11/06/2026
"It can be hard to qualify why the presence of certain actors resonate with oneself so much. For me I think, Harry Dean Stanton evokes a certain sense of melancholy which adds a unique effortlessness which translates to his on-screen performances. Whenever I spot his name in credits, I know his role, no matter how big or small will have a charm and nuance to it.
For our main selection of films to commemorate Harry Dean Stanton’s centenary we start off with his most well-known leading role, playing the haunted and enigmatic Travis in Wim Wender’s tragic road movie Paris, Texas. The black comedy science fiction directorial debut of Alex Cox, Repo Man in which Stanton plays a nihilist mentor. Lastly, the actor’s swan swong in John Carroll Lynch’s 2017 drama Lucky in which he plays a man coming to terms with his own mortality, also starring long-time collaborator and friend David Lynch.
We are also playing Straight Time, which is part of our contribution to Bleak Week, we have another performance in which Stanton appears for a brief role but leaves a big impact that shifts the emotional crux of the story. It is strongly performed small character roles such as this which invite us to mark his centenary across the year as he inevitably seems to appear in a fair few of the repertory films we’ve included (prior films in this unofficial season have been: Christine, The Straight Story, Wild at Heart and Rango) in our programme this far, and surely will continue to throughout the rest of this year."
- Written by our Programme Manager, Raymah Tariq
🎟️ Browse and book for our season of films celebrating HDS!
🔗 https://www.filmhouse.org.uk/harry-dean-stanton-centenary
