I've spent a portion of the past several days watching two films on DVD by the German director Wim Wenders. The first film, Paris, Texas, was released in 1984. I remember attending a showing of the film when it was first shown in Denver.

The critics at the time (and since there was no Internet, these were critics in local papers) noted two things about the film. The first concerned Wenders uncanny ability to capture the look and feel of Texas. The second was Nastassja Kinski's ability to play a young southern girl and her high-wattage dramatic power during her long monologue, performed word for word as written by Sam Shepard, near the end of the film. Here was a western with cars instead of horses and the stranger who walked onto the screen was not a hero but a very mentally troubled and lost soul, on a mission that even he didn't understand. According to Wenders, it was the first leading role for actor Harry Dean Stanton, who is tremendous as Travis, the flawed hero.

The second film, Don't Come Knocking, was filmed almost 20 years later. The last half of Don't Come Knocking was filmed in Montana, especially in and around Butte. According to Wenders on the commentary, not counting The Evel Knievel Story which was a documentary, no other movie has ever been filmed in Butte. That caught my attention since my father had spent many of his early years living in and working out of Butte and he and my mother lived there sometime between 1935 and 1937. I could easily have been born in Butte instead of in Seattle or my parents could have decided to stay and that's where I would have grown up. I really have no idea how I ended up in Denver since I was less than a year old at the time my parents made their final move to this area. In the meantime, my father probably walked among many of the buildings shown in the movie since many of them have existed in Butte since the late 19th century.

I was particularly struck by Wim Wenders commentary track on the two films. I have to put him in the company of Taylor Hackford and Spike Lee as masters of the commentary. If I must listen to a commentary while watching a movie, which means I have to watch the movie at least twice, then I for sure don't want to miss what these three award winning directors have to say about their works.

Note: Wenders met Sam Shepard in 1978. Shepard wrote the first half and some of the key scenes in the final half of Paris, Texas, as Wenders explains on that commentary. Shepard wrote and did a great job as the lead in Don't Come Knocking. The following commentary is a small section from near the end of Don't Come Knocking that explains how the two men work together creating a movie:

"More than any other scene [on the screen is a scene filmed on a street in Butte between Sam Shepard and Jessica Lange, playing a couple with a dismal past], it shows.. .my approach to film making. I really start the work, most of all, from a sense of place. I need to know where a story is taking place so I can really relate to it. If I like and understand the place, everything else flows from that. And maybe that's why Sam [Shepard] and I compliment each other so well. He works strictly from a sense of character. Me from a sense of place. And story or plot for both of us develop out of that. Story is not driving our work, character and place are."

According to his website, since 1970 Wenders directed 22 feature films and approximately a dozen and a half documentaries and short films.

According to Shepard's website, he has been in two dozen movies including Country, Fool For Love, The Right Stuff, and, of course, Don't Come Knocking . He's also one of America's most recognized playwrights.

Ciao