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.

Nacho's End

 

That Ignacio (Nacho) Varga would not make it to the end of Better Call Saul was clear.  But it was very hard to see him go tonight.  Unlike most of the characters in the series, as well as in its predecessor Breaking Bad, who devolve morally, Nacho tried to find the better path, though he was repeatedly thwarted.  The deal he struck with Gus Fring allowed his father to remain safe but at the cost of Nacho's life, though in a final twist he went out in his own way.

Michael Mando, with his expressive eyes, was simply wonderful in the role of Nacho.  

As with most of Better Call Saul, I felt I hardly drew a breath during the episode and it is only going to get more stressful in the last ten episodes of the series, particularly as we await the reemergence of Lalo Salamanca.  There will be more wrenching scenes.

It remains the most creatively filmed series on TV, with its unique look and cinematography.  The Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul universe is a magnificent achievement.  I've sung its praises before (most recently in Never Was There More Woe) and will certainly do so again. 

The Experiment Begins

The Lexington Green is today surrounded by constant traffic, though many of the buildings bordering it were also there on the morning of April 19, 1775.  The immediate surroundings around North Bridge in Concord remain more bucolic; the reconstructed bridge over the peaceful river, the site where the British took their first casualties of the day, the adjoining meadows still intact.

This link takes you to my 22 previous posts on the war and the entire Revolutionary Era (1765-1789), the starting point for our grand national experiment.

How Deep Is The Red?

From Elvis Costello's 2009 album, Secret, Profane and Sugarcane.  Backed by country players with no drummer.  How Deep Is The Red is a poignant tune, with a fine example of Elvis wordplay.  The fiddle is by Stuart Duncan.

Is this is not a pretty tale? Is this not a riddle?
A bow shoots arrows through the air
A bow drags notes from a fiddle
But who is the beau of a young girl's heart?
That a king may send to battle

The Horn Of Africa

 Came across this fascinating 1938 map on the twitter feed of Vintage Maps.  It caught my attention for several reasons:

The unusual perspective; an aerial view from high above the Indian Ocean just off the Horn of Africa.

The way it emphasizes topography, particularly the mountains of Abyssinia (Ethiopia) and of the southwestern corner of the Arabian Peninsula.  No surprise as they were once joined before the continents drifted apart and the Red Sea formed.

The representation of the final gasp of the colonial era.  Abyssinia had been conquered by Italy in a 1935-36 campaign launched from its existing colonies in Somaliland and Eritrea.  The British ruled British Somaliland, Kenya, and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.  Though Egypt was nominally independent it was actually run by the British.  And off to the northwest is the vast expanse of French West Africa.

The portrayal of the pivotal cockpit of conflict between the Ottomans and Portuguese during the 16th century, a subject covered in a couple of recent THC posts.

Best of all, if you look closely, about a 1/4 of the way up from the south end of the Red Sea you will see the Farasan Islands designated, the location of the Roman garrison which was the subject of the THC post, The Farthest Outpost.

It seems we've had quite a bit of serendipity recently regarding the topic of the Indian Ocean, leading to three posts.

Full Moon

It's full moon time.  From our back patio.  The original reminded me of an Impressionist painting, so I added a little Brushstroke artistry to it.  That's our neighbor's big saguaro cactus on the left and the McDowell Mountains in the distance.