The Hired Hand

Directed and starring Peter Fonda and written by Alan Sharp, The Hired Hand is the story of a man returning home after going away for seven years as he tries to win back his wife by becoming her hired hand. The film is an unusual western as it explores a man dealing with abandoning his wife as well as gaining some redemption. Also starring Verna Bloom and Warren Oates. The Hired Hand is a ravishing and touching film from Peter Fonda.

The film follows a drifter and his friend whose years of trying to find work forces him to return home to the wife he abandoned and win her back by becoming her hired hand. It’s a film with a simple story as it explores a man who had been away for seven years as the years of drifting from one place to another and a violent encounter with a corrupt gang leader forces him to return home. Alan Sharp’s screenplay begins with Harry Collings (Peter Fonda) roaming around place to place with his friend Arch Harris (Warren Oates) and a young man named Dan Griffen (Robert Pratt) as their companion as they go into this remote desert town where trouble occurs. Following this troubling encounter, Collings decides to return home to his estranged wife Hannah (Verna Bloom) whom he hadn’t seen in seven years as she is not happy to see him. Her disdain towards him is something Collings understands as he realizes what she had to do to survive as it bear some elements of feminism in the script. Especially as Collings realize that tending to the farm is not enough to win her back while Harris yearns to see the ocean as he helps out so that Collings could get his redemption.

Peter Fonda’s direction is very unusual in his approach to creating a western as it doesn’t play into some of the conventional tropes in favor of something more meditative as well as reflective. Shot largely on location in New Mexico, the film’s first act is set in a river and later in the desert at this remote town where Fonda would use some wide shots for some of the locations but also some unique close-ups of the characters. Fonda’s approach to style doesn’t just play into some of the close-ups and medium shots he would create for much of the film but also in these evocative montages filled with superimposed images and dissolves that add a very poetic quality to the film.

Notably as it play into not just the sense of guilt that Collings is filled with but also this determination to redeem himself to his wife Hannah as well as the fact that he has a young daughter named Janey (Megan Denver) he just learned about. There is a confrontation in its third act but Fonda would aim for something unconventional as it’s more about a man needing to fight for a reason rather than just be in a shootout as well as a vow he’s made to the woman he loved and abandoned in the hope he wouldn’t do so ever again. Overall, Fonda creates a dream-like yet intoxicating film about a man being a hired hand for his estranged wife.

Cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond does brilliant work with the film’s gorgeous and dream-like cinematography with its natural usage of sunlight for some of the scenes at the forest home of Hannah as well as the usage of low-key lights for the scenes set at night. Editor Frank Mazzola does amazing work with the editing with its stylish usage of montages through its superimposed dissolves and stylish approach to freeze-frames as it’s a major highlight of the film. Production designer Lawrence G. Paull and set decorator Robert De Vestel do fantastic work with the look of the desert town with its ruined stones and bricks as well as the look of Hannah’s home.

Costume designer Richard Bruno does nice work with the costumes from the ragged look of the clothes the men wear early in the film to the simple look of Hannah. Sound editor James Nelson does terrific work with the sound as it is very straightforward to play into some of the quiet sounds of the location as well as some of the gunfire that occurs in some of the action scenes. The film’s music by Bruce Langford is excellent for its rapturous music score that is filled with rich acoustic instruments and woodwind sounds that help give the film a dream-like feel that is just intoxicating to listen to.

The film’s superb cast include some notable small roles from Owen Orr and Ted Markland as a couple of henchmen for a local outlaw, Ann Doran as a neighbor of Hannah, Robert Pratt as Collings and Harris’ traveling companion Dan Griffen, Rita Rogers as a Mexican woman that is mistreated by the brutish local outlaw, Megan Denver as Hannah’s daughter Janey, and Severn Darden as the brutal outlaw McVey as a man who runs a remote desert town and tries to get Collings and Harris into trouble.

Verna Bloom is brilliant as Hannah as a woman who has a lot of pent-up anger towards Collings as she isn’t eager to have his help while she doesn’t trust Harris despite the fact that she knows that he’s a good man. Warren Oates is amazing as Arch Harris as a cowboy who is eager to see the ocean knowing that his days of drifting are gone as he tries to help out at Hannah’s home and farm as well as lament on the life Collings would have if he chooses to stay with Hannah. Finally, there’s Peter Fonda in an excellent performance as Harry Collings as a drifter that is trying to redeem himself to his ex-wife as he would fix things at her home while dealing with the years of drifting that lead to nothing as well as being forced to fight again to protect the things he’s starting to regain as it’s a very understated role from Fonda.

The Hired Hand is a remarkable film from Peter Fonda that features great performances from Fonda, Verna Bloom, and Warren Oates. Along with Vilmos Zsigmond’s beautiful cinematography, Frank Mazzola’s dizzying editing, and Bruce Langford’s haunting score, the film is a very unconventional yet rich western that bear elements expected in the genre but also with ideas on feminism and a woman’s role in the West. In the end, The Hired Hand is a sensational film from Peter Fonda.

© thevoid99 2017

Major Dundee

Directed by Sam Peckinpah and screenplay by Peckinpah, Harry Julian Fink, and Oscar Saul from a story by Fink, Major Dundee is the story of a Union cavalry officers who bands together a group of Army regulars, Confederate soldiers, and Indian scouts to destroy the Apache who had been attacking towns in Texas and New Mexico. The film is a western set during the American Civil War where a man has to put aside differences and settle old grudges just so he can do what is right for America against the Apache as Charlton Heston play the titular role of Major Amos Dundee. Also starring Richard Harris, Jim Hutton, Slim Pickens, Ben Johnson, Warren Oates, Senta Berger, and James Coburn. Major Dundee is a thrilling and captivating film from Sam Peckinpah.

Set in late 1864 during the final months of the American Civil War, the film is about a Union cavalry officer who is trying to go after the Apache following an attack on a fort where many of its residents including women and children were killed with some kids taken by the Apache. Realizing he’s outnumbered and needs volunteers, he asks the help of a Confederate captain and other Confederates who are at a fort as prisoners in exchange for their pardons. With a group that includes a few Indian scouts, African-American Union soldiers, and a ragtag group of thieves and cowboys. Major Amos Charles Dundee would go after the Apache through Mexico despite the fact that Mexico is under the control of the French who are American allies. Along the way, the group of men who are very different and with very different loyalties must band together as well as deal with Major Dundee’s thirst for glory.

