Knocking on Heaven's Door in Context

The song by Bob Dylan is well-known. The fact that it (and its author) appear in the 1973 movie "Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid" [which was directed by Sam Peckinpah (1925-1984) and starred James Coburn (1928-2002) and Slim Pickens (1919-1983)] is less well-known. The scene is a contender. The action and dialogue are noteworthy on their own merits, but joined with the powerful song, the scene reaches a sublime height. It offers us a profound dramatization of a myth that Americans used to live intimately with.