A Face We Can Recognize, A Look We Feel

Wendsday night marked the begining of the first ever Harry Dean Stanton Film Fest in Lexington, Kentucky, and as far as the hosts for the evening knew, the world.  I’m sure that Harry Dean thought the same, if not knew it.
The three day film festival presented by the Lexington Film League, celebrating the Kentucky native and former U.K. student, is being held at the Kentucky Theater on Main Street in downtown Lexington.  Three nights, four films, from three decades, by a man who has appeared on screen  over 176 times in the last sixty years, had one leading role, and a name you might not recognize, but a face, which has been projected on the Downtown Arts Center all day, any film lover knows.
On the program for the night was the premiere of the KET Kentucky Muse documentary, “Harry Dean Stanton: Crossing Mulholland,” by former UK student turned filmmaker Tom Thurman.
As a native of Christiansburg, Kentucky, Thurman, who sat in an audience containing at least nine of Stanton’s cousins, friends of the family and a former co-star from “Paris. Texas,” received his graduate degree from UK in 1988. He has worked as a producer and a writer for the local PBS affiliate in Lexingtion since 1998. Before that, he produced and directed numerous feature-length documentaries that aired on PBS and cable networks such as Starz, Encore and the Documentary Channel.
“Who is Harry Dean?” is the question that many might ask; it was the question heard in the newsroom, it was the question asked by my finance Hillary before leaving for the film, it is the question that I even asked myself, but it is a question that was answered in an eloquently blunt, light-heartedly humorous and at times emotional way in Thurman’s film through many interviews and even musical performances.
It is the face that people recognize, not the name.  It is the brutal reality and emotional sadness that is displayed  across his face and his honest and lonely eyes that people remember, and it is these features that Harry Dean’s friends mention with blunt and sarcastic honesty.
Born in West Irvine, Kentucky, Harry Dean Stanton was a Lexington native and graduated from LaFayette High School and is an alumnus of the University of Kentucky. Stanton served in the U.S. Navy and is a veteran of World War II. Stanton has a weathered, roughneck look that has landed him many roles in some iconic American films.
“There are certain people that are born with the face of a 50-year-old,” says Kris Kristofferson, narrator of the film.  “When they are young they look like they’re 50, when they’re 50 they still look like their 50, and when they 84 they still look like they’re 50.”
The film is riddled with such comments.  “He’s lived life, suffered life, experienced life…all you got to do is look at his face,” and “Stanton always looked old.” Kristofferson said it’s “nothing pretty,” while Billy Bob Thorton said it looked wounded and radiated sadness.  But these comments cannot be taken as jabs of disrespect for a man that has worked in Hollywood longer than most of the population has been alive, these are comments that relate to the audience in words what is typically related to the audience as the subconscious feeling of trust.
The message that all those interviewed in the film attempt to convey is that Harry Dean Stanton’s face conveys reality, a feature that they say the typical “star” doesn’t possess and nearly never can.
Richard Dryfuss said, “He is the walking talking metaphor for what was,” and the audience is reminded that “he seems like the real thing.”
“There are no mistakes in life,” says Harry Dean and his friends confirmed the same.  “Everything just happens.  There is no answer, there never was an answer, there never will be an answer…that’s the answer.”

The outbursts of laughter were frequent, on screen and in the audience, from and for a man that approaches his life with an always positive attitude, reguardless of what his eyes might show, or his film roles might have been.
The show ended with a short Q&A, with the filmaker taking questions from the audience, but the evening and the event continued outside the doors and into the lobby, where those present could pick up a copy of the Harry Dean Stanton Crossword Puzzle, and the event will remain in the minds of those that watched Thurman’s film the next time they catch a glimpse of this iconic actor in their favorite film or television show.
The festival continues at the Kentucky Theater with “Paris: Texas” at 7 p.m. tonight and Friday with “Cool Hand Luke,” at 1:30 p.m. and “Repo Man” at 11:59 p.m..
For more information you can visit The Kentucky Theater or the Harry Dean Stanton Fest! Facebook page.