Sam Shepard

I thought I had written a post about Sam Shepard.  It appears that did not happen. Tonight I watched "Don't Come Knocking" on Amazon, a movie with Sam Shepard and Jessica Lange, and as you know, they were married for many years.

I searched for movies with Sam Shepard and this one came up. I knew nothing about it, but as I was watching it, I knew it had to have been written by Sam and/or directed by him. It's about fathers and sons and wives and daughters. Shepard wrote about those relationships almost exclusively. He didn't write about the mountains or fishing or living and dying without the clouds of father-son-family covering everything.  When the movie ended, I saw that it was directed by Wim Wenders, screenplay by Sam Shepard and story by Wenders and Shepard.  Duh. Figures. Wenders and Shepard, great combo.

The movie is slow but the last 30 minutes are stunning. The last 30 minutes are the point, and that's how many of Shepard's plays/movies are.  You watch, you wait, you go get another glass of wine, you wonder..... and then you are blown away. The emotion, the honesty in the universal words of relationships, the slap in the face of the reveal. 

Sam Shepard wrote, produced and performed in many plays in SF at the Magic Theater at Fort Mason. I know John and I saw at least one of his plays, and maybe more. Shepard was a brilliant writer, producer, director and actor.  

He was also amazingly sexy. He wasn't Hollywood handsome and he had crooked teeth but he moved and held himself in such a way that the viewer (at least this one) got the gift he gave: be yourself, be bold, be brazen and be balls-up sexy. He did, he had it, we wanted it. Without hesitation, I can say that Sam Shepard, with his rugged face and his gap-tooth smile, was sexier than George Clooney on Clooney's best day. And I can get a dozen women to agree.  And I love George Clooney and he is sexy as hell. Same with Ryan Gosling.  Shepard put them all on Little League teams in the sexy category.  Go figure. 

I will miss his writing and his occasional forays into current movies. Watch "Cold in July" and tell me you aren't freaked out by Sam standing next to the car, suddenly appearing, silently, like a cypher. But not being scary, just scaring you by his presence. And there are more, but find them for yourselves. He has power on the screen.

He was only 73, Sam died from complications from "Lou Gehrig's" disease, he left us too soon. But he left us with a lot to read, to watch, to ponder. Find his work, read, watch, think and be amazed at his incredible mind.  Well, yes, and his persona.

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