"Don't Come Knocking"

There's some big name talent in this indie snooze. The screenplay by Sam Shepard, who also stars as a burnt-out Hollywood cowboy actor (think Kris Kristofferson) tracking down the son he fathered in Montana while filming the equivalent of "Heaven's Gate." It's directed by Wim Wenders, who was a top art house director in the 1980s with "Paris, Texas" (screenplay by Shephard) and the wonderful "Wings of Desire" (guardian angels along the Berlin Wall). Jessica Lange, Shepard's girlfriend, plays the mother of his son.

But, it doesn't really work and I suspect it won't get much attention. A big problem is that Sam Shepard, who looked like the second coming of Gary Cooper in "The Right Stuff" as Chuck Yeager, has lost his looks, and he's not enough of an actor to carry the movie without them. Plus the plot has lots of holes in it. Shepard's mytho-symbolic stagewriting style just looks goofy when filmed.

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer