Distinctly Montana Magazine

83 w w w. d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m Shellie 1/2h (406) 442-0033 shelliescountrycafe.com Vote For Us! NOMINATE US WIN $1000 FOR YOUR CHANCE TO 2022-24 o f BEST M O N TA N A A S V O T E D B Y R E A D E R S O F W I N N E R ! Y E A R S WO N home town to tend to his father, who is the man who fell to the ground in that opening scene. When Jeffrey stumbles across a severed ear, his curiosity about this find leads him on an investi- gation of his own into a drug ring led by one of the most fascinat- ing villains ever put on film, Frank Booth. Dennis Hopper plays Frank Booth with a perfect blend of man- ic insecurity and violent resentment against everyone around him. Booth can't stand it when people look at him, especially his lover Dorothy Vallens, played by Lynch's own partner at the time, Isabella Rossellini. Jeffrey befriends Dorothy after getting caught in her apartment one night trying to figure out what's going on, and it is the predicament Jeffrey finds himself in when he also becomes friends with the local police chief's high school aged daughter Sandy that is vintage Lynch. In his efforts to help Doro- thy, who clearly has some emotional issues, Jeffrey winds up in a sexual relationship with her, while simultaneously falling in love with Sandy, who is played perfectly by a very young Laura Dern as a smart, earnest young woman who is also drawn to the intrigue of the darkness that has captured Jeffrey's attention. Over the next ten years, Lynch would mine this battle between the light and darkness in all of us as well as any filmmaker ever has, with Wild at Heart, also starring Dern, along with Nicholas Cage, and Mulholland Drive, probably my second favorite Lynch film after Blue Velvet. Lynch's fascination with the fringes shows up even in his smaller films, like The Straight Story, based on a true story about an old man who wants to go visit his dying brother but doesn't have a driver's license, so he travels to see him on his riding lawn mower. The film earned Richard Farnsworth an Oscar nomination. Looking at his filmography, it's invigorating to see that Lynch never really stopped working, even though it's been a long time since he had a big hit, and that he didn't care about the size or scope of his projects. His curiosity never left him, and I think that's a legacy all of us would be happy to leave behind.

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