''Jasper, Texas'' is a 2003 American
made-for-television
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made fo ...
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...
directed by
Jeffrey W. Byrd. The teleplay by Jonathan Estrin is based on a true story and focuses on the aftermath of a crime in which three white men from the small town of
Jasper, Texas
Jasper is a city in and the county seat of Jasper County, Texas, United States. Its population was 6,884 at the 2020 U.S. Census, down from 7,590 at the 2010 U.S. Census. Jasper is situated in the Deep East Texas subregion, about west of the Te ...
, killed
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
James Byrd Jr.
James Byrd Jr. (May 2, 1949 – June 7, 1998) was a black American man who was murdered by three white men, two of whom were avowed white supremacists, in Jasper, Texas, on June 7, 1998. Shawn Berry, Lawrence Brewer, and John King dragged him fo ...
by dragging him behind their pickup truck.
The film was shown at the Philadelphia International Film Festival before being broadcast by
Showtime
Showtime or Show Time may refer to:
Film
* ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film
* ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur
Television Networks and channels
* Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...
on June 8, 2003.
Plot
In Jasper, Texas, in June 1998, three self-proclaimed
white supremacists
White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White s ...
chain James Byrd Jr., to the back of their pickup truck and drag him to his death over three miles of country road. When the town is forced to deal with an onslaught of media coverage that thrusts it into the collective conscience of the entire country and the arrival of contentious members of the
Ku Klux Klan, and the
Black Panthers, the once peaceful relationship between its white and black citizens is subjected to tension. Trying to maintain peace in the community as the trial of the three perpetrators commences are black mayor R.C. Horn and white sheriff Billy Rowles, neither of whom is prepared to handle all the negative publicity. Justice is served when two of the men are condemned to death and the third is sentenced to life in prison.
Cast
*
Jon Voight
Jonathan Vincent Voight (; born December 29, 1938) is an American actor. He came to prominence in the late 1960s with his Academy Award–nominated performance as Joe Buck, a would-be gigolo, in ''Midnight Cowboy'' (1969). During the 1970s, h ...
as Sheriff Billy Rowles
*
Louis Gossett Jr.
Louis Cameron Gossett Jr. (born May 27, 1936) is an American actor. Born in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City, He had his stage debut at the age of 17, in a school production of '' You Can't Take It with You.'' Shortly after he successfully ...
as Mayor R.C. Horn
*Ron White as Assistant District Attorney Guy James Gray
*
Gary Hudson as Defense Attorney 'Sonny' Cribbs
*
Joe Morton
Joseph Thomas Morton Jr. (born October 18, 1947) is an American stage, television and film actor. He has worked with film director John Sayles in ''The Brother from Another Planet'' (1984), '' City of Hope'' (1991) and '' Lone Star'' (1996). Oth ...
as Walter Diggles
*Kate Trotter as Jamie Rowles
*
Demore Barnes as Ricky Horn
*Karen Robinson as Mary Horn
*Michelle Moffat as Mamie Horn
*
Bokeem Woodbine
Bokeem Woodbine (born April 13, 1973) is an American actor. In 1994 he portrayed Joshua, Jason's troubled brother, in ''Jason's Lyric''. He won a Black Reel Award, and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Critics' Choice Television Awa ...
as Khalid X
*Emily Yanc as Stella Byrd
*Cherion Drakes as Clair Byrd
*
Kevin Hanchard
Kevin Hanchard (born July 4, 1974) is a Canadian actor, best known for his roles as Det. Arthur Bell in ''Orphan Black'' and Inspector Sematimba in ''The Expanse''. Hanchard currently appears as Superintendent Joseph Donovan in ''Hudson and Rex. ...
as Thurman Byrd
*Blu Mankuma as James Byrd Sr.
*Roy T. Anderson as James Byrd Jr.
