Last Thursday, The Texas Film Hall of Fame presented its annual awards to several esteemed actors from the state, including Stephen Tobolowsky, Robin Wright, Henry Thomas, and Annette O’Toole. The Star of Texas Award was presented to Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, the enduring high school classic that was released 20 years ago this September. (While Dazed is certainly worthy of this honour, it should be noted that Linklater founded the Austin Film Society, which is also behind The Texas Film Hall of Fame.) Several cast members joined the writer-director to receive the award from presenter Quentin Tarantino, a longtime Dazed devotee and friend of Linklater.
Tarantino has twice included the film on his Sight & Sound list of the 10 greatest films of all time and he reiterated his admiration while presenting The Star of Texas. “It’s my favorite movie of the ’90s,” he said. “Maybe the only movie that three different generations of college students have seen multiple times.”
According to Entertainment Weekly, Tarantino explained that Dazed and Confused was one of only two films (the other being Carlito’s Way) that he bothered to see in theatres while shooting Pulp Fiction. He also described a trip to Amsterdam, where he battled writer’s block and loneliness—until he discovered the magical cure: a VHS rental of Dazed and Confused. “All of the sudden I wasn’t lonely anymore,” he said. “It’s a real hang out movie and you really get to know this whole community of people in the film. Those people have become my friends.”
