Movies - True Stories

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	Movies - True Stories

True Stories is the title of an American musical motion picture released in 1986. The film starred and was directed by David Byrne. Inspired by tabloid journalism, the film features Byrne as an unnamed, cowboy hat-wearing stranger who visits a fictional Texas town, where he observes the citizens and their idiosyncrasies as they prepare for the annual Celebration of Specialness, the highlight of which is a talent show. The movie was not a commercial or critical success at the time of its release, but is appreciated by many fans of Byrne's work.

Several plots intertwine in this quirky film, which features a number of songs written by Byrne and performed by various members of the cast, as well as by Byrne's band, Talking Heads (the members of which make cameo appearances).

Among the unique individuals the stranger meets is Louis Fyne, played by John Goodman (in one of his first major film roles) - a clean room technician at a local computer manufacturing plant who is unlucky in love. He also encounters: town leader Earl Culver (played by performance artist Spalding Gray), who never speaks directly to his wife; Miss Rollings (Swoosie Kurtz), who never leaves her bed; Mr. Tucker (Pops Staples of The Staple Singers), a voodoo practitioner who Louis hires to help him find love; a conspiracy theorist preacher (John Ingle) whose shtick owes a great deal to the Church of the SubGenius; Ramon (played by musician Tito Larriva), who claims telepathic powers; and a character billed only as "The Lying Woman" (Jo Harvey Allen), who recounts fantastic episodes from her history to anyone present. Renowned Latin music legend Esteban "Steve" Jordan and his conjunto perform a song in the film as well.

For reasons known only to Byrne, 50 pairs of twins make cameo appearances in the film.

Talking Heads released a popular album entitled True Stories in which they perform some songs from the film. Later, Byrne released an album containing instrumental music from the soundtrack entitled Sounds from True Stories, though it was never released on CD. Several of the film's performances also appeared on 12-inch singles, but no full album of cast performances has yet been released.

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