The Insider.com

Bottle Rocket – Hit

By DAVID WEINER

Wes Anderson's breakthrough 1996 comedy of errors – which introduced the world to Luke Wilson and Owen Wilson (who co-wrote) – was shepherded by none other than Oscar winner James L. Brooks, who was dazzled by Anderson's 13-minute short at Sundance and gave him carte blanche to make a feature-length version. The story of aimless Texas twentysomethings looking to pull off a series of escalating heists to pass the time failed miserably at the box office, but the filmmaking community stood up and took notice, paving the way for Anderson's successful sophomore effort, Rushmore.