Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Don't Come Knocking
This film premiered in Butte last weekend at the Mother Lode Theater and I was privileged to serve as an usher to a crowd of 1200. It is a Wim Wenders' film (Wim was present at the showing, but not the other actors) based on a screenplay written by Sam Shepard. Shepard stars as Howard Spence and Jessica Lange as Doreen his onscreen former love interest and also his real life sweetheart. This story is about an aging actor whose life has passed him by as he wasted it in decadent living and alcoholic swill. He walks off the set of his current film, stops to see his 80 year old mom in Elko, NV whom he hasn't had contact for nearly 30 years only to learn from her he may have a child he never knew about from a fling during the filming of his last successful movie in Butte, MT over 20 years ago. He leaves Elko for Butte to see what part of his past he can redeem as the plot takes several twists and turns in Montana's century old Mining City of Butte. T-Bone Burnett does the music, featuring an instrumental version of “Walk the Line” as one of the background tunes which gives the film some a similiar feel as the movie by the same name he recently did the music for with Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon.
Two mainstays in the scenes of action are the Historic Finlen Hotel and the world renowned M & M Bar. Wim Wenders stayed in the Finlen in 1978 when he made his first trip to Butte in 1978 searching for historical and emotional roots of Dashiell Hammet's novel Red Harvest based on labor events surrounding the IWW heyday and Frank Little's murder in a long ago Butte. Wim heard fire trucks roaring by the Finlen on that trip to later learn of a major fire in Butte (unfortunately a common occururence in Butte in the 1970’s.) He later would write the fire trucks into "Knocking". Howard Spence in his leading role seeks to connect with something of meaning in his life and roams the streets of Butte for several days in this attempt. The cinematography shows Butte at its best although the streets are eerily disserted and devoid of activity. Howard makes some sense of his messy life although he has many miles to go before totally repairing the wreckage of his past life and leaving the bottle behind. I would rate this movie two thumbs up for the great scenery, realistic shots of Butte and the story of redemption and release.
My wife and I spent our wedding night in the Finlen in 1977. The next morning we dined with our best man at the M & M. Elko has frequently been a stopping point on our trips to CA, the Commercial Club and downtown Elko have some of that same sense of past glory and present desperation that Butte shares. Wim captures that same sense in Howard Spence's role. Although I have walked some of these same steps in an alcoholic daze on the streets of Butte, I am glad to have found my sobriety and serenity, hence I won't be facing the same ghosts as Howard at age 60. This is not to say there is much in this film I can identify with. Hopefully everyone who has ever had an attachment to Butte,has failed to appreciate their past personal attachments, have lived to regret those loses and made some attempts to seek a form of redemption and restoration will find enjoyment in this film.
This film premiered in Butte last weekend at the Mother Lode Theater and I was privileged to serve as an usher to a crowd of 1200. It is a Wim Wenders' film (Wim was present at the showing, but not the other actors) based on a screenplay written by Sam Shepard. Shepard stars as Howard Spence and Jessica Lange as Doreen his onscreen former love interest and also his real life sweetheart. This story is about an aging actor whose life has passed him by as he wasted it in decadent living and alcoholic swill. He walks off the set of his current film, stops to see his 80 year old mom in Elko, NV whom he hasn't had contact for nearly 30 years only to learn from her he may have a child he never knew about from a fling during the filming of his last successful movie in Butte, MT over 20 years ago. He leaves Elko for Butte to see what part of his past he can redeem as the plot takes several twists and turns in Montana's century old Mining City of Butte. T-Bone Burnett does the music, featuring an instrumental version of “Walk the Line” as one of the background tunes which gives the film some a similiar feel as the movie by the same name he recently did the music for with Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon.
Two mainstays in the scenes of action are the Historic Finlen Hotel and the world renowned M & M Bar. Wim Wenders stayed in the Finlen in 1978 when he made his first trip to Butte in 1978 searching for historical and emotional roots of Dashiell Hammet's novel Red Harvest based on labor events surrounding the IWW heyday and Frank Little's murder in a long ago Butte. Wim heard fire trucks roaring by the Finlen on that trip to later learn of a major fire in Butte (unfortunately a common occururence in Butte in the 1970’s.) He later would write the fire trucks into "Knocking". Howard Spence in his leading role seeks to connect with something of meaning in his life and roams the streets of Butte for several days in this attempt. The cinematography shows Butte at its best although the streets are eerily disserted and devoid of activity. Howard makes some sense of his messy life although he has many miles to go before totally repairing the wreckage of his past life and leaving the bottle behind. I would rate this movie two thumbs up for the great scenery, realistic shots of Butte and the story of redemption and release.
My wife and I spent our wedding night in the Finlen in 1977. The next morning we dined with our best man at the M & M. Elko has frequently been a stopping point on our trips to CA, the Commercial Club and downtown Elko have some of that same sense of past glory and present desperation that Butte shares. Wim captures that same sense in Howard Spence's role. Although I have walked some of these same steps in an alcoholic daze on the streets of Butte, I am glad to have found my sobriety and serenity, hence I won't be facing the same ghosts as Howard at age 60. This is not to say there is much in this film I can identify with. Hopefully everyone who has ever had an attachment to Butte,has failed to appreciate their past personal attachments, have lived to regret those loses and made some attempts to seek a form of redemption and restoration will find enjoyment in this film.
