Tooth of Crime

by Sam Shepard

One of the plays that first announced Sam Shepard as an original voice in American theater, Tooth of Crime is his thrillingly innovative rock drama, published here in a revised edition that is as fresh and provocative as the original was more than thirty years ago.

An aging rock star in a world in which entertainment and street warfare go hand in hand, Hoss must defend himself against Crow, a newcomer who battles him for fame. Combining musical styles and intense dialogue in an unconventional musical-fantasy, Tooth of Crime riffs brilliantly on rising stars and fading legends, and rock lived and died for.

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Drama, Fiction, Contemporary

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Sam Shepard was an American artist who worked as an award-winning playwright, writer and actor. His many written works are known for being frank and often absurd, as well as for having an authentic sense of the style and sensibility of the gritty modern American west. He was an actor of the stage and motion pictures; a director of stage and film; author of several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs; and a musician.

Reviews

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just reread this. It's a weird, wild play, not to everyone's taste, but I kind of love it. Two gangster-like rock stars, Hoss and Crow, battle for chart supremacy ("a gold record") in an elaborate, futuristic game. They engage in psychological warfare through what seems like a stream of consciousness version of "the dozens." The play is part tragedy, part post-apocalyptic, sci-fi western. Shepard invented an argot for the characters to speak that reminds me of A Clockwork Orange.

T Bone Burnett wrote the songs for this version of the play. In 2008, he recorded them for an album that is also well worth checking out.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

A difficult, demanding read filled with invented slang that makes the text of A Clockwork Orange look almost like homely chatter. The subtext of this experimental play just might be a Freudian commentary on the modern ego, a fable clothed in the trappings of celebrity and gangster machismo. I’d have to see a good production of the play to decide whether it’s genius or just a high-concept muddle.

[Note: this Shepard play is the basis for T. Bone Burnett's 2008 album of the same name.]

[Robnrel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw this work performed at a venue called ‘Van Gogh’s Earlobe’ in the early 90’s with my special lady friend. Until I began reading this I had all but forgotten any single detail, despite remembering enjoying it. But the mind is a fascinating thing, and as soon as I started on these pages, it all came rushing back. The venue, the performers, the songs, but most of all, Sam Shepard’s words. ‘Tooth of Crime’ is Sam at his most cryptic and obtuse, and may not be for all tastes, but it kept me enthralled, both in the 90’s and now in 2024.

[Drew · Rating 2 out of 5]

When Sam Shepard -- one of my favorite playwrights, mind you -- revised "The Tooth of Crime" as "Tooth of Crime" in 1996, he dropped a lot more than "The" from its title. Character names became less flashy (Chaser f.k.a. Cheyenne, Ruido Ran f.k.a. DJ Galactic Jack); the language, less rooted in rock; and the one female character, Becky, grew smaller in size and importance. Clearly, he was trying to make it all seem less zany and datedly futuristic but unfortunately he overlooked that those were two of the script's greatest appeals.

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading what so ever written by Shepard means going through a shortened social history of America after ww II, and up till the end of 20.century. Plots are so simple and dialogues are not very much sophisticated. Maybe some of works by Shepard are not as interesting as the others, but for those whom are interested in sociology, and drama as writing-art, will enjoy reading or watching works by Shepard. Reading simple and plain plays by Shepard gives you dare to sit and write about whatsoever plot you have in your mind. Many of his plays are so easy, but honest, fluent and great as well. After watching Paris, Texas by Wenders, I believe Wenders shots matches with Shepard’s atmosphere and dialogues. ”Few American playwrights have exerted as much influence on the contemporary stage as Sam Shepard. His plays are performed on and off Broadway and in all the major regional American theatres. They are also widely performed and studied in Europe, finding both a popular and a scholarly audience" .
با وجودی که سام شپارد، موضوعاتی گاه پیش پا افتاده را با زبانی ساده و در عین حال بصورتی حیرت انگیز طرح می کند، نمی دانم چرا تا کنون به فارسی برگردانده نشده اند، یا احتمالن من ندیده ام. خواندن شپارد اگر هیچ نباشد، دست کم درس بزرگی ست برای آنها که می خواهند بنویسند، و آنها که سال هاست می نویسند اما آن چنان سنگین که انگار "وزنه برداری" می کنند! آثار سام شپارد به نمایش نامه ها و داستان های کوتاهش محدود نمی شوند. او در زمینه ی موسیقی جاز و پاپ هم کار کرده و برخی از سروده هایش برای خوانندگان صاحب نام، مشهور است. سام شپارد بازیگر سینما و تیاتر هم هست و در برخی از فیلم ها همچون "فرانسیس" یا "دیگه نیا دم در" (ویم وندرس) با همسرش "جسیکا لنگ" همبازی بوده است. سام شپارد هم چنین نقد تیاتر و سینما هم می نویسد و برخی از نقدهایش در مجلات مشهور انگلیسی زبان منتشر می شوند.

