I hate endings. Just detest them. Beginnings are definitely the most exciting, middles are perplexing and endings are a disaster. . . The temptation towards resolution, towards wrapping up the package, seems to me a terrible trap. Why not be more honest with the moment? The most authentic endings are the ones which are already revolving towards another beginning. That’s genius. Somebody told me once that fugue means to flee, so that Bach’s melody lines are like he’s running away...  

.......--Sam Shepard

About twenty years ago, when I was becoming familiar with Shepard as a playwright rather than just a Hollywood actor, I picked up from the library a grainy VHS copy of an American Playhouse production of True West. The performance was from the early 1980's and starred emergent actors, John Malkovich and Gary Sinise. And it is absolutely explosive, Malkovich in particular. Never has there been a more mercurial rapscallion to stagger across the stage. 90 minutes of poignant, ominous hilarity that mercilessly digs in the suburban male psyche. Lunatics you know through family, workplace, watering holes, sports arenas, political stages.... Remastering doesn't exist, a tape version is virtually impossible to find, but (at least for the moment) you can piece ten or so clips together on Youtube.