The film’s screenplay is interesting not just for the development of Major Dundee but also several characters that include Captain Benjamin Tyree (Richard Harris) who was once a friend of Dundee until Tyree was court-martialed following a duel where Dundee was the deciding vote. Tyree reluctantly agrees to help Dundee in taking down the Apache but once they finish the mission, Tyree wants to settle the score with Dundee. Still, Tyree was able to get some of his men and other Confederate soldiers to volunteer in the hopes that they will be pardoned though they still have to follow Dundee’s orders which they reluctantly do as well as share the same rations with African-American soldiers. Much of the film is told through the eyes of a young trooper named Ryan (Michael Anderson Jr.) who is a bugler as he volunteers to join the company where he does a lot of the narrating as he expresses his thoughts and the length of the journey to find the Apache.

Other characters such as the one-armed scout Samuel Potts (James Coburn) and the inexperienced. Lt. Graham (Jim Hutton) are characters who watch everything from afar but also kind of serve as consciences in the film with Potts being someone who is a tracker that knows his role. The script also has this unique structure where much of the first half is set in New Mexico and Texas with the second half set in Mexico where there is a change in the morale of the men but also in the setting. Especially where Dundee and Tyree start to compete for the affections of an Austrian widow living in a small pueblo that had been captured by the French. Upon liberating the pueblo and getting a break from battle, it is clear that Dundee has stirred up more trouble with the French as well as some schism in his company as it is clear that pride and ego sometimes get in the way of what is really important. Especially as Dundee has to realize what he must face and know that he can’t do it all by himself.

Sam Peckinpah’s direction is quite vast as it play into the world that is the West as it’s shot entirely in various locations in Mexico. Peckinpah’s usage of the wide and medium shots play into look of the deserts, mountains, and rivers as while maintaining some intimacy in the way he shoots the characters through close-ups and medium shots. Especially in how he would shoot some of the dramatic moments and tension that looms into the film as Peckinpah adds that air of realism about the group of people Dundee is leading. Peckinpah’s usage of low-angles also play into the way Dundee rules over everyone but also in the fact that Dundee sees himself in such a way that it is somewhat disconnected from reality where he would eventually get grounded.

The 2005 restoration version of the film which runs at a running time of 136 minutes is considered by many Peckinpah historians and purists as an improvement over the 123-minute theatrical cut from its original 1965 release. For years, the theatrical version strayed away from the elements of graphic violence and other things that some believe hindered the film as the restored version would feature these things and more. Especially in how Tyree is introduced and how some of the characters cope with death and some of the decisions that Dundee makes. The battle scenes are quite intense where Peckinpah maintains that air of frenzy in how chaotic the battle is as well as creating that air of camaraderie between Dundee and Tyree who are both at their best when they fight together side-by-side. Overall, Peckinpah creates an exhilarating and intense film about a Union cavalry officer trying to stop the Apache with the aid of a ragtag group of volunteers including members of the Confederate army.

Cinematographer Sam Leavitt does brilliant work with the film‘s cinematography that is filled with gorgeous colors of many of the daytime exteriors including the detail in the look of the flags as well as some unique lighting for scenes set at night. Editors Howard Kunin, William A. Lyon, and Donald W. Starling do excellent work with the editing as it‘s got some style with its rhythmic cuts for the action and suspense as well as some nice transition dissolves. Art director Alfred Ybarra does nice work with the set design from the look of the forts as well as the pueblo that Dundee and his company would liberate.

Costume designer Tom Dawson does terrific work with the costumes from the ragged clothes of some of the volunteers to the stuffy uniform of the French army that Dundee‘s men mock. The sound work of James Z. Flaster and Rafael Ruiz Esparza do superb work with the sound as it play into the atmosphere of the deserts as well as in a party sequence as well in some of the battle scenes. The film’s music by Christopher Caliendo, for its 2005 restoration, is amazing as it has that nice mixture of orchestral bombast with traditional Mexican-based music with the latter to play for much of the film’s second half as the score, that replaces the original 1965 score by Daniel Amfitheatrof, is considered an improvement.

The film’s marvelous cast include some notable small roles from Aurora Clavel as a woman who helps Dundee regain his health, Begona Palacios as a woman Ryan had an affair with at the pueblo, Albert Carrier as a French lancers commander, Jose Carlos Ruiz as an Apache scout Ryan is suspicious about, Karl Swenson as Dundee’s second-in-command at the fort, and Michael Pate as the Apache leader Sierra Charriba who tries to cause trouble against the army. Other noteworthy small roles as members of the company under Dundee include Dub Taylor as the horse thief Priam, John Davis Chandler as a racist Confederate soldier, R.G. Armstrong as the reverend who is the company’s moral guide, L.Q. Jones and Warren Oates as a couple of brothers who are loyal to Tyree, Brock Peters as the African-American soldier Aesop who leads his small band of African-American soldiers that eventually gets the trust of the Confederate volunteers, and Slim Pickens in a fantastic performance as the drunken mule-packer Wiley.

Ben Johnson is terrific as Tyree’s loyal sergeant Chillum who is reluctant to take orders from Dundee yet proves to be very helpful. Mario Adorf is superb as Sgt. Gomez as Dundee’s right-hand man who is able to organize things as well as help Tyree late in the film following some of the chaos in the third act. Senta Berger is wonderful as Teresa Santiago as an Austrian-born widow of a doctor who becomes an object of affection for Dundee as well as Tyree to a lesser extent on the latter as she copes with the chaos of war. Michael Anderson Jr. is excellent as Ryan as a young bugle trooper who gets his first real taste of battle as he recalls a lot of the things he sees in the narration as well as reflecting on his own misjudgment and understanding of things. Jim Hutton is brilliant as Lt. Graham as an inexperienced artilleryman who hasn’t had much time in the battlefield yet would eventually do things to help Dundee and prove his worth in battle.

James Coburn is amazing as the one-armed, half-Indian Samuel Potts as this scout is who is kind of the film’s conscience as he is someone that knows what the Apache would do but also cope with their actions as well as what Dundee tries to do. Richard Harris is phenomenal as Captain Benjamin Tyree as this Confederate soldier that does have a legitimate grudge with Dundee yet is willing to help him destroy the Apache while being someone who is a gentleman and knows what to do in handling things where he still upholds some aspect of honor. Finally, there’s Charlton Heston in an incredible performance as the titular character as this cavalry officer who is hoping to attain some glory following some mistakes he made at Gettysburg while he copes with his duty as Heston isn’t afraid to display flaws into the character where Heston does ham it up a bit but also display a vulnerability and humility as it’s one of Heston’s more overlooked performances.

