Plainfossé, The Iron Orchard is beautifully shot, full of industrial and relationship drama, and paints a portrait of a time when Texas was becoming what is today: a land of bountiful resources populated by some real characters. The perfect recipe for an interesting place and a great movie.
The Austin Film Festival celebrates the art of storytelling through film, recognizing the writer as the core of the creative process in filmmaking.
For a full schedule, visit www.austinfilmfestival.com.