Paris, Texas - STEVEN R. TABOR

Paris, Texas

Paris, Texas is a 1984 film directed by Wim Wenders and which stars Harry Dean Stanton as Travis. The plot focuses on Travis who, after mysteriously wandering out of the desert, attempts to reunite with his brother and seven-year-old son. After reconnecting with his son, he and the boy embark on a voyage through the American Southwest to track down Travis' long-missing wife. Figuratively, the film is a slow, moody, and delicate study about a man who once ran away from everything, and now is learning to forgive himself, by finally facing the people he abandoned.

The film score to Paris, Texas was written and performed by Ry Cooder. His slide guitar work is haunting, delicate and stunningly pretty. The score is stark, quiet, and matches the bleak Southwest landscape perfectly. The film also contains one of the most memorable and unusual openings ever. There is the sound of Ry Cooder's lonely single note twangy guitar together with the majestic vistas, rock formations, and the open desert on the screen. Harry Dean Stanton, looking as weathered as the desert itself, walks out of the dry and desolate landscape, wearing a worn-out black sports jacket and a dusty red baseball cap.

From the first time I heard the score to Paris, Texas, I knew that this was music that transforms you emotionally. It makes me think of sadness, desolation, desperation and depression. The images I've included in the series are taken from a desert in the UAE, which is as remote and desolate as is much of rural Texas.

If you'd like to see the full version, download the PDF catalog here.