Major Dundee is a remarkable film from Sam Peckinpah that is highlighted by the top-notch performances of Charlton Heston, Richard Harris, and James Coburn. In its 2005 restoration version, it’s a film that features a great ensemble cast, amazing battle scenes, and compelling themes on duty and honor. It’s a film that isn’t just a western that plays with its convention but also create something that is thrilling. In the end, Major Dundee is a sensational film from Sam Peckinpah.

Sam Peckinpah Films: The Deadly Companions - Ride the High Country - Noon Wine - The Wild Bunch - The Ballad of Cable Hogue - Straw Dogs - Junior Bonner - The Getaway - Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid - Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia - The Killer Elite - Cross of Iron - Convoy - The Osterman Weekend - The Auteurs #62: Sam Peckinpah

© thevoid99 2016

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia

Directed by Sam Peckinpah and screenplay by Peckinpah and Gordon Dawson from a story by Peckinpah and Frank Kowalski, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia is the story of an ex-army officer who joins in a quest to find the head of a dead man for a bounty where he encounters all sorts of trouble. Though it is set in a contemporary setting, the film is a Western of sorts where a man deals with many others to collect the bounty for a crime lord who wants the head of this dead man. Starring Warren Oates, Isela Vega, Robert Webber, Gig Young, Helmut Dantine, Kris Kristofferson, and Emilio Fernandez. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia is an absolutely violent and rapturous film from Sam Peckinpah.

When a crime lord learns about his daughter has been impregnated by a man named Alfredo Garcia, he puts a bounty on the man’s head where a group of criminals get a former American army officer to do the job unaware that the reward is a million dollars. It’s a film where a man knows who Garcia is as he’s been tasked to do a deed where he’ll be paid handsomely as he brings along his prostitute girlfriend who also knows Garcia where the two go on a road trip through Mexico. Yet, they would also encounter bounty hunters and all sorts of people who either know about the bounty or those that just want to cause trouble.

The film’s screenplay isn’t about this trip that Bennie (Warren Oates) has to make with Elita (Isela Vega) but also the chance for a good life with the money he’s to be given. Still, Bennie has to endure all sorts of things as he’s seen a lot of good and bad things in his life where he wants something new and different which is among the reasons why he took the job. While trekking through Mexico where he would encounter bikers, strange men, and all sorts of people. He wonders why is people interested in Garcia who is already dead and why the need for his head? Especially in the film’s second half where he would retrieve the head despite many complications but also a trail of bodies that include some innocent people. It plays into a man being caught in the middle of a quest where he eventually finds out why the need for the head of a dead man.

Sam Peckinpah’s direction is definitely intense in terms of the level of violence and suspense that plays out into the film. Especially as it opens very serenely where a young pregnant woman looks out at the river of her family villa until her father known as El Jefe (Emilio Fernandez) demands to know who the father of the child is. It plays into this air of suspense where many men from different parts of Mexico along with some American and European criminals who all go around Mexico to find anyone who knows Alfredo Garcia. All of this happens in the first 10-15 minutes of the film as it establishes what is going on where a couple of Americans meet Bennie at a bar he runs where he’s playing piano as they ask him about Garcia. Peckinpah’s approach to close-ups and medium shot help play into the intimacy that occurs including Bennie’s relationship with Elita where it’s playful at times but also a bit one-sided considering that Elita sleeps with other men much to Bennie’s chagrin. By the time the film moves into the Mexican countryside where Peckinpah takes great advantage of the desert locations with its wide and medium shots. He also knows how to build up moments of suspense such as an encounter that Bennie and Elita would have with a couple of bikers that would end violently.

It would set the tone for things to come where Peckinpah does infuse elements of style into the way he approaches the violence where some of it is quite gruesome. Especially in the third act as it involves shootouts and such where Bennie is forced to come to terms with what he’s doing as well as why Garcia’s head means so much to this crime lord in the middle of Latin America. It all plays into Bennie being someone of the old ways where it’s the new world that is coming into play where the new world order doesn’t care how many lives are worth for the head of one man but for Bennie. These lives actually matter as it shows that money can’t buy everything. Overall, Peckinpah creates a riveting yet wild film about a man going on a trip to retrieve a dead man’s head.

Cinematographer Alex Phillips Jr. does excellent work with the film’s cinematography with its usage of grainy film stock to play up the brooding tone of the film as well as the griminess of the locations in Mexico with its approach to natural lights for its daytime/nighttime exterior scenes. Editors Dennis Dolan, Sergio Ortega, and Robbe Roberts do brilliant work with the editing with its stylish usage of jump-cuts, slow-motion cuts, and other rhythmic cuts to play into the action as well as some of the dark and violent moments of the film. Art director Agustin Ituarte does nice work with the set design from the look of a hotel suite where Bennie is given the job to the home of El Jefe.

Sound editor Michael Colgan does superb work with the sound from the usage of sound effects in the shootouts to the raucous atmosphere in the bars and places the characters go to. The film’s music by Jerry Fielding is amazing for its mixture of traditional Mexican folk music with bits of orchestral flourishes that play into the world of Mexico and the aspects that is the West.

The casting by Claudia Becker is fantastic as it features some notable small appearances from Janine Maldonado as El Jefe’s pregnant daughter and Kris Kristofferson as a biker who harasses Elita. Emilio Fernandez is superb as El Jefe as this crime lord who puts a bounty for whoever gets the head of Alfredo Garcia while Helmut Dantine is terrific as a European businessman who orders Bennie to find Garcia’s head where he will pay him a good sum as he wants to deliver the head to collect the bounty. Robert Webber and Gig Young are excellent in their respective roles as the American hitmen Sappensly and Johnny Quill who meet with Bennie early in the film in finding Garcia as they later track him down to collect the bounty.

Isela Vega is brilliant as Elita as this prostitute who knew Garcia as she reluctantly joins Bennie on the trip where she copes with the encounter with the bikers as well as what Bennie is going to do though she too craves for a better life. Finally, there’s Warren Oates in a phenomenal performance as Bennie as this former Army officer who likes to play piano and get drunk where he is given a chance to make money by retrieving a dead man’s head where he gets more than he bargains for where Oates is quite tough but also shows a vulnerability that is rarely displayed as it is Oates in his greatest performance.

