Plot Summary
The film features Byrne as an unnamed, cowboy-hat-wearing stranger who visits the fictional Texas town of Virgil, where he observes the citizens as they prepare for the Celebration of Special-ness to mark the Sesquicentennial (i.e. 150th) anniversary of the founding of the town and the statehood of Texas. The event is being sponsored by the Varicorp Corporation, a local computer manufacturing plant. Byrne's narration breaks the fourth wall many times in the movie, especially while he is driving around town in his Chrysler LeBaron convertible. At other times, sequences are filmed in a documentary style with Byrne's character as host.
Among the unique individuals the stranger meets is
- Louis Fyne, (John Goodman, in one of his first major film roles), a Country-Western-singing clean room technician at Varicorp who is unlucky in love
- Civic leader Earl Culver (Spalding Gray), who never speaks directly to his wife, Kay (Annie McEnroe)
- Miss Rollings (Swoosie Kurtz), who never leaves her bed
- Mr. Tucker (Pops Staples of The Staple Singers), Miss Rollings personal assistant, a voodoo practitioner whom Louis hires to help him find love
- A conspiracy theorist preacher (John Ingle) whose shtick owes a great deal to the Church of the SubGenius (in real life, Byrne is a SubGenius himself);
- Ramon (musician Tito Larriva), who claims telepathic powers
- "The Lying Woman" (Jo Harvey Allen), who recounts fantastic episodes from her life to anyone listening.
Latin music artist Esteban "Steve" Jordan and his conjunto perform the song "Radio Head" in the film as well.
Read more about this topic: True Stories (film)
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