BOTTLE ROCKET, The Little Indie That Could, launched several careers into ever-creative orbits that transect the Cult Belt with occasional course corrections into the dangerous reaches of the Burbank Galaxy. Though blessed by applause sparks from critics, it’s more a testament to offbeat talent at mission control, considerable pluck from the crew and a cargo of good luck that this maiden voyage survived a crash landing in the cash register quadrant. Enlarged from a 13-minute short put together by a couple brothers and their buddies into a 95-minute feature, on release in 1996 it barely grazed 217th place in the Noticesphere, the $600,000 return a daunting hole in the $5,000,000 budget bay. Yet hardy explorers saw stars through the smoke and resolved to refuel and aim for their piece of the big Lebowski that lurks off Sunset & Vine.  No, thank you, I’m not stoned (yet). *

‘Dignan’ (Owen Wilson, 28) spirits his best pal ‘Anthony’ (Luke Wilson, 24) away from voluntary psychiatric confinement with elaborate plans to pull off a series of heists, hoping to impress Dignan’s former boss, a successful crook. The guys enlist nervous ‘Bob Mapplethorpe’ (Robert Musgrave) as getaway driver, but Dignan’s grand spree scheme is complicated when Anthony falls for ‘Inez’ (Lumi Cavazos), a Paraguayan motel maid who barely speaks English. Dignan never gives up.

The Wilson brothers made their debut here, Owen writing the script with Wes Anderson, 26, their buddy and fellow Texan, Anderson also debuting as director. The comedy caper set the template for future Anderson/Wilson quirk larks, and while the first time out slumps in the midsection and has a few bits of precocity that don’t ignite, in the main it’s quite a fun road trip with the men-boys, the quote-loaded, deadpan-delivered script generating a good number of hearty laughs. They managed to snag James Caan—past being a lead draw and into colorful “with” parts—as the merry criminal they hope to impress and emulate. Cavazos (Like Water For Chocolate) is a total charmer. Mark Mothersbaugh arranged for a swell selection of tunes to decorate the soundtrack.

The guys all hail from Texas, and they took their shot by shooting on home ground in Dallas, Fort Worth and Hillsboro. Impressed by the original short,  big gun James L. Brook (Terms Of Endearment, Broadcast News) helped the hopefuls with financing. **

With Ned Dowd, Andrew Wilson (the eldest brother, 31) and Kumar Pallana.

* Owen: “The studio said Bottle Rocket was their worst-testing movie in history, so I looked into the marines. Maybe I was influenced by An Officer and a Gentleman. Or those marine commercials – they were so cool! Like a Led Zeppelin song come to life, full of people pulling swords from rocks and fighting lava monsters!”

** Holy Alamo!—say what you will about Texas politics but the Lone Star State has for sure spawned a memorable cast of cool cinecats: Powers Boothe, Gary Busey, Tommy Lee Jones, Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, Debbie Reynolds, Patrick Swayze, Eva Longoria, Renée Zellweger, Bill Paxton, Farrah Fawcett, Dennis & Randy Quaid, Forest Whitaker, Robin Wright, Jamie Foxx, Sissy Spacek, Ethan Hawke, Michelle Rodriguez, Frederic Forrest, Margo Martindale, Paula Prentiss, Bruce McGill, Joan Crawford, Rip Torn, Carolyn Jones, Audie Murphy, L.Q. Jones, Larry Hagman, Ann Sheridan, Linda Darnell, Fess Parker, Chill Wills…