Oscar Opens Bayou Doors

A Bridges to recognition: Hollywood's underrated Jeff gets Houston love

For the better part of three decades, Jeff Bridges was ranked among the most adventurously versatile and consistently impressive American film actors of his generation. And yet, despite his prodigious talent and prolific output, true superstardom eluded his grasp.

Indeed, he was so good, so often, that his accomplishments were more or less taken for granted. A cover blurb for a 1993 New York Times Magazine profile summed it up best: ''Jeff Bridges — Hollywood's Most Underrated Actor.''

But that was then, this is now: At age 60, Bridges finally is getting his due. He has spent the few months on a virtually nonstop victory lap, collecting all manner of prizes — including an overdue Academy Award — for his vividly detailed yet subtly nuanced and altogether terrific performance in Crazy Heart. He has attained sufficient stature — and, yes, radiates more than enough star power — to fill John Wayne’s boots in Joel and Ethan Coen’s upcoming remake of True Grit.

And he is inspiring both longtime fans and newly-won admirers to take second glances (or, in many if not most cases, first looks) at the films that represent his career highlights.

The secret of his success?

Well, consider what he told me during an interview shortly after that New York Times Magazine article appeared: ''I do the movies that are interesting to me, that I'd like to see. Or if I'm drawn to the challenge.''

In his view, nothing else mattered all that much. ''The classic movie star thing is, 'I'll make all these movies that Hollywood wants me to make, and then I'll get to do what I really want to do," Bridges said. "So I just skip the middle man, and do what I really want to do. That makes more sense to me.''

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Houston Film Critics Society have joined forces to showcase some of those “interesting” movies, and to celebrate a singular career, in an aptly titled retrospective -— We ♥ Jeff Bridges — that kicks off this weekend at MFA.

The first offerings in the nine-film series: Peter Bogdanovich’s The Last Picture Show (7 p.m. tonight), the 1971 drama featuring Bridges’ breakthrough performance as a callow young rowdy in a small Texas town; and Ivan Passer’s Cutter’s Way (7 p.m. Saturday), a film noir-style thriller that has Bridges cast as a tarnished LA golden boy who may link a wealthy businessman to a brutal murder.

The latter film, it’s worth noting, has a significant H-Town connection. Originally known as Cutter and Bone, the title of the novel on which it’s based, it was a box-office flop when it opened with minimal hoopla in New York in early 1981. But some savvy folks at United Artists Classics opted to give the film a second chance by re-launching it — with a new title — at the WorldFest/Houston International Film festival, where it was cheered by audiences and hailed by critics.

Thanks largely to the publicity generated by the WorldFest/Houston exposure, Cutter’s Way was successfully released on the art-house circuit, attracted a sizeable cult following — and, not incidentally, helped establish UA Classics (which later released Diva, The Last Metro and The Night of the Shooting Stars) as a top-tier distributor of indie and foreign-language films.

Other titles in the We ♥ Jeff Bridges lineup: Tucker: The Man and His Dream (7 p.m. May 14), The Big Lebowski (7 p.m. May 15), The Fabulous Baker Boys (7 p.m. May 28), Starman (7 p.m. May 29), The Fisher King (7 p.m. June 11), Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (7 p.m. June 18) — and, of course, Crazy Heart (7 p.m. June 25).

Each of the films will be introduced by a member of the Houston Film Critics Society — I’ll be doing the honors for Tucker — and all of them will be screened in the MFA’s Brown Auditorium Theater.

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Music feature

Texas country star Cody Johnson's new album goes to 'Banks of Trinity'

Photo by Cameron Powell

Cody Johnson.

There's a moment at every Cody Johnson show where the Texas-born-and-bred country star asks the crowd, “How many of you tonight are watching me and this band live for the very first time?” he told The Associated Press. “And every night, I would say at least 80% of the crowd raises their hands.”

It's not the kind of reaction most veteran artists receive. “And I’m thinking, you know, 20 years is a long time to work for something. But when you see that … What’s the next 20 years look like?” he asks.

The rancher, rodeo competitor, and onetime prison guard started his two-decade career playing honky tonks and dive bars. That led to slow and steady growth for the country traditionalist, but in the last few years, something has shifted. He landed his fifth career No. 1 song with “The Fall.” He was named Entertainer of the Year at the 2026 Academy of Country Music Awards, the show's highest honor. That was a month after he headlined Stagecoach Music Festival. For an artist with legions of fans, it looked like he was accessing new heights.

“I feel like I’m closing a book and I’m opening another one and it’s all blank pages,” he says of this period. “Let's get to the next chapter." On June 26, that new era began with the release of his latest album, Banks of the Trinity.

Traveling to the Banks of the Trinity
It hasn't been an easy road. Last fall, Johnson had to cancel a bunch of tour dates after upper respiratory and sinus infections caused a burst eardrum that required surgery — an intimidating medical procedure for anyone, but especially nerve-wracking for a musician. “I was scared,” he said simply. But “in a roundabout way, it’s one of the best things that’s ever happened to me.”

It forced him to take three months off, which allowed him to be home during the birth of his son. It also rejuvenated his approach in the studio. Before the incident, he thought the album was complete. It was not. The additional time resulted in the inclusion of a few songs that now feel inextricable from the record: “Thank Somebody Country,” “Take Me Back (Leave Me There),” “Cricket on a Hook,” and the resilient “I Have” among them.

“What a blessing to have that kind of song fall in your lap when you’re kind of up against the ropes,” he says of the latter. “I mean, we thought we had the record done. It wasn’t done.”

A title track with real resonance
At the heart of Banks of the Trinity is its title track, which recalls Eagles' cover of “Seven Bridges Road” meets bluegrass and Southern gospel.

Lyrically, it's an ode to Johnson's childhood. “I grew up on the banks of the Trinity [River.] Fishing for catfish, not so much out of pleasure or sport but for necessity to put food in the freezer. Deer season for me was not a trophy thing,” he said.

And while that track inspires a feeling of nostalgia within the listener, he doesn't consider this album a throwback collection. He says it's about showcasing his evolving sonic diversity.

"The rest of the album for me is a musical journey from track one to track 16,” he said. “There’s a little bit of a flavor for everybody. It does kind of hit Motown. It does kind of hit bluegrass. It does hit progressive country. It does it old country. It does a little rock here and there.”

It's the result of a new kind of freedom, one that is at least partially due to his recent accomplishments, including taking home the top prize at the ACM Awards.

“I just did the thing that I’ve aspired to do in my career my entire life,” he says. “A really good place is a really good way to describe where I am.”

And now that the album is out, he's ready to take a breather.

“I will be shirtless with no shoes on a beach at an undisclosed location,” he jokes about the days after record release. “'Cause I have already done all the prep work. I've been working on this album for two years. I’ve done all of the interviews. I’ve shook all the hands. Me and my wife and kids are gonna disappear for 10 days and I’m gonna become, I guess, every Kenny Chesney song ever.”

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