*
Michael McLachlan as Bill King
*
Eric Peterson
Eric Neal Peterson (born October 2, 1946) is a Canadian stage, television, and film actor, known for his roles in three major Canadian series – '' Street Legal'' (1987–1994), '' Corner Gas'' (2004–2009), and '' This is Wonderland'' ...
as Old Mr. King
*
Eugene Clark as Don Clark
*
David Eisner as Mike Bradford
*Michael Ferguson as William Hoover
*Jeff Topping as Russell Brewer
*
Toby Proctor
Toby Proctor is a Canadian voice, film and television actor. He voiced Darien/Tuxedo Mask in the English dub of the ''Sailor Moon'' anime in 54 episodes of the first two series. His other roles include Alex Flash Gordon in ''Flash Gordon'' and C ...
as Sean Berry
*
J.D. Nicholsen as Mike Lout
*Conrad Bergschneider as 'Moe' Johnson
*
Holly Lewis as Michelle Chapman
*
Victoria Snow
Victoria Snow (born 1954/55)"Cinderella story at Stratford". ''The Globe and Mail'', April 28, 1979. is a Canadian actress."Driven Snow: Proving she can act as well as sing Victoria Snow copped a Gemini for her portrayal of a Metis woman in Daughte ...
as Nancy Nicholson
*
Leah Renee as Brandi Eggleson
*Marium Carvell as Gloria Mays
*Dean McKenzie as Mr. Nelson
*Martin Doyle as Mr. Powell
*Craig Eldridge as Dr. Brown
*Andre Mayers as Sergeant Carter
*Jumaane Ford as Lieutenant
*
Wayne Ward as Deputy
*
Sandra Caldwell as Norva
*
Samantha Bee
Samantha Anne Bee (born October 25, 1969) is a Canadian-American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actress, and television host.
Bee rose to fame as a correspondent on '' The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'', where she became th ...
as Kathy
*
James Millington as Catholic Priest
*
Kedar Brown as Reverend
*
Neil Crone
Neil Crone (born May 29, 1960) is a Canadian actor, comedian, writer and motivational speaker. He is known for portraying Fred Tupper in ''Little Mosque on the Prairie'', Jerry Whitehall in '' Cube 2: Hypercube'' and the voices of Gordon, Diesel ...
as Principal
Critical reception
David Wiegand of the ''
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...
'' said, "There's nothing fatally wrong with the film, but the muddled, overstuffed script and sometimes cheesy direction short-circuit the emotional potential of the treatment of James Byrd Jr.'s brutal dragging death five years ago in a small Texas town . . . The better TV films offer commentary and perspective subtly, through careful characterization and plot development. ''Jasper, Texas'' doesn't quite do that. Despite great performances from Voight and Gossett, the film trips over its own simplistic analysis of what 'getting along' between the races really means."
Laura Fries of ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' called the film "an introspective but somewhat Hollywoodized treatment" and continued, "The director's focus is very personal. Although he doesn't linger on details of the court case, the murder is presented in full-color detail. It is handled almost clinically, but not without sensitivity. To dance around the facts would be too great a disservice. To exploit the sensational nature of the crime also would be wrong. Instead, Byrd puts his trust into his very capable cast."
Sam Adams of ''
Philadelphia City Paper
''Philadelphia City Paper'' was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The independently owned paper was free and published every Thursday in print and daily online at citypaper.net. Staff reporters focused on labor issues, ...
'' thought the film was "a standard-issue
docudrama whose pat resolution doesn't dredge up anything like the national horror of Byrd's murder."
''Philadelphia City Paper'' review
Awards and nominations
Screenwriter Jonathan Estrin was nominated for the Humanitas Prize
The Humanitas Prize is an award for film and television writing, and is given to writers whose work explores the human condition in a nuanced and meaningful way. It began in 1974 with Father Ellwood "Bud" Kieser—also the founder of Paulist P ...
. The film was nominated for the but lost to '' D.C. Sniper: 23 Days of Fear'', and Lou Gossett, Jr. was nominated for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special but lost to Charles S. Dutton in ''D.C. Sniper''.
DVD release
Showtime Entertainment released the film on DVD on February 3, 2004. It is in fullscreen format with audio tracks in English and Spanish.
Filmed
Portions of the film, including the intown scene, were shot in Beaverton, Ontario
Beaverton is a community in Brock Township in the Regional Municipality of Durham, Ontario, Canada.
History
Beaverton was first settled in 1822. The settlement is located on Lake Simcoe at the mouth of the Beaver River. It was called Calder's M ...
, Canada.
References
External links
*
*
*
*{{rotten-tomatoes, id=jasper_texas, title=Jasper, Texas
2003 television films
2003 films
2003 drama films
Drama films based on actual events
Films set in Texas
Showtime (TV network) films
Films set in 1998
Films about racism
Films about the Ku Klux Klan
Films directed by Jeffrey W. Byrd
American drama television films
2000s American films