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Film Archive

Don't Come Knocking

Horizons 2005 / Don't Come Knocking / Germany, USA 2005

Howard Spence was once a western film star and conqueror of women’s hearts. But that is long in the past and Howard hopes that, by undergoing a penitent journey into the past, he will be able to do something about his empty and lonely life. With fine performances from Sam Shepard and Jessica Lange.

Don't Come Knocking

Synopsis

Howard Spence (Sam Shepard) remembers better days. He was once a popular western hero but now he only appears in minor roles in a genre that doesn’t attract the audiences it used to. He often drowns his dissatisfaction and loneliness in alcohol and he isn’t as good with the ladies anymore. When he finds out from his mother that he might have a child somewhere, he realises that his life needn’t be so empty and he sets out to find his son or daughter. On his journey into the past, he comes across Doreen (Jessica Lange), whom he once loved and left. Doreen has a son called Earl but, to Howard’s amazement, it doesn’t seem as if either of them is particularly glad to see the return of the “lost father”. If it weren’t for the girl Sky, who shows more understanding for Howard than the short-tempered Earl, Howard’s belated atonement would probably have turned out a complete fiasco. He also has Sutter (Tim Roth) on his heels, who is determined to get Howard back on the film set he has abandoned.

About the film

122 min / Color, 35 mm

Director Wim Wenders / Screenplay Sam Shepard, Wim Wenders / Dir. of Photography Franz Lustig / Music T-Bone Burnett / Editor Peter Przygodda, Oli Weiss / Producer Peter Schwartzkopff / Production Reverse Angle Production / Cast Sam Shepard, Jessica Lange, Tim Roth, Gabriel Mann, Sarah Polley, Fairuza Balk / Contact HanWay Films, Hollywood Classic Entertainment
www: www.dontcomeknocking.com

About the director

Wim Wenders

Wim Wenders (b. 1945, Düsseldorf) studied medicine and philosophy, then he spent some time painting in Paris but soon focused his attention on film. He studied film at the Munich Film and Television School in 1967- 1970. 1968-72 he was a film critic for various magazines. In 1975 he founded his own production company, Road Movies, in Berlin. He became a member of the Berlin Art Academy in 1984. He has several honorary doctorates and was director and later president of the European Film Academy. He also teaches. Selected filmography: The Anxiety of the Goalie at the Penalty Kick (1971), Wrong Move (1975), The American Friend (1977), The State of Things (1982), Paris, Texas (1984 – Palme d’Or at Cannes), Wings of Desire (1987), Faraway So Close! (1993), Buena Vista Social Club (1998), The Million Dollar Hotel (2000), Land of Plenty (2004).

Contacts

HanWay Films
8 Basing Street, W11 1ET, London
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 207 290 0750
E-mail: [email protected]

Hollywood Classic Entertainment
Psohlavců 8, 147 00, Praha 4
Czech Republic
Phone: +420 226 224 111
Fax: +420 226 224 110
E-mail: [email protected]

Guests

Thorsten Schumacher
Sales Agent

Martin Brykner

Sarah Polley
Film Director, Film Director

Fairuza Balk
Actor

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