''Don't Come Knocking'' is a 2005 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film directed by German director

Wim Wenders Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders (; born 14 August 1945) is a German filmmaker, playwright, author, and photographer. He is a major figure in New German Cinema. Among many honors, he has received three nominations for the Academy Award for Best Docu ...

and written by Wenders and actor/playwright

Sam Shepard Samuel Shepard Rogers III (November 5, 1943 – July 27, 2017) was an American actor, playwright, author, screenwriter, and director whose career spanned half a century. He won 10 Obie Awards for writing and directing, the most by any write ...

. The two had previously collaborated on the film ''Paris, Texas'' (1984). It was entered into the

2005 Cannes Film Festival The 58th Cannes Film Festival started on 11 May and ran until 22 May 2005. Twenty movies from 13 countries were selected to compete. The awards were announced on 21 May. The Palme d'Or went to the Belgian film '' L'Enfant'' by Dardenne brothers ...

Plot

Shepard stars as Howard Spence, an aging, hard-living

Western movie The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...

star, who, disgusted with his life & washed up, flees by horse from the set of his latest western filming in the desert outside

Moab Moab ''Mōáb''; Assyrian: 𒈬𒀪𒁀𒀀𒀀 ''Mu'abâ'', 𒈠𒀪𒁀𒀀𒀀 ''Ma'bâ'', 𒈠𒀪𒀊 ''Ma'ab''; Egyptian: 𓈗𓇋𓃀𓅱𓈉 ''Mū'ībū'', name=, group= () is the name of an ancient Levantine kingdom whose territ ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

. He hits the road looking for refuge in his past, traveling to his hometown of Elko,

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

to visit his mother, who he hasn't seen in 30 years. And, eventually, to

Butte __NOTOC__ In geomorphology, a butte () is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from a French word me ...

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

, looking for a woman (

Jessica Lange Jessica Phyllis Lange (; born April 20, 1949) is an American actress. She is the 13th actress to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting, having won two Academy Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Tony Award, along with a Screen Actors ...

) he left behind twenty years before when he was filming a movie there. Also converging on Butte is a young woman named Sky (

Sarah Polley Sarah Ellen Polley (born January 8, 1979) is a Canadian actress,Howell, Peter (September 24, 1999)"Nobody's Starlet: Toronto's Sarah Polley is Only 20 but already a veteran actor so secure in her craft she can thumb her nose at Hollywood" ''Tor ...

), returning her late mother's ashes to her hometown and conducting a search of her own. Spence is doggedly pursued by Mr. Sutter (

Tim Roth Timothy Simon Roth (born 14 May 1961) is an English actor and producer. He began acting on films and television series in the 1980s. He was among a group of prominent British actors of the era, the " Brit Pack". He made his television debut ...

), a humorless representative of the company insuring Spence's latest film, whose mission is to return Spence to the set to finish filming the movie.

Cast

as Howard Spence *

as Doreen *

as Sutter *

Gabriel Mann Gabriel Mann (born Gabriel Mick; May 14, 1972) is an American actor and model, known for his role as Nolan Ross on the ABC drama series ''Revenge''. He has co-starred in several films, including '' The Life of David Gale'', '' The Bourne Ident ...

as Earl *

as Sky *

Fairuza Balk Fairuza Balk (born May 21, 1974) is an American actress, musician, and visual artist. Influential in popular culture, Balk is known for her portrayals of distinctive " goth-girl" characters, often with a dark edge. She has appeared in numerous i ...

as Amber *

Eva Marie Saint Eva Marie Saint (born July 4, 1924) is an American actress of film, theatre and television. In a career spanning over 70 years, she has won an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award, alongside nominations for a Golden Globe Award and two Brit ...

as Howard's Mother *

James Gammon James Richard Gammon (April 20, 1940 – July 16, 2010) was an American actor, known for playing grizzled "good ol' boy" types in numerous films and television series. Gammon portrayed Lou Brown, the manager in the movies '' Major League'' and ' ...

as Old Ranch Hand * Marley Shelton as the starlet *

Kurt Fuller Kurt Fuller (born September 16, 1953) is an American character actor. He has appeared in a number of television, film, and stage projects. He is best known for his roles in the films ''No Holds Barred'' and ''Ghostbusters II'' (both 1989), ''Wa ...

as Mr. Daily

Actors and cameos

The film features cameo appearances by

George Kennedy George Harris Kennedy Jr. (February 18, 1925 – February 28, 2016) was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 film and television productions. He played "Dragline" opposite Paul Newman in ''Cool Hand Luke'' (1967), winning the Academ ...

