Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9786305308843
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
ISBN: 6305308845
Label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Number Of Items: 1
Picture Format: Pan & Scan
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Region Code: 1
Release Date: March 30, 1999
Running Time: 90 minutes
Sales Rank: 19114
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: October 10, 1986
Related Items:
Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
Truly quirky, this mock documentary is part musical, part farce, and completely, oddly innocent. This is a one-man-band job for David Byrne (lead singer of the Talking Heads), who writes, stars, and directs, It's ostensibly about the sesquicentennial celebration of a small Texas town, but it's really about strange characters and strange attitudes. Byrne is our guide, driving us around and giving tour information about Texas in an innocuous patter, frequently running into Louis Fyne (John Goodman), a lonely man looking for love. At various times, and with little provocation, the film swoons into a Talking Heads number with preachers and bar patrons belting out tunes. If you make room for it, however, True Stories can surprise and delight with its inventiveness and its unconventional treatment of the residents. A scene in which a construction worker launches into an aria, on a makeshift stage when no one else is around, is but one example of numerous such moments in this bizarre, delightful, and benign film. Any Talking Heads fan who doesn't own it should. --Keith Simanton
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Pathologically Texas
The extremely influential band Talking Heads had begun to self-destruct by 1986, and in truth the film TRUE STORIES is more a David Byrne project than a Talking Heads project--but regardless of who-what-where-when it is a quietly bizarre satire of all things Texas, as any one who has spent time in a small Texas town can attest.
The town in question is Virgil, a community experiencing growing pains due to the advent of the computer industry and a new mall that is drawing folks away from the downtown area. The Texas Sesquicentennial provides a loose theme: promoted as a "Celebration Of Specialness," events include a fashion show, a parade, and most importantly a talent show. Along the way Byrne, acting as a sort of niave visitor-interviewer-narrator, more or less introduces us to the more eccentric locals: the love-lorn Louis (John Goodman); the Civic Leader (Spalding Gray) and his wife (Annie McEnroe), happily married although they have not spoken in years; Miss Rollings (Swoozie Kurtz), so rich she can't even be bothered to leave her bed.
The main thrust of the film follows Louis' efforts to find a wife. So desperate that he advertises on television, Louis draws everything from new-age-yoga practictioners to a woman with a dozen children. Most particularly he encounters The Lying Woman (Jo Harvey Allen) and The Cute Woman (Alix Elias), both of whom are running characters throughout the film. There is also The Computer Guy (Matthew Posey), who is sending signals straight ... Read More
Rating: - People Like Us..
..Really enjoyed this film.
(May contain spoilers.)
This film is not a Talking Heads film. It is a movie about a bunch of people in the fictional town of Virgil, Texas. One of the main things that makes this film really enjoyable is the brilliantly casted assemble of characters. Among the movie's talented cast is "Rosanne" star John Goodman. in one of his earlier roles. Among the cast of quirky characters are the Culvers, a happily married couple who haven't spoken directly to each other in years, a woman who is in love with love, a woman who is so rich she doesn't have to get out of bed and a Latino who can see the future. But the real highlights of this movie are John Goodman's portrayal of a country music loving single man who just wants someone to love. Jo Harvey Allen plays "The Lying Woman" who gets through life telling outrageous lies. Last but not least, David Byrne's unnamed narrator character.
Scenes that make this movie fantastic are the wild fashion show, the narrator's dinner with the Culver's and John Goodman's character's performance of the Talking Heads track "People Like Us". This movie was not a box office hit perhaps it was because of the misconception that this film was ver much like the Talking Heads' 1984 concert film, "Stop Making Sense". But the film became very popular with the great souls that bothered to see it.
Like many others, I believe that this film was cheated of a proper DVD release. This DVD has no special features ... Read More
Rating:  - Idiosyncratic wonder
While I will admit there are better-made films out there, True Stories remains my favorite movie of all time. I like it because, much like its themes and characters (and life itself), it is imperfect. But its imperfection becomes part of its genius, especially on repeated viewings. It's not really a movie with a plot, except maybe Louis' search for love. It illustrates ideas, themes and moods through a series of arresting images, narration, dialogue, humor and music. The film looks at its subjects with Byrne's mixture of bemusement and satire, both handled with the sort of wide-eyed innocence of an alien visiting Earth from another galaxy. As a result, we see this town and its people through the eyes of Byrne, and therefore start to look at the familiar and mundane in new ways. I will not bother to spend a lot of the time others have spent talking about the plot or what makes this film great--just buy it. It's only 10 bucks. Some favorite quotes (spaces inserted correspond to pauses between phrases):
"Freeways are the cathedrals of our time, someone said. Not me."
"I have something to say about the difference between American cities and European cities but I forgot what it is. I have it written down at home somewhere."
"You like music? I know. Everyone says they do."
"Yep. It's fancy drivin' all right."
"You know, things that never had names before are now easily described. Makes conversation easy."
"They're calling it a celebration ... Read More
Rating: - FUNTASTIC FILM
I've just read that, though this version is 1.33:1 full-screen, it is not Pan-N-Scan. It is actually an "open matte", meaning this is the ratio of the camera negative, and that any widescreen version version would be cropped from this image. I was also bemoaning the lack of a widescreen edition, but if this is really open matte, then we have here more visual information than a 16:9 ratio would have.
However, I got this from a poster on the IMDb messageboard for the film, and he did not provide proof. I'm still searching for documentation, but to no avail.
Rating: - just ordered it,hope it's good
I saw this movie in the theater when it first came out. I must admit that I didn't get it at first. I quess I didn't know what to expect. But I rented the movie and I was hooked. Watched it over and over. I have recently been listening to the CD, I love the music, and I have been recalling the scenes in the movie. That made me realize that I had to add this movie to my collection. David Byrne was truly inspired when he created this great mix of music and movie story. It's no wonder that he was on the cover of Time Magazine that year as a true renaissance man.
I am looking forward to recieving my copy and watching it over and over again.
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