From Tyrone Jaeger and the Oxford American blog "A State of Wonder" comes a very interesting story about Paris, Arkansas film director James Bridges (who directed "Urban Cowboy," "The China Syndrome" and "The Paper Chase" among others), his youthful obsession with James Dean, and the filming of his homage to Dean, "September 30, 1955," in Conway in 1976.
The film, a semi-autobiographical take on Bridges' experience growing up gay in a small town and being destroyed by the news of Dean's death, gave a lot of big-wheel names some of their earliest film roles, including Dennis Quaid, Tom Hulce and Lisa Blount. The (somewhat cheesy 1970's) trailer is above.
A great read about a mostly-unsung Arkansas director. Check it out.