Cameras are rolling on the set of Phantom of the West, a mawkish Western shooting in the Moab desert, but leading man Howard Spence ([Sam Shepard]) is nowhere to be found. A washed-up alcoholic loser, Howard has tired of his bad-boy rugged individualism and taken off on horseback, searching for who-knows-what: some alternative to fleabag filmmaking, womanizing, and the drunk tank at middle age. His mother ([Eva Marie Saint], delightfully self-composed) lies to keep the producers' strongman (a very droll [Tim Roth]) off Howard's back, but she won't save him. Neither will Doreen ([Jessica Lange]), Howard's old flame, who's still lighting up a diner in dusty downtown Butte, Mont. Howard's on his own this time. Enter Sky ([Sarah Polley]), who's got her late mother's ashes in a jar and suspects Howard might be her father. Also knocking around town is Earl ([Gabriel Mann]), a pointy-toed rockabilly guy who's pretty sure Howard is his father-Doreen says so-but who couldn't care less.

Motion pictures