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia is a spectacular film from Sam Peckinpah that features an incredible performance from Warren Oates. It’s a film that is absolutely uncompromising in terms of violence and the inhumanity a man faces in his quest to retrieve a man’s head. Even as it is presented with a sense of grittiness and excessive violence that isn’t afraid to be out there and to the fucking point as it is a pure example of “fuck you” cinema. In the end, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia is an astonishing film from Sam Peckinpah.

Sam Peckinpah Films: The Deadly Companions - Ride the High Country - Major Dundee - Noon Wine - The Wild Bunch - The Ballad of Cable Hogue - Straw Dogs - Junior Bonner - The Getaway - Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid - The Killer Elite - Cross of Iron - Convoy - The Osterman Weekend - The Auteurs #62: Sam Peckinpah

© thevoid99 2015

Badlands

Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 12/17/05 w/ Additional Edits.

1970s American cinema had their share of heroes in the directors. Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Altman, Peter Bogonovich, Martin Scorsese, Sidney Lumet, and many more. Then there was one director whose visual style filled with poetry of doom, love, and irony who stood out among them all. Though he would only make two films in that decade before disappearing for 20 years, his work remained to be highly influential in the years to come and since. His name was Terrence Malick, a Texas-born, Harvard-grad student in philosophy.

After attending and exiting Oxford, Malick became a freelance journalist and taught philosophy at another college before finally getting a chance to become a screenwriter after doing re-writes for such films as Deadhead Miles, Drive, He Said, and an uncredited re-write for Dirty Harry (none of the material he wrote was used). After helming a short called Lanton Hills for his American Film Institute studies, he got his first official writing credit for co-writing Pocket Money that starred Paul Newman & Lee Marvin. Then, through independent investors and a non-union crew, Malick unleashed his talents in 1973 with his debut feature Badlands.

Written and directed by Malick, Badlands is a story inspired by the Starkweather-Fugate murder spree of the 1950s about a couple who go on a killing spree across the U.S. Using a voice-over narrative style from the perspective of a young teenage girl running away with a 20-something garbage man inspired by James Dean. Malick brings an elliptical, visual-poetic style to his story while shooting the film with a trio of cameraman and a small crew on a budget that was less than $350,000. Starring Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek, Warren Oates, Alan Vint, and Ramon Bieri. Badlands is a brilliant, seminal crime debut from one of American cinema's most enduring yet mysterious directors.

It's 1959 in South Texas as a garbage man named Kit (Martin Sheen) wanders around town where he meets a young teenage girl named Holly (Sissy Spacek) who both seem out of place with the rest of the world around them. After quitting his job and working in a cattle ranch, Kit and Holly immediately become a couple much to the chagrin of her father (Warren Oates). Disapproving the relationship, Holly’s father tries to end it by several means, which included a conversation with Kit. Then one day, Kit breaks into their house and get her things when he is caught by her father. Carrying a gun, Kit kills Holly's father as tries to figure out what to do while confessing something on record as he burns the home and goes on the run with Holly.

Deciding to hide out near a river in the woods, the two decide to make homes while living off fish and live animals while making traps for intruders. When intruders finally came as Kit kills three hunters and he and Holly go on the run where they decided to stay at a friend of Kit named Cato (Ramon Bieri). Things go fine only that Kit's paranoia gets the best of him as Cato lays dying. Now knowing that he is in big trouble, Kit plans to make headway to Canada with Holly in tow. After putting a couple in a cellar near Cato's home, he and Holly leave where they've now become a big threat in Middle America.

After hiding out briefly in the home of a rich man (John N. Carter) with his deaf maid (Dona Baldwin), Holly ponders what would've happened if she never met Kit as the two leave the house and make their way towards North. Often turning to her collection of media magazines and dreaming of a better world, Holly wonders if Kit does have it all planned out. Even through the plains of the mid-west through South Dakota, Holly wonders if Kit's got the brains to hold a job down. After attempts to try other means of transportation, they continue on the road where after a gas stop, a helicopter catches them. Holly has had enough as Kit makes a run for it only to wonder if he has any time left till a deputy (Alan Vint) finally captures him.

Though it's only an interpretive view on Starkweather-Fugate murders, Malick's view on making the central characters more human while being indifferent to their actions is truly remarkable for its originality. They’re definitely alienated by some form of society whereas Kit has a desire to be some kind of icon and couldn't relate to the trappings of holding down a job or doing something that isn't adventurous. Holly meanwhile, is also bored in her own existence where she only lives at home with her father and escapes through her world of celebrity. Still, it's not a film about killers but dreamers who have no way of fitting into the world only to find themselves doing bad things and realize their own flaws right to the end.

One of the unique ideas of Malick's approach to storytelling is his approach to voice-over narration where it's in the perspective of Holly. Her narration is very reminiscing about how she remembered things while not displaying any kind of moral judgment though she's aware of the bad things Kit is doing. Still, there's a nice humanity and innocence to that narrative approach where in the ending for their downfall, there's an acceptance from those two characters about their own fates. Even though their actions will damn them, it's the acceptance that kind of redeems them. Even in one scene where they hide out in the rich man's house where Kit does something that becomes a development of his character. The development of characters is something that makes the audience seem to like Kit and Holly. It's also something that is part of Malick's genius as a writer along with his unique approach to structure.

On the directing front, Malick takes advantage of the low budget funding he uses by shooting entirely on location. From the quaint, idyllic towns in South Texas and South Dakota to the more broad, plain fields of the deserts and rivers. While his approach in telling the story might be elliptical only to build up momentum, it works since he goes for landscapes and whatever houses Kit and Holly to create whatever situation they're in. The camera movements and shooting is very observant to some scenes where Malick is shooting from feet away while giving the characters time to have fun and be themselves. The use of camera that Malick brings is very poetic in terms of capturing the true look of the American Heartland right, smack in the middle of it. It's truly a down-home American film.

Helping Malick is his poetic, stark vision of the American Heartland is a trio of cinematographers in Tak Fujimoto, Steve Larner, and Brian Probyn. Many of the film's photography has many of what visual elements Malick would have where all the lighting is real with its enormous backdrop of sunlight, moons, and headlights bringing many of the film's exterior scenes to come away with its evocative imagery. The film's interior scenes are also shot with natural lighting with either the sun or lamps to provide the lighting. In many ways, the film's look is truly American where its almost reminiscent of the paintings of those times as it provides one of the greatest technical moments of the film. Helping out in the visual department is art director Jack Fisk, who would become Malick's longtime collaborator, who does a great job in designing many of the film's down-home antiques for the houses, especially Cato's home along with the house that Kit and Holly built near the river.

