Don't Come Knocking (2005)

Director:

Wim Wenders

Writers (WGA):

Sam Shepard (screenplay)
Sam Shepard (story) ...

Release Date:

25 August 2005 (Austria)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Howard Spence (Sam Shepard) has seen better days. Once a big Western movie star, he now drowns his...

Plot Keywords:

Butte Montana | Video Arcade | Flat Tire | Urn | Tour Bus

Awards:

1 win & 7 nominations

Cast

James Roday	...	Mickey, First Assistant Director
Jeffrey Vincent Parise	...	Second Assistant Director (as Jeff Parise)
Majandra Delfino	...	First Trailer Twin
Marieh Delfino	...	Second Trailer Twin
Sam Shepard	...	Howard Spence
George Kennedy	...	Director
Julia Sweeney	...	Producer 2
Tim Matheson	...	Producer 1
James Gammon	...	Old Ranch Hand
Tim Roth	...	Sutter
Robin Twogood	...	Patrolman
Gabriel Mann	...	Earl
Fairuza Balk	...	Amber
Mike Butters	...	Businessman
Sarah Polley	...	Sky

MPAA:

Rated R for language and brief nudity.

Runtime:

122 min | 113 min (theatrical version)

Country:

France | Germany | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Portugal:M/12 (Qualidade) | South Korea:15 | Australia:M | UK:15 | Sweden:7 | Brazil:14 | Finland:K-3 | Ireland:15A | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Netherlands:AL | Singapore:NC-16 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Arches National Park, Moab, Utah, USA

Company:

EuroArts Medien AG

Trivia:

According to the director's DVD commentary, the casinos in Elko were "too crummy" for shooting. The casino scene was shot instead in the Peppermill and Rainbow casinos at Wendover, Nevada.

Goofs:

Continuity: The blown tire on Howard's car changes sides between shots.

Quotes:

Earl: [singing] Where is Howard? Who is Howard? We wanna know, we wanna know. Where is Howard? Who is Howard? Where did he go, where did he go? He's down in the ditches. He's down in the ground. Disappeared himself. He's no-where to be found! Where is Howard? Who is Howard? He's long gone, he's long gone.

Movie Connections:

References Pinocchio (1940)

Soundtrack:

Shaken, Rattled and Rolled

Shepard and Wenders on a Higher Plain

I think to gain a full appreciation of Don't Come Knocking, it will help to be familiar with the work of Pulitzer and multiple Obie winning Sam Shepard, who contributes the screenplay for this movie. I've read reviews all over the internet complaining that the film lacks in terms of realism, but this complaint seems ill-conceived if aimed at Shepard, who has generally operated artistically by exploring mythical tableaux, as in plays The Horse Dreamer, Fool for Love, etc. It serves to recall that Paris, Texas, explored an ideal of the mythical West, in which main characters wonder the desert, chain their wife to a boiler before lighting the trailer on fire, (ie don't always act rationally).

Having arrived with the caveat that this film is a fable, not a traditional American here's the main conflict, here's the resolution Hollywood special, Don't Come Knocking is really an amazing example of film as art, something attempted all too rarely. Shepard also stars in the film as Howard Spence, an actor known for roles in Westerns. It is this idea of the man as a Cowboy, constantly wandering, living hard, unattached, that has become Howard so completely that he loses all bearings and feels he must escape from his movie set and find something.

Contacting his mother, whom he has not seen in some 30 years, he begins to see himself through her eyes, as someone who appears regularly in tabloids for a myriad of irresponsible behaviors, someone who uses others and is completely unconnected to anyone. His mother informs him that he has a child by a woman in Wyoming, and ducking the law and a film insurance exec (played brilliantly by Tim Roth), Howard sets off to find his child. In the world of Shepard, the father/son relationship often centers on abandonment, and is often central to the conflicts in his stories. So it is in DCK, in which an outraged son rampages through his small town, wrestling with his own origins, and upsetting his mother (played with predictable brilliance by Jessica Lange).

The beautiful cinematography and precise dialog are truly built for each other, and this movie continues to realize Wender's vision of the open American West. If the story lines seem implausible, try to look just beneath the surface at what is going on. Shepard discovers he has two children, the other a young woman named Skye, who has come to Butte to spread her mother's ashes. Skye embodies the female voice, a rarity in the work of Shepard. Skye is centered and desires a relationship. She asks her both her half-brother Earl as well as Howard, "Do you want to be related?" This story is about discovering the desire for human relationship and family, a necessity for buttressing against the harsh realities (broken boxcars, junked autos litter the landscape) of the West as well as the preposterous unrealities propagated by Hollywood myths of perfect love and sunset happiness.

In an interview Shepard once said that it is the "aloneness" that fascinates him about human relationships, as explored in "A Fool For Love", where estranged lovers meet again to love, fight violently, and leave again. In Don't Come Knocking, Shepard seems to leave us with more hope of overcoming our own contradictory natures to create relationships with those we love.

The film offers great appeal in its images, of mirror disco casinos, open road, and its costumes. The western costume, the waitress (Lange as even-tempered caretaker to the coffee-drinking old men and internet surfing youths alike), the businessman (Tim Roth in his Porsche Cayenne, insisting that the outside world not be let in), the modern cowboy (Howard throws away his credit cards and cell-phone, but keeps his sunglasses, which allow him to maintain his distance from all real relationships).

Go see this movie, laugh at the ridiculous nature of some scenes; the humor is intentional (as when exercise bike riders watch Earl's mother's conflicted confrontation with Howard) and very funny. The film is not perfect but is layered and complex, presenting deep conflicts such as the feminine versus the masculine will, the authentic America versus the Hollywood version, the destructive nature of art and creation, etc. Don't Come Knocking is rich and richly achieved, and if you approach it with an open mind, I think you'll enjoy it. I really did.