Cast

GARY BRADLEY
One of the most controversial real estate developers in Central Texas over the last few decades, Gary Bradley came to Austin in 1969 to attend the University of Texas. As Austin boomed in the mid 1970s, he skillfully capitalized on the get-rich-quick opportunities of real estate development and quickly rose to the top. During the 1980s, his 4000-acre Circle C Ranch subdivision was among the largest and best-selling developments in all of Texas. From the fast-lane of success to the shock of the Savings and Loan Crisis to a bitter battle with one of the nation’s strongest environmental movements, this film chronicles Bradley’s dramatic rise and fall, and ultimately offers a humanizing portrait of one of an oft-vilified developer.

ROBERT REDFORD
Growing up in the deteriorating sprawl of Los Angles, Robert Redford sought refuge in the lush landscapes of central Texas where he spent summers with his beloved grandfather. He learned to swim in Barton Springs and credits the rolling hills and area waters with first instilling in him a love for the natural world. In this film, he both reflects on the treasured memories of his childhood and articulates how this battle over a spring is a microcosm for communities everywhere struggling to protect their most precious natural resources from the unrelenting forces of short-term economic growth.

WILLIAM GREIDER
Currently the national affairs correspondent for The Nation and formerly with The Washington Post and Rolling Stone, William Greider remains a longstanding voice in the journalistic discourse on democracy and capitalism. He writes: “My newest book The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to A Moral Economy describes why American capitalism produces so much human discontent and social injury alongside the abundance. It explains how Americans can exert decisive influence to change the economic system’s operating values and power structure, to disarm capitalism’s destructive collisions and its collateral consequences for people and nation. Many smart citizens are already at work on profound reforms.”

ANN RICHARDS
A true American political icon and the first woman to ever be elected as the Governor of the State of Texas, where she served from 1991 to 1995, Ann Richards risked everything when she vetoed developer-backed private property rights legislation in an effort to protect Austin’s Barton Springs and Edwards aquifer. Many cite this controversy as paving the way for newcomer George W. Bush’s surprising defeat of incumbent Richards in 1994, setting the stage for his subsequent rise to power. In one of her final interviews before her recent death, Richards reflects on the impact of the private property rights movement on her own career and the importance of governmental regulation for environmental protection.

DICK BROWN
Any Texas political insider will tell you that Dick Brown is one of the most powerful men in the State Legislature. A lobbyist for real estate developers, big tobacco and automobile manufacturers, for the past 30 years Brown has been a force to be reckoned with. Representing Austin’s most notorious developers Gary Bradley, Freeport-McMoran and Stratus, he masterfully passed private property rights legislation to trump all local environmental regulations, which, in effect, facilitated the development of thousands of acres atop one of Texas’s most sensitive watersheds in southwest Austin. He gives his first media interview in this film while meticulously building a model warplane.