Lone Star

Kris Kristofferson, Elizabeth Pena, Matthew McConaughey.
This is a superb murder mystery that unfolds piece by piece until its dramatic conclusion. It has many of the recurring themes John Sayles seems to love - corruption, the past haunting the present, fathers and sons and racism most prominent among them.
It begins with the unearthing of a skeleton out in the desert which appears to be have been there for some 40 years. Clues show who it once was and that death was not of the natural variety. The past now has to be investigated and what is discovered are secrets that have to be confronted. Brilliant.
Nominated for Best Screenplay, Academy Awards 1997