With its 95-minute running time, the film could've felt or been longer but it's tightly edited by Robert L. Estrin while using a lot of wonderful fade-out cuts for the film's unique approach to storytelling. Sound designer James Nelson also does great work in the sound in terms of capturing the natural sounds of helicopters, guns, and everything around the film. Finally, there is the music of the film that features a couple of songs where they're both used for memorable dance scenes. One song is the very upbeat Love Is Strange by Mickey & Sylvia that provides a very happy moment with that cowbell in tow. Another great music moment is another dance scene at night in front of a car where Kit & Holly slow dance to Nat King Cole's A Blossom Fell. With other score cuts from Erik Satie, James Taylor, and composers Carl Orff and Gunild Keetman, the most memorable score piece that's been used relentlessly is a xylophone-like score cut by George Aliceson Tipton that opens and closes the movie while being played in the middle somewhere. It's one of the best pieces of music ever heard.

Then we have the film's cast that includes some small, memorable appearances from John N. Carter as the rich man who is taken hostage and Dona Baldwin as the deaf maid. Other small roles including Bryan Montgomery and Gail Threlkeld as the couple who gets put into a cellar; Charles Fitzpatrick as a employment clerk for Kit in the film's early scenes; Alan Vint as a deputy who captures Kit and the elusive Terrence Malick in a cameo as a salesman in the scene when Kit is at the rich man's home. Ramon Bieri is excellent in a small, memorable role as Kit's friend Cato who has some great lines in an early scene while his motives later on after what Kit has done becomes questionable as he gives a great performance in his final moments. Warren Oates is also great in his role as Holly's protective, strict father who isn't really a bad guy although he is the reason for her own alienation as Oates brings a memorable performance.

The best performances easily goes to the leading actors in Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek. The two together brings a natural, innocent kind of chemistry where despite their bad deeds are entirely likeable and human. There's never a dull moment when those two are together while separately they have great individual moments. Martin Sheen brings a performance that if described in one word, it would be... cool. While his actions as a killer brings an edge to him, Sheen becomes totally laid back after killing someone or morally upset while in the film's final moments, he accepts his role and just acts cool throughout the entire film. Sissy Spacek brings a dreamy innocence to her role while adding a calmness to everything around her, especially Kit while being the more mature person of sorts in the relationship. It's truly a remarkable performance from one of American cinema's finest actresses, who would later marry the film's art director Jack Fisk.

***Additional DVD Content Written from 12/17/12-7/23/13***

When Badlands was first released on the then-new DVD format in 1999 by Warner Brothers, the film was presented with a remastered 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound in English as well as being presented in both full-screen and the widescreen format. It was a decent release for its time but in the years since, the bare-bones edition felt pale in comparison to the subsequent DVD/Blu-Ray releases the Criterion Collection had done for Terrence Malick’s two subsequent features in Days of Heaven and The Thin Red Line. After years of waiting, Badlands finally arrives in the presentation the film deserves.

The 2013 Region 1 DVD/Region A Blu-Ray presents the film in a new 4k digital transfer by its auteur Terrence Malick with additional help from cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki who has been Malick’s regular collaborator since The New World. The DVD is presented in 1:85:1 theatrical aspect ratio in the widescreen format with Dolby Digital Mono. The DVD set includes various features relating to the film.

The first is a 41-and-a-half minute interview with actors Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek as well as longtime Malick collaborator/Spacek’s husband in art director Jack Fisk. Sheen and Spacek talk about Malick’s approach to acting where he lets them find the characters in the performance as both of them also reveal their hesitations in playing the role. Sheen for the fact that he was 31 when the film was made while Spacek wasn’t sure about using her Texan accent as she had been told for years to drop the accent. Jack Fisk talks about his collaboration with Malick and how Fisk was very helpful to Malick’s vision as Malick was very new to the world of filmmaking. Spacek talks about Fisk’s contributions as she felt helped her be more in tune with her character as they also talk about Malick’s approach to voice-over narration as it’s a very engrossing piece about the film and how it was made as well as Malick’s approach to filmmaking.

The 22-minute interview with longtime Malick collaborator Billy Weber has the editor talking about not just Malick’s approach to editing but also in the way he uses voice-overs and music in film. Weber who was an associate editor in the film talked Malick’s unique style as well as how Francois Truffaut’s 1970 film The Wild Child would be influential in Malick’s approach to voice-over narration. Weber also talks about how this film is different from the films Malick would do later on as this film had more dialogue and more written voice-over as opposed to the looseness that would be prevalent in later films.

The 12-and-a-half minute interview with producer Edward Pressman has him talking about not just the making of the film but also the difficulties of working on a low-budget film. Pressman reveals how he and Malick had met as they were both fans of the French New Wave as well as auteur-driven films as Pressman was in total support of Malick despite the fact that he was a first-time filmmaker. Pressman also talked about the film’s official theatrical release where it didn’t do well as it was first presented in a double feature with Mel Brooks’ comedy classic Blazing Saddles where it got a poor reception. After its theatrical run, Pressman revealed that it took subsequent TV airings and such for the film to find its footing.

The 21-minute excerpt of the TV program American Justice on a 1993 episode about Charles Starkweather discusses the murder spree that would inspire Badlands. The 1958 murder spree that Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate would take part in where eleven people including Fugate’s family were killed in the span of eight days until their capture. The special plays into the infamy of the murders as well as Starkweather’s peculiar behavior as he had confessed to the killings. The special also shows excerpts of Fugate’s interviews in the 1970s and 1990s as she expressed remorse for her actions.

The DVD also includes the film’s trailer and a booklet that features an essay by filmmaker Michael Almereyda entitled Misfits. The essay discusses the film and why it stood out from a lot of the crime-dramas that was coming out of the late 60s and early 70s while reflecting a moment in time that seemed to have this warped idea of innocence as the film was released during a tumultuous period in America. Almereyda uses a lot of text from Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find as well as other quotes of O’Connor to convey the world that the film’s characters live in and why they’re misfits in some ways. Almereyda also noted the contrast the film had with Martin Scorsese’s 1973 breakthrough film Mean Streets where both films premiered at the New York Film Festival that year as both filmmakers made very different cameos in their respective films. It’s a wonderful essay that accompanies a truly amazing DVD/Blu-Ray release.

