Knocking On Heaven's Door

 In 1973 I saw the movie Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid as soon as it was released.  I'd greatly anticipated the film.  Director Sam Peckinpah had done The Wild Bunch, Straw Dogs, and The Getaway during the prior three years and this new movie could feature James Coburn, Kris Kristofferson, Jason Robards, Harry Dean Stanton and even Bob Dylan.

The film turned out to be an incoherent, uninteresting mess (and we discovered Dylan cannot act).  Very disappointing except for one scene, featuring a song written for the occasion by Dylan; Knocking on Heaven's Door.  In the scene Sheriff Pat Garrett (James Coburn), along with fellow Sheriff Colin Baker (Slim Pickens) and his wife (Katy Jurado) ride to a ranch to question some associates of Billy the Kid.  A gunfight erupts and Sheriff Baker is mortally wounded.  He wanders off to the riverside to quietly die, watched by his grief stricken wife.  It was very affecting to watch in 1973 and has always remained with me, while I've forgotten everything else about the movie, except disliking it.

Slim Pickens was one of the great character actors of American cinema, appearing in many films during the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.  Though most of his appearances were in Westerns, he's best known for his H-bomb riding role as Major "King" Kong in Dr Strangelove.  He plays this scene perfectly without saying a word.

The Mexican actress Katy Jurado was the first Latin actress nominated for an Academy Award for her 1954 role in Broken Lance in which she co-starred with Spencer Tracey.  She's probably best known in America for her role as Gary Cooper's former lover in High Noon.  Like Pickens she conveys so much in this scene without saying a word.

Reading about the movie recently, I learned it was taken away from Peckinpah during the editing and changed significantly.  A director's cut was released in the late 1980s and is apparently highly regarded.

Here's the full version of the song, one of Dylan's finest.  Please avoid the terrible cover by Guns 'N Roses.