Pure Country

In 1992, George Strait entered new territory for him. He starred in the movie Pure Country, playing country music superstar Dusty Chandler. The movie's soundtrack CD has been his most successful CD to date. It includes two number one hits: Heartland and I Cross My Heart.

The movie opens with the title version of Heartland, sung by then eleven-year-old George "Bubba" Strait, Jr. The title version then segues into George Strait singing. The action starts with a concert by Dusty - smoke, flashing lights, background music that's too loud. His manager, Lula (played by Lesley Ann Warren) sneaks off before the concert is over to enjoy some time with her boy toy, Buddy Jackson, a member of Dusty's road crew.

When Dusty gets back to his bus after the concert is over, Lula wants him to record a song written by Buddy.  While Dusty and his band are rehearsing the song the next day, Buddy criticizes their performance of his song. Lula draws him aside and tells him never to do anything like that again. That doesn't stop her from having some "quality" time with him later, though.

At the next concert, Dusty finds himself frustrated by what has happened to the job he loves. After a talk with his best friend, Erv, he goes for a walk. A walk from which he doesn't return to the hotel. Nobody - not even Erv - knows where Dusty is, much to Lula's chagrin. Lula and the band head for the next venue, Shreveport, LA. Lula is sure Dusty will show up.

Meanwhile, Dusty heads to visit his Grandma Ivy, shaving off his beard and mustache and cutting his his hair before arriving. After talking with her, Dusty - now going by his real name of Wyatt Chandler - sets out to find what he's lost by becoming country music superstar Dusty.

He falls in love with a beautiful woman, Harley Tucker, who shares a ranch with her grandfather and two brothers. When Wyatt joins the family for breakfast, at first the grandfather and brothers are about as talkative as the Darling family from the old Andy Griffith Show.

Unfortunately, Dusty loses track of time and misses the concert in Shreveport. Lula, instead of doing the right thing and rescheduling the concert, has Buddy lip synch to Dusty's songs while made up to look like Dusty. Buddy gets full of himself as a result and decides he's all that. By now, it's obvious Lula is getting tired of him.

Erv walks away after that concert and decides to look for Dusty. Unknown to him, Lula has him followed. He finally finds Dusty at the Tucker ranch. At the local honky-tonk later, after dancing with Wyatt (Dusty), Harley heads to the ladies' room. There Lula asks her if she enjoyed dancing with her husband. A tearful, heart-broken Harley punches Wyatt and asks him how he could lie to her. She tells him she never wants to see him around her family again.

Lula is waiting outside the honky-tonk and tells Dusty it's time to come home. His next concert is in Las Vegas. He tells Lula he wants the concert done his way - no smoke, no fancy lights, just him, his guitar and the band. He also tells Lula he will perform in Shreveport - for free - as an apology to his fans there who paid to see him. Las Vegas is also where Harley and her brothers will be competing in a rodeo, hoping to win enough money to save their financially-strapped ranch.

In Vegas, Lula sends concert tickets to the Tuckers. Before the concert, she talks to Harley again, this time to tell her the truth. Dusty sits down on the stage right in front of Harley and sings a song he'd written just for her - I Cross My Heart. Lula watches from backstage, glad that there's a happy ending all around - except for Buddy Jackson, who, upon being threatened with legal action by Dusty, makes the prudent move of getting the heck out of Dodge.

The character I most wanted to slap was Lula. She struck me as an expert in using people for her own ends. She played Buddy until he was of no use to her. She nearly destroyed Wyatt's budding love with Harley. True, she did make amends for that later, but I thought Dusty forgave her too easily. Not that he should never have forgiven her, but I felt like he should have been angry with her longer than he was.

I enjoy watching this movie whenever I have the time to do so. I can overlook its flaws because of the great music performed by George Strait throughout the movie.

A side note - in 2010, a movie called Pure Country 2: The Gift was released. It's not a bad movie, but the title is deceptive. It has nothing to do with Pure Country. George Strait has a small part in the movie, but he's not reprising the role of Dusty, as the title would make it seem. He's playing himself.