You might be surprised to see some of Hollywood’s biggest faces saying the word “Lubbock.” From old Hollywood, to more recent movies and those in between. So where should our story start?
How about in 1956? Marilyn Monroe stars in “Bus Stop” playing a cafe singer with dreams of going to Hollywood. So what was one of those stops on her journey to becoming a star?
“I just picked her up and took it around here this line until we got to Lubbock, Texas.”
From chasing dreams to chasing cattle, Rock Hudson plays a wealthy Texas rancher in “Giant,” whose daughter Judy wants to follow her dad’s path.
“She, uh, wants to go to Texas Tech.”
Bette Midler plays CC Bloom, an actress in the tearjerker “Beaches.” CC even has a line about Lubbock.
“Don’t me when we get back to Lubbock.”
Plenty of star power in Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained.” The movie was released in 2012, and won five Academy Awards. But a certain “Hub City” gets mentioned, long before the place likely ever existed.
Fast forward a few decades, and turn up some rock n roll. We know Lubbock ,Texas was Buddy Holly’s hometown. His life was made into a movie in 1978. The music in the movie won an Oscar. Gary Busey played the title role. And when a plane crash took the lives of Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper…Don McLean would later call it “the day the music died.” In the movie “La Bamba”, Ritchie Valens sings one of his friend’s songs
And what about “all that jazz” – In “Chicago,” Roxie Hart, played by Renee Zellweger, comes from West Texas.
From music to athletes, Texas Tech football takes the field in “My-All American.” The so-called “Lubbock Municipal Coliseum” hosted a regional basketball game in the movie “Glory Road.”
But Lubbock isn’t the only West Texas town with the Hollywood lights. Steve Martin’s “Leap of Faith” might have been set in Rustwater, Kansas.” but some scenes were shot in Plainview. And check out Roy McAvoy’s swing, he’d make it to the US Open.
It looks like West Texas has been discovered and you might even say, a star is born.
