Sam Shepard is Gone But We'll Always Have Paris, Texas

Earlier this week, the death of Sam Shepard was announced. He died last week of Lou Gehrig's Disease at the age of 73.

Some people remember Shepard as America's greatest playwright of the second half of the 20th Century with works such as Buried Child and A Lie of the Mind while many others remember him for playing Chuck Yeager in The Right Stuff. 

But when I think of Sam Shepard, I think of his involvement in the 1984 film Paris, Texas. Adapted from his 1983 book Motel Chronicles, Shepard & Kit Carson would co-write the screenplay for Paris, Texas which would win the Palme d'Or at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival.

In a career spanning more than 60 years and nearly 200 films & TV shows, it is the only lead role of Harry Dean Stanton's long career. Wim Wenders' direction is intense yet understated while Robby Muller's cinematography breathes life into the desolate American Southwest augmented by Ry Cooder's music. But it is Sam Shepard's words and his spare use of them which tells the story. Put them altogether and Paris, Texas is among my five top favorite films ever.

Paris, Texas is but a sliver of Sam Shepard's work, but what a sliver. R.I.P.