Our Daily Bread #1

A man from 1980 shoots a man from 1917, and a man from 1917 shoots a man from 1980 in images from _Straight Shooting_ & _Heaven's Gate_.
Neil Bahadur

Our Daily Bread is a column on not necessarily beautiful images, nor similar images, but images that when brought together interact in meaningful ways.


Nearly 70 years passed between John Ford's Straight Shooting (1917) and Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate (1980), during which sound had been added, color had been added, and the dimensions of the screen had changed. Yet, within those years, the central idea stayed the same; America as a vast landscape, but where trespassers are not allowed refuge. Killers turn to look at us, and then ride off into the river, the footsteps of their steeds corrupting nature as they leave. Therefore, a man from 1980 shoots a man from 1917, and a man from 1917 shoots a man from 1980.

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