True West

Sam Shepard is extremely clever in his construction of his script True West. The structure of the family and the background involving the estranged brothers, the mother, and the "old man" provide the perfect conditions for conflict and drama in the setting of Southern California and the shadow of Hollywood. Each brother has talents which the other envies. Austin uses his intelligence and work ethic to find a little success as a hollywood screenwriter while Lee utilizes street smarts and survival instincts to live in the desert and search for his father. Lee returns to town and immediately begins stealing like he's used to. The character Saul seems to be a clueless nitwit, but represents the administrative side of Hollywood. Shepard seems to be injecting his less-than-flattering opinion of the Hollywood system as part of the brothers' power struggle. Lee, simply by schmoozing with Saul, is able to get him to agree to a golf game as well as green lighting his own idea for a screenplay. Overall, I though True West was a genius piece of satire as well as a moving and slightly disturbing story of family struggling with the ties that bind them.