***End of DVD Tidbits***

Badlands is truly one of the greatest directorial debuts ever created from one of cinema's most enduring visionaries in Terrence Malick.  Featuring phenomenal performances from Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek, it is a film that takes the crime genre and adding a sense of Romanticism through its story and visual images.  In comparison to the films he would do later on, this is Malick's most accessible as it's a film driven by characters going on the run.  It's also his most entertaining in terms of what is expected in a crime, road-film genre like this.  In the end, Badlands is a superb debut film from Terrence Malick and company.

Terrence Malick Films: Days of Heaven - The Thin Red Line - The New World - The Tree of Life - To the Wonder - Knight of Cups - Voyage of Time: The IMAX Experience - (Voyage of Time: Life's Journey) - Song to Song - A Hidden Life - (The Way of the Wind)

© thevoid99 2011

The Wild Bunch

Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 7/16/06 w/ Additional Edits.

Throughout the history of the Western genre, the formula of a Western film is often filled with a duel between a sheriff and a cowboy, whether either one is good or bad. Before the 1960s, the genre was dominated by the likes of John Ford and the films he made with John Wayne. Other Western directors like Anthony Mann, Howard Hawks, and Budd Boetticher were giving the genre some great visual scope and storylines that harkened to the traditional style. When the American Western started to decline in the early 60s thanks to the advent of television, the genre was being reinvented in Europe thanks to Italian directors, notably Sergio Leone. Around that same time, an American film director whose love for the Western was also trying to keep the genre alive. His name was Sam Peckinpah where by 1965, he had already created three films within the genre, 1961's The Deadly Companions, 1962's Ride the High Country, and 1965's Major Dundee. Then in 1969, Peckinpah released a film that not only reinvigorated the genre but also marked the beginning of the end of the West with his violent epic film, The Wild Bunch.

Story by Walon Green and Roy N. Sickner with a script by Green and Peckinpah, The Wild Bunch is a story of pride, honor, and ageism about two ageing thieves with three young men in the early 1900s hoping to make one last score before retirement in Mexico. Trying to capture them is one of their former comrades as the gang make way for Mexico where an offer to make more money is upon them leaving way for betrayal and loss. Taking the Western to newer and bloodier heights, Sam Peckinpah strays away from the myths and ideology by going into a world where the West is dying in its surroundings but not to its major characters. Starring William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O'Brien, Warren Oates, Jaime Sanchez, Ben Johnson, and Alfonso Arau. Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch is a bloody, uncompromising, no-holds-barred violent film that kicks the Western with a bang.

It's a nice day in a little quaint town where a funeral is held while children are watching ants kill a scorpion. Then comes a group of men wearing calvary uniform who are there for one reason once they arrive in a bank, to score some big money for their last heist. Leading the pack is the aging Pike (William Holden) with his longtime friend Dutch (Ernest Borgnine) along with some younger recruits in the brothers Lyle (Warren Oates) and Tector Gorch (Ben Johnson), Mexican friend Angel (Jaime Sanchez), and a crazy newcomer in Clarence Lee (Bo Hopkins). Taking hostages in the bank, Pike proclaims "If they move, kill 'em" while outside of the bank, a group of bounty hunters led by Pike's former comrade Deke Thornton (Robert Ryan) looks on to capture Pike and his men. Realizing they're trapped and by Thornton of all people, Pike and his bunch leave the bank to a wild, bloody battle that claims the life of some towns people and Clarence as they flee to Mexico.

Thornton's plan failed thanks to a couple of guncrazy hunters in Coffer (Strother Martin) and T.C. (L.Q. Jones) as they're all working for a railroad baron named Harrigan (Albert Dekker). Thornton is more conflicted since he wishes he could join Pike's bunch for one more wild ride. After nearing the border in an empty town to meet with their old friend Freddie Sykes (Edmond O'Brien), the bunch realizes the money they stole wasn't there at all as they've been set up to steal washers. Despite the disappointment, Pike hopes to go to Mexico while he and Dutch reminisce the old days as Pike flashes back about Thornton's capture that he felt is a reason for his betrayal. Going further into Mexico, they stop at the village where Angel once lived as they meet an old man named Don Jose (Chano Urueta) who is trying to protect his village from General Mapache (Emilio Fernandez) who is currently at war with anyone in league with Pancho Villa during the Mexican Revolution. Angel wants to lead the fight as he learns that his old love Teresa (Sonia Amelio) is with Mapache as Pike figures that they go to Mapache for something.

The bunch goes to the town to meet Mapache and his men including Major Zamorra (Jorge Russek), Lieutenant Herrera (Alfonso Arau), and a German advisor named Mohr (Fernando Wagner). Angel nearly gets them in trouble when he violently confronts Teresa as Pike makes a deal with Mapache to go back to the U.S. to steal guns and ammunition for Mapache's army. The bunch gets a break as the Gorch brothers go into debauchery with some Mexican women while Angel makes a deal with Pike to get a case of guns for his village in exchange for the share of gold the bunch will get. Thornton, meanwhile plans to capture the bunch in the U.S. by trying to protect the latest shipment of guns for Harrigan.

The bunch returns to the U.S. where they manage to succeed in their mission as Thornton and his gang try to chase them in Mexico along with a U.S. calvary. The bunch almost get into trouble when they meet Mexican Indians only to get protection since they know Angel. After hiding from Thornton, the bunch meets with Herrera as they show them the guns and a lot more including a machine gun. They make a deal with Herrera to give them the shipments through a few meetings so the individual members of the bunch can get their share of the gold. When Dutch and Angel deliver the last shipment to Mapache, it all goes wrong when Angel is taken prisoner as Dutch is forced to leave him. Things get worse when Sykes is wounded on his way back from Mapache's fort when he's spotted by Thornton's men. Pike is forced to make some decisions as they hope to retrieve Angel as the four men make way for a violent, bloody showdown.

Westerns have always lived by a code of honor, especially when it comes to loyalty. In the case for The Wild Bunch, Peckinpah takes that code right to heart. Especially at a time when honor has been in question during the late 1960s at the Vietnam War. In Peckinpah's world, the West starts to die in this film as things like cars and airplanes start to arrive. That becomes real hard for men like Pike, Dutch, Sykes, and even Thornton as the world changes, even in a more loose world like Mexico where there's a car for the General. The car reveals Pike's hatred for the new, modern world as he even reminisces the old days of the West when he wanted everything, even a family with a woman named Aurora (Aurora Clavel). In many ways, the characters and Peckinpah share that sentiment of the old world and its order as the film really represents about a group of men wanting one last taste of the old ways before they die.

