Ammunition Smuggling on the Mexican Border
Synopsis
Around the film hang fascinating questions about border politics, which Iāll touch on in an introduction before the screening. One of Eugene Buckās motivations for making the film may have been his rough cross-examination during his kidnappersā first trials, in October 1913, when defense attorneys cast him as a confused and unreliable witness against idealistic freedom fighters. On film he could reproduce the pursuit, the shootouts, his kidnapping, and his friendās murder just as he had testified. Reenacting the crime on film may have been the best revengeāand a way to honor the sacrifice of Deputy Ortiz, a twenty-year police veteran and, for the era, a rare Mexican American lawman.
Where to watch
Not currently available to stream in United States.