as a beleaguered movie director, and

Tim Matheson Tim Matheson (born Timothy Lewis Matthieson; December 31, 1947) is an American actor and director. Some of his best-known acting roles include the title character of the 1960s animated '' Jonny Quest'' TV series, Eric "Otter" Stratton in the 19 ...

and

Julia Sweeney Julia Anne Sweeney (born October 10, 1959) is an American actress, comedian, and author, who gained fame as a cast member on '' Saturday Night Live'' from 1990 to 1994. She played Mrs. Keeper in the film '' Stuart Little'' and voiced Brittany in ...

as movie producers. Also appearing briefly is Tom Farrell (from Wenders 1980 '' Lightning Over Water'' and the Screaming Man from ''Paris, Texas'') as a high-school acquaintance who recognizes Howard along the way.AllMovie
/ref> The film also marks the first collaboration in 18 years (since 1988's '' Far North'') between Shepard and his longtime partner Jessica Lange, as the two had an agreement never to work at the same time, in order not to neglect their children. Lange, Saint and Kennedy are all winners of

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

Photography

The film was shot in 35mm

anamorphic format Anamorphic format is the cinematography technique of shooting a widescreen picture on standard 35 mm film or other visual recording media with a non-widescreen native aspect ratio. It also refers to the projection format in which a distorted ...

by Franz Lustig using Hawk lenses. He and Wenders emphasized the influence of painter

Edward Hopper Edward Hopper (July 22, 1882 – May 15, 1967) was an American realist painter and printmaker. While he is widely known for his oil paintings, he was equally proficient as a watercolorist and printmaker in etching. Hopper created subdued drama ...

on the

cinematography Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens to focu ...

Music

Most of the soundtrack was composed by

T Bone Burnett Joseph Henry "T Bone" Burnett III (born January 14, 1948) is an American record producer, guitarist and songwriter. He rose to fame as a guitarist in Bob Dylan's band during the 1970s. He has received multiple Grammy awards for his work in fil ...

and performed by Cassandra Wilson on vocals,

Carla Azar Carla Azar is an American drummer from Huntsville, Alabama and member of the band Autolux. She also plays guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, and sings. Azar played drums on Jack White's albums '' Blunderbuss'', ''Lazaretto'', and '' Boarding Hous ...

on drums,

Jay Bellerose Jay Bellerose is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session and live performance work. He has contributed to the work of many well-known artists. Biography Bellerose was born in Maine. A jazz enthusiast, he attended ...

on drums,

Stephen Bruton Turner Stephen Bruton (November 7, 1948 – May 9, 2009) was an American actor and musician. Background Born in Wilmington, Delaware, United States, he moved with his family to Texas at the age of two. He fell into the Fort Worth music scene after ...

on manaicello, Daphne Chen on violin, Keefus Ciancia on keyboards, Armando Compean on bass, Dennis Crouch on bass,

Tony Gilkyson Tony Gilkyson (born August 6, 1952) is a Los Angeles-based musician. He is the son of Jane Gilkyson and songwriter/folk musician Terry Gilkyson, as well as the brother of singer-songwriter Eliza Gilkyson. Career Gilkyson is a former member of ...

on guitar, Leah Katz on viola,

Emile Kelman Emile Kelman is an American real estate developer based in West Hollywood, California, United States. Kelman owns and heads Zola Properties which has developed five luxury townhomes in West Hollywood called The Huntley Residences. Kelman previou ...

on cello,

Jim Keltner James Lee Keltner (born April 27, 1942) is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work. He was characterized by Bob Dylan biographer Howard Sounes as "the leading session drummer in America". Howard Sounes. ''Dow ...

on drums,

Marc Ribot Marc Ribot (; born May 21, 1954) is an American guitarist and composer. His work has touched on many styles, including no wave, free jazz, rock, and Cuban music. Ribot is also known for collaborating with other musicians, most notably Tom Wai ...

on guitar and Patrick Warren who also composed additional music on keyboards and pump organ. The title song "Don't Come Knocking" was performed by

Andrea Corr Andrea Jane Corr MBE (born 17 May 1974) is an Irish singer, songwriter, musician and actress. Corr debuted in 1990 as the lead singer of the Celtic folk rock and pop rock group The Corrs along with her three elder siblings Caroline, Sharon ...

Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Born and raised in Dublin, he attended ...

References

External links

Official site
* *
MUBI
* {{Sam Shepard 2005 films 2005 drama films 2005 Western (genre) films 2000s drama road movies 2000s English-language films American drama road movies American Western (genre) films Elko, Nevada English-language German films Films directed by Wim Wenders Films scored by T Bone Burnett Films set in Montana Films set in Nevada Films set in Utah Films shot in Montana Films with screenplays by Sam Shepard Neo-Western films Sony Pictures Classics films 2000s American films