Running Down a Dream

Charismatic Costner coaches McFarland, USA out of sports-movie mold

If you’re watching a sports movie, especially one made by Disney, you can usually count on several things: a person or team overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds; resistance to said person or team, often for peculiar reasons; and the wringing out of emotions, whether warranted or not.

The refreshing thing about McFarland, USA is that it plays into all of those clichés but does not get dragged down by them. Jim White (Kevin Costner) is a combustible coach on the verge of losing his career when he comes to McFarland, California, a small town populated mostly by Mexican laborers working at nearby farms.

The refreshing thing about McFarland, USA is that it plays into those sports-movie clichés but does not get dragged down by them.

Noticing the boundless energy some boys display running to and from the fields, White recruits them to start a new cross country running team. To get to the elite status required to compete at the state level, the team must not only conquer other schools, but also bigger obstacles, like being torn between practicing or picking in the fields to make money for their families.

Unlike many movies of this kind, McFarland, USA is about more than just the sport that binds everything together. Director Niki Caro and a trio of writers examine the realities of living in a town like McFarland, from its inherent poverty to the community and culture that comes out of so many similarly minded people living in proximity to one another.

Almost from the start, the idea of family is front-and-center in the film, and it remains in play whether dealing with someone’s actual blood or the connection that comes with pursuing a team goal. The running scenes take on extra meaning not just because the team continues to improve as time goes along, but also because of the support they give one another.

That’s not to say that the film is without faults. The set-ups to various opponents’ making snide or racist comments toward the McFarland team feel obvious and clunky, as do a handful of other sequences. But the predictable ending turns out to be not so predictable, thanks to the early definition of key characters. The film also earns bonus points for respecting the Mexican people and not falling into stereotypes.

Even if he’s a bit old to be playing this particular part, Costner is at his charismatic best as White. The actors playing the runners, especially Carlos Pratts and Hector Duran, do a great job of bringing out their characters’ joy, pain and frustration. And complementary actors like Maria Bello, Morgan Saylor and Diana Mara Riva round out an interesting cast.

Go ahead and give in to the charms of McFarland, USA. It inspires both with the success of its team and by what a community can do when the odds are stacked against it.

Kevin Costner and Carlos Pratts in McFarland, USA.

Kevin Costner and Carlos Pratts in McFarland, USA

Photo courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Kevin Costner and Carlos Pratts in McFarland, USA.

Vinyl Record News

Dallas record store chain Josey Records spins new location in Garland

Josey Records

Josey Records

Vinyl at Josey Records

Dallas music maker Josey Records has extended its reach east: The record store chain, whose empire includes one of the largest single independent record stores in the U.S., has opened a location in Garland, at 1005 Northwest Hwy., at the intersection of Centerville Road, where it's selling its trademark assortment of vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, turntables, music posters, new releases, and music accessories.

This is the sixth location and the third in the Dallas area, joining the original in Farmers Branch which owners Waric Cameron and Luke Sardello opened in November 2014. They've since opened locations in Plano, Tulsa, Kansas City, and Vidalia, Missouri.

The original location is a giant place with 16,000 square feet devoted to vinyl, 45s, CDs, turntables, and T-shirts. They do a good job showcasing new releases and collector vinyl — they made CultureMap's list of 5 best places in Dallas to buy vinyl records — and are known to host album release and listening parties such as a recent blockbuster celebrating Linkin Park.

They made headlines in June 2020 when they acquired the vast musical inventory of Bill’s Records following the death of owner Bill Wisener; Cameron and Sardello both worked at Bill’s, and knew the sprawling collection first-hand.

"It has taken us years to even start going through it, but in last two years, we've made some headway," Cameron says. "Bill's has its own audience, so we created a specific Instagram account, just for Bill's Records merchandise called @billsrecordsvault."

They chose Garland because they saw it as an area that was under-served.

"There are very few record stores in that area of northeast Dallas, Casa View, Garland, Rockwall, Mesquite," Cameron says. "We have customers who live over there, so it seemed like a good place for a store."

The storefront they're in was most recently The Music Store, which sold and rented musical instruments and accessories; but coincidentally, it's next to an address that was once RPM Records, a hip record store from the '90s.

The Garland store follows the same model as their others: selling new and used records and merchandise, and buying used goods, as well.

"One thing that's cool is that each location takes on its own identity," he says. "We buy used CDs, vinyl records, cassettes — we're a used resale business — and what we buy from our customers dictates what that store becomes. For example, our Plano store has a lot of classic rock. So we're looking forward to seeing what Garland gravitates to."

Garland does have one thing that the other locations do not.

"Right now, Garland has this incredible collection of jazz," Cameron says. "We bought a great collection of jazz records — someone called and wanted to sell it. We get that a lot, we buy major collections from all over the U.S., we even make house calls. So we saved it for the Garland store."

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