A man wanders out of the desert not knowing who he is. His brother finds him, and helps to pull his memory back of the life he led before he walked out on his family and disappeared four years earlier.
Acting
Harry Dean Stanton's eyes contain multitudes—career-defining silence
Cinematography
Robby Müller turns Texas and Paris into emotional geography
Direction
Wenders makes two people talking through glass devastating
Director
Wim Wenders
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Wim Wenders made this as his love letter to and critique of American mythology—ironically becoming the definitive portrait of Reagan-era alienation. Ry Cooder's slide guitar score was improvised after watching rushes.
The peep show monologue was shot in a single 23-minute take. Kinski didn't know Stanton was on the other side until filming began—her reactions are genuinely discovering him.
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