1973

I'm a little thin on news this month, but there is one interesting item the story of Jim Metzler. Many of us best remember Jim as a star pitcher for the Dartmouth baseball team Well, it's been ten years since we've seen him on the mound but we can now watch his delry (of a different sort) in the movie Tex.

First, a brief update of Jim's odyssey from Hanover to Hollywood. After Dartmouth he was drafted by the Boston Red Sox and pitched, in the Sox system for two years. The off-seaso-found Jim working as a sportswriter for a tier. paper in his hometown of Newburgh, N) After being released by the Boston organic tion, he turned to journalism on a full-time, basis, only to find that a Smith-Corona just didn't provide him with enough stimulation a recent interview with The Dartmouth, jim

explained: i missea me perrormance side baseball, and acting was really my second 'firs' love.' I like to read and perform, so it seemed; pretty natural." He left journalism after a year, and following. a four month trip "... to sort things out and: steel up the nerve to go after acting . . ., " he: took six months of intensive training at the National Theater Institute in Waterforc Conn. He then moved to Northampton, Mass. where he appeared in more than a dozen colleg; productions in a year. In January 1978, Jim headed for New York and the street of dreams, Broadway. Stardom on Broadway was not in: the cards, but after several soap opera walk-oc and an off-off-Broadway show, Jim's "break came when he was cast in Arthur Penn's film. Four Friends. The exposure from Four Friend helped earn him the best part of his career - the second lead role in Tex, which was release: by Walt Disney Productions in the fall of 1982

In Tex, Jim plays a high school senior and the elder of two brothers in Oklahoma who must fend for themselves, as their mother is dead and. their father works on the rodeo circuit. Base; on S. E. Hinton's best-seller, the film focuses on the 15-year old, Tex, who is played by Matt Dillon. However, while Jim's "younger brother" may be the title character, our classman was nominated for a prestigious Golden Glob; award for his performance.

One reviewer summed it up this, way: "Much: of the film's success is due to Metzler, whose! performance is absolutely convincing as a; young man trying to deal with conflicting dreams and responsibilities. The relationship between the two brothers is well defined and the best part of a somewhat predictable story

And as proof of Jim's dazzling achievement: in Tex, a still from the movie is reprinted at the left. (A picture is worth a thousand—or so- words, you know!)

Jim, congratulations; I'll be looking for you at the local theater.

That's it for now. See you next month.

Jim Metzler '73, right, and Matt Dillon, left, play teen-aged brothers facing emotional andfinancial hardships in the absence of their father in the movie Tex. Metzler's rise to stardom, andthe critical acclaim he's received for Tex, are covered in detail in the 1973 class notes column.

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