Still, despite all the bloodshed and style that Peckinpah presents. He is still a storyteller since the film is really about old men wanting one last chance of excitement by robbing things and stuff yet don't want to kill people unless they have to. While the action does keep the film exciting in every way whether it's against the Mexicans or Thornton's men, Peckinpah balances his love of bloodshed for moments of regret and joy. The script by Peckinpah and Walon Green reveal the kind of camaraderie the men have despite their own individual flaws. Plus, the dialogue between the men range from mean-spirited to just pure hilarity when in one scene just as the bunch are about to cross the border, Angel says "Mexico lindo" and Lyle says "I don't see anything so lindo about it". Even the sense of debauchery when the Gorch brothers swim in a pool of wine with Mexico women is all in good fun to reveal Peckinpah's sense of comedy.

That balance of violence, humor, drama, and sentimentality presents a complex, endearing vision of Peckinpah's perspective of the West. In a genre that is dying from its old model, Peckinpah, like Sergio Leone and the Italian Spaghetti Westerns before him, chose to reinvent the genre. Even to the point that they have to kill it in what became known as the Revisionist Western. For Peckinpah, the Western becomes a brutal allegory of sorts to what was going on in the late 1960s in the age of Vietnam as he decides to let it all out with the film's violence. The violence in the film is very brutal and today, it's still is but not by much in today's violence. Peckinpah's vision of violence is very uncompromising and not for the faint of heart.

Helping Peckinpah in this take of violence are two of his best collaborators in cinematographer Lucien Ballard and editor Lou Lombardo. Ballard's photography captures the tense atmosphere of the West from its sunny, hot deserts to the quaint, blue-green colors of Angel's village with only the moon and fires as the source of light. For some of the action scenes, Ballard's camera work goes from wonderful pans to excellent zooming and close-up shots that reveal his brilliance as a camera man and photographer. His work in the film's final shootout is even great. Lombardo's editing is also genius for its slow-motion editing of bodies falling down, men getting shot, and everything to give the film a sense of style. Lombardo's cutting from sequence to sequence with the use of dissolves, jump-cuts, and perspective cutting gives the film a wonderful rhythm where it moves very leisurely and not too fast as his work is filled with brilliance.

Art director Edward Carrere and wardrobe supervisor Gordon T. Dawson go great work in giving out the film's look from the decaying world of the Mexican fort to the modernization of the cars and guns as well as the look from cowboy gears to the business suit that the German men wear. The sound work of Robert J. Miller is also great for its sense of chaos in the film's violent sequences where the layers of screams, gunplay, bullets hitting bodies, and everything else brings the film to a world that is just crashing down. Jerry Fielding gives a great film score that is filled with amazing orchestral arrangements to play to the film's intensity of its violence and sentimentality while he creates a great drum cadence piece to build momentum for some of the film's violent sequences. The soundtrack is a mix of Fielding's score and Mexican folk music that plays well to the atmosphere that is Mexico.

The film's cast couldn't have been assembled any better as Peckinpah assembled a great cast filled with actors he loved along with great character actors. While actresses Aurora Clavel and Sonia Amelio didn't get much to do, they both bring in a different presence to their film as Clavel is great as Pike's love and Amelio as Angel's indifferent lover. Fernando Wagner as German advisor Mohr and Jorge Russek as Major Zamorra are great in their small roles as the villains while noted Mexican actor/director Alfonso Arau is very memorable as the charming Lt. Herrera. Chano Urueta is great as the aging Don Jose who shares the same ideals of the aging Pike and Dutch as his wiseness brings a great, memorable performance.

Notable Western character actors L.Q. Jones and Strother Martin bring the film's funniest performance as Thornton’s guncrazy, wild bounty hunters who both manage to steal every moment whenever they're on screen. Albert Dekker is great as the greedy Harrigan whose desire is to have money while Bo Hopkins is memorable as the crazy Clarence whose antics and naivete of the world of heist leads to his demise. Emilio Fernandez is great as the power-hungry, funny General Mapache whose love for the battlefield and great weapons, including torture, reveal a fun villain that everyone can remember as Fernandez brings all kinds of fun and sleaziness to a great role.

Jaime Sanchez is great as the lone Mexican of the bunch as Angel who serves not just as the conscience of the group but the one who is as less greedy of them. Sanchez is great in his role for standing among his American actors though in reality, he's Puerto Rican. Ben Johnson is excellent as Tector Gorch with his love for debauchery while equally as good is the late, great character actor Warren Oates who plays the more crazed brother of the bunch. Edmond O'Brien is also excellent as the old yet comical Sykes whose ideology and pride is shared among the older members of the bunch as he stands out for his comical presence.

Robert Ryan is brilliant as Deke Thornton, a man of conflict in his role as a hunter working for a railroad while wishing he could join the bunch as his character is really one of the more complex individuals of the film. Ernest Borgnine is amazing in the role of Dutch as the man who keeps the bunch together whenever they’re fragmented or wanting to break apart. Borgnine is really the group's moral reminder of the code of honor as he stands out for his knowledge and sentimentality for the old ways. William Holden gives probably one of his best performances of his career that ranged to many genres including the Western. Holden is just exhilarating as a man who is starting to feel his age while trying not to be humiliated by the younger members of the bunch. Holden brings a lot of depth to a man filled with pride and honor but also guilt and regret as Holden's face, notably his eyes tells the story of a man with a lot of history. Yet when Holden holds a gun and goes for the kill, he immediately transform into a cool badass.

The Region 1 2006 2-disc Special Edition of the Original Director's Cut of The Wild Bunch from Warner Brothers is truly a DVD that fans of the film will enjoy. The first disc presents the film with a new digital transfer where the entire film, in its director's cut print gives the film the same look when it was originally presented back in 1969. The film is shown on the widescreen, letterbox format of 16x9, 2:4:1 theatrical aspect ratio, which is the only way to see this film in all of its glory to enhance Lucien Ballard's wondrous cinematography. The first disc of the DVD also the 5.1 Dolby Digital audio format while its special features includes several trailers including a film collection of the work of James Dean and trailers to the films of Sam Peckinpah including Ride the High Country, The Ballad of Cable Hogue, The Getaway, and Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid.