[Julian Munds · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was ready to applaud this play as the essence of a time. The language is like a Rosetta Stone to the rock fantasy world of the 70s. It shows the aesthetic and experience of the time when rock was fighting with punk and the ghosts of the past were finding new light. There's even some reference to the apocalyptic feelings of the movement the same threads that inspired millers original mad max... But then... There's this gratuitous moment of unwarranted female subjugation. A thing of its time and it's held there because of it. The play might work now with some gender bending. But the original intention is lossed. Brilliant language explosion ruined by a failed shephardian experiment.

[Jen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read both the original and the updated version, and I didn't like either. Of the plays I've read so far for this contemporary drama class, this is by far my least favorite. The updated one version was as corny and dated and ridiculous as the original. Seriously painful to read. I wish I could give it zero stars. I was embarrassed for everyone involved when I read it. Now I need to quickly read something else before I go to sleep, to cleanse my mental palate.

Even the other plays I haven't loved, I could at least find something to connect with. Not this one, though. Ugh.

[Rowena · Rating 3 out of 5]

ehh, kind of reminded me of a ridiculous clockwork orange. couldn't really take it seriously, though this version is apparently more toned down, missing the scene with the random mooning cheerleaders. i do wonder how the songs would be done live.

[Brigitte Williamson]

It's harder, I think, to be reading this now having never experienced the time period. It feels outdated and gimmicky to me, but my understanding is that at the time that was less cringe-worthy, and rather brilliant.

[Dave Clapper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awfully dated now, but still a very cool play. I was fortunate enough to play Crow eons ago.

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Even the 1996 revision, I found to still be pretty dated. It would be interesting to see hip-hop presented as the battle of musical style.

[Meesh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite - actually closer to 2 and a half stars than three... Don't ask.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

*Review is for the 2006 revised edition, noted as "Second Dance" on here*

The benefit of the doubt I gave this thing for having been produced in a different era vanishes when re-evaluating this more pointedly "modern" interpretation. It's all nonsense gobbledigook as far as I'm concerned, and the reading of it this time around was somewhat insufferable. Maybe it's because I've gotten used to Shepard operating in a markedly different, more straightforward/mature mode, but the whole aesthetic of this thing just seems obsolete and uninteresting to me.

With all that said, I can see this being fascinating on the stage, with performers animating and making sense of what reads as stream-of-consciousness nonsense on the page, but I just don't see the appeal otherwise.

[Ray Dunsmore · Rating 2 out of 5]

A surprisingly weak play from Shepard, full of nonsensical verbiage posing as flip lingo to the point that it would choke Anthony Burgess. The main conceit - rock stars who pose as celebrity assassins and duel to the death for chart supremacy - is honestly pretty stupid when you consider it 40 years after the peak of rock. These characters are dead archetypes, walking corpses shambling about on stage like they're gonna live forever. And yeah, that's the point of the play, but I still didn't enjoy it.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the more solid efforts of this run from Shepard, but it suffers from a seemingly diffuse focus at times. I guess, generally, he's using this heightened conceit of "rockers" as "killers" (or whatever) to dramatize the cutthroat nature of the music business, and the mercilessness of cultural shifts, but it's all so abstract it doesn't quite register.

There's definitely a split between works where Shepard actually fleshes out his characters, and works where he settles for leaving them as vessels for abstract ideas.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I prefer the original version over the rewrite. There’s a clarity to the language and story of the original that is missing here. There are certain cuts that make sense, like cutting Becky’s monologue near the end and the language around race. But Shepard understood class and wrote on the mark about it. It’s removed from the rewrite and what’s left is a kind of nostalgia (which he definitely indulged in). I also miss the songs from the 1972 version. I imagine a version that’s more of a trim than a complete rewrite, a hybrid of the two scripts.

[Rebekah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this play on pseudo-recommendation of one of my classmates who described this as "I don't know if this is the best play I've read or the worst play I've read." I've sort of landed on the side of the worst. I just couldn't really follow what was going on, and I think this is a kind of play that really needs to be seen and heard, because on paper I found it very confusing.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rock music mixes with violence in this sci-fi fantasy. Hoss is a rock god (marker) who has been at the top of his game, but he is increasingly apprehensive about the competition. He challenges Crow, a Gypsy Killer to a duel and loses. Unable to cope, he blows his brains out.

[Alexis · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is certainly a play that would benefit from being seeing live. The idea is interesting, and the characters are recognizable, but it didn't really work for me on the page. It is a very stark change from the other Shepard works I have read, and I think that had an impact on my reading as well.

[Cary S · Rating 1 out of 5]

This just didn't do it for me...

[Paul Gaya Ochieng Simeon Juma · Rating 2 out of 5]

My second play by Sam Shapard.

[Marcus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Less fun than the original script.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the original version.

[Alex Zee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Sam Shepard’s work, but this play wasn’t my cup of tea...

[Patrick Neylan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bizarre, surreal and almost impossible to learn or stage, but swept along by the incredible power of the language.

[Gian Luigi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love it, I read it many years ago, it is pure genius outside every common bad taste.

[Will · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t think I understood most of this and it just seemed like not enough of it’s true potential on the page. Perhaps in future re-reads it will grow for me.

[Brian McCann · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible.

Who cares?

[Caleb Beard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird, would be interesting to see put on but strange to simply read

[Kristopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lol what just happened