Sam Peckinpah Poll

[erik]

Because he butted heads with studio execs and penny-pinching producers more than a few times, Sam Peckinpah would have been hard for Hollywood to handle anyway. But because he frequently made complex meditations on Man's violent side, and did so with cascading montages, slow-motion, bullets, and blood, he acquired the name "Bloody Sam"--a sobriquet that is not, however, the whole story.

So, of the fourteen films this "hard case" from Fresno, California (who was politically speaking as liberal as Michael Moore) made, which one of them is your favorite?

Here's Mr. Peckinpah, on location in Europe in 1976 making his World War II opus CROSS OF IRON:

[arjan]

I can honestly say that I didn't see any of these movies...

[robertaxel]

I opt for 'Pat Garrett' - a somewhat similar theme to 'The Wild Bunch' in that it deals with the closing of an era, but a more somber tone to it, highlighted by Dylan's classic 'Knocking on Heaven's Door'. I recommend the uncut version, which is much closer to Peckinpah's vision.

Robert

[erik]

I went with THE WILD BUNCH because of its epic scope, the cinematography, the first-rate acting from all concerned (including the underrated Robert Ryan as a sympathetic heavy), and the incredible editing. It's true that Peckinpah's violence is more than some can take, and he never makes his films into black-and-white meditations (he's of an ambiguous persuasion), but he understood the dynamics of the human animal better than most filmmakers, in my opinion.

PAT GARRETT is also a first-class western, significantly less violent than THE WILD BUNCH, and also quite a bit bleaker (though the film that came after, ALFREDO GARCIA, is incredibly dark in tone).

STRAW DOGS, which recently came out on video in England after being banned there for two decades, is a unique film in Peckinpah's canon because it was the first time he explored Man's violent instincts in a non-Western setting (England itself), and in its dark-gray cinematography could easily be considered a modern Gothic horror film.

[Andrew]

Thanks for setting this one up. I've never heard of this director, and have seen none of the films, and only heard of two. So I've got some new stuff to check out. Always excited about that...I like the feel of westerns, but not crazy about the macho stuff. To be honest, I've never seen a John Wayne movie in my life.

[robertaxel]

Andrew;

I would recommend 'The Searchers' for an introduction into John Wayne's films. Not only is the cinematography amazing, but it is an exploration rather than a defense of the macho mystique of the macho Western genre.

Robert

[westendkid]

Straw Dogs, s'il vous plait.

[Antonio]

I have some problems in identifying the movies, cause the titles of Italian editions are often totally different from the original ones.
I guess 'The Wild Bunch' could be my fave, but Convoy also was not bad. I need to identify several titles though and did not see some others.