The audio commentary feature of the director's cut is by several of Peckinpah biographers, documentarians, and scholars of his work like Nick Redman, Paul Seydor, Garner Simmons, and David Weddle. The commentary from the four men are wonderful to hear since they're having a lot of fun watching the film as they also recall the way Peckinpah worked and his collaboration with screenwriter Walon Green. They also go into detail on the technical aspects as well as many of the interpretations of the scenes in the film. A lot of Peckinpah trivia is there while they reveal what got cut from Peckinpah's original cut which included several flashback sequences and a very important scene involving Mapache fighting against Pancho Villa's men which were all cut for length reasons to Peckinpah's dismay. Overall, it's one of the more enjoyable commentaries of a Western film.

The second disc of the 2-DVD disc set features more special features starting with a nine-minute feature of outtakes of scenes from the film like extended takes and alternate angles of scenes like the desert scene, river border scene, the bridge scene, and the train robbery sequence. Three documentaries are the big features for this 2-DVD disc set starting with the 1996 Oscar nominated documentary short, The Wild Bunch: An Album in Montage. The 33-minute doc short by Paul Seydor reveals black-and-white footage of the film behind the scenes as its being made with producer Nick Redman serving as narrator. The footage reveals the making of the film as well as two important sequences like the final battle and the bridge scene with several people including screenwriter Walon Green and the late Edmond O'Brien commenting on the making of the film through their voices as well as Peckinpah's daughter Sharon.

Actors do the voices of the other actors through interview excerpts with Ed Harris playing the role of Peckinpah reading his interviews and excerpts from his journal. The documentary overall is brilliant for its sheer look into Peckinpah's personality and work ethics while showing some great footage including a short of Ernest Borgnine doing extra work as a safety man helping out the stunt man for the bridge scene.

The second documentary feature is an excerpt of Nick Redman’s documentary A Simple Adventure Story: Sam Peckinpah, Mexico, and The Wild Bunch. The 24-minute doc is really a locations doc as Redman plus Paul Seydor, Garner Simmons, and David Weddle join Peckinpah family friend Jesse Graham and Peckinpah's Mexican daughter Lupita on a journey through the film's locations where most of it was shot in a little town in the middle of Mexico. The doc covers the journey as they reach the little town and explore the abandoned, aging ruins that was the hacienda for General Mapache and see all of its areas in its desolated yet beautiful glory. A few miles away from that location is the camp where the bunch reunite with Sykes while nearby is the location of the town in the opening scene.

With the film's wardrobe supervisor Gordon T. Dawson interviewed about the locations and look of the film, the people in the doc realize that not much has changed except that some places are either looked a bit newer while others are just on the brink of extinction. It's an excellent documentary that reveals the locations from the men who loved Peckinpah's work and the daughter who never really knew her father.

The final documentary is from Starz/Encore movie channels called Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade. Featuring interviews with Peckinpah’s people like his biographers, family members, collaborators, actors including Kris Kristofferson, Stella Stevens, L.Q. Jones, and the late James Coburn. Also interviewed are several admirers like actors Billy Bob Thornton and Benicio del Toro plus film director Paul Schrader and critics like Elvis Mitchell, David Thomson, and Roger Ebert. Directed and produced by Tom Thurman with narration by Kris Kristofferson, the one-hour, 23-minute doc revealed the difficulties and excess of Peckinpah on and off the set which pertains to his legend.

The doc reveals his work in the Westerns which he loved since he was a kid as he started his career as a director working on Western TV shows before helming his feature, 1961's Western The Deadly Companions. Then in 1962, Peckinpah scored his first hit with Ride the High Country which revealed Peckinpah's love for heterosexual male bonding and old Western morals that starred aging Western actors Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott. 1965's Major Dundee proved to be difficult due to fight with studio people and producers and got into squabbles over the final cut as he was dissatisfied with the final result of the film. Then in 1969, he hit pay dirt with The Wild Bunch where once it was first screened during a press screening for new films by Warner Brothers, the film received a lot of controversy.

Roger Ebert recalled that screening and the press conference where Peckinpah and William Holden came to the conference hung over as a woman from The Reader's Digest asked why this film was made. Ebert was there and defended the film by proclaiming it to be a masterpiece while the film divided critics and audiences over its violent content. The film made Peckinpah a big time director while he had certain expectations on what to expect from him. 1970's Western drama The Ballad of Cable Hogue starring Jason Robards, Stella Stevens, and David Warner was well-received and is considered to be Peckinpah's favorite film that he did though it was criticized for its lack of violence. 1972's Junior Bonner also suffered the same criticism in a family drama starring Steve McQueen in a contemporary setting of the West where Peckinpah felt that whenever he brings violence to his films, he gets criticized and when he doesn't put violence, no one will see them.

The doc had brief mentions of the films Peckinpah made between 1969-1974 like Straw Dogs and The Getaway which weren't Westerns but had all of the elements of a Peckinpah film. 1973's Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid in what some say to many of Peckinpah's biographers and collaborators to be the beginning of the end for him. Peckinpah was notorious for his drinking at the time. Thornton and del Toro talked about some favorite scenes as del Toro thought it was cool seeing Bob Dylan throw a knife while Kris Kristofferson talked about his fond memories of making that film. 1974's Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia was another contemporary Western set in the present where Elvis Mitchell said the film was really called Bring Me the Diseased Soul of Sam Peckinpah with longtime character actor Warren Oates playing the lead role. The film was panned by critics as Roger Ebert recalled who gave the film a four-star review and put in his best films list. The documentary winds down to Peckinpah's decline as his own children don't have anything bad to say about him even though he wasn't around them all the time yet he was there for them. Overall, it's a great doc.

More than 35 years since its release, Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch is a quintessential, no-holds-barred, bloody, in-your-face film. Thanks to Peckinpah's wielding, uncompromising vision, and a superb cast, this film is no doubt one of the best movies ever as well as one of the great Westerns. Anyone who isn't into violent imagery or crass language and behaviors should stay away from this because they don't have the guts or cajones to watch this masterpiece. In many ways, this is a guy's movie since it has everything a guy wants. Lots of violence, sexy ladies, great codes of honor, some laughs, and realistic heterosexual male bonding. So in the end, if there's a film that delivers all of those things and gets an audience all riled up, it's The Wild Bunch by the legendary Sam Peckinpah.

Sam Peckinpah Films: The Deadly Companions - Ride the High Country - Major Dundee - Noon Wine - The Ballad of Cable Hogue - Straw Dogs - Junior Bonner - The Getaway - Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid - Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia - The Killer Elite - Cross of Iron - Convoy - The Osterman Weekend - The Auteurs #62: Sam Peckinpah

© thevoid99 2011