Chum's Sam Peckinpah Film Guide
Submitted by grandpa_chum on Sun, 11/21/2004 - 02:26
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Peckinpah's Films Listed Chronologically
- The Osterman Weekend(1983)
- Convoy(1978)
- Cross Of Iron(1977)
- The Killer Elite(1975)
- Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia(1974)
- Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid(1973)
- The Getaway(1972)
- Junior Bonner(1972)
- Straw Dogs(1971)
- The Ballad Of Cable Hogue(1970)
- The Wild Bunch(1969)
- Major Dundee(1965)
- Ride The High Country(1962)
- The Dangerous Companions(1961)
Peckinpah's Best
- Ride The High Country(1962) Need to see again to review accurately... it's been a while
- Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia(1974) First off I gotta hand it to Stook for recommending this absolute gem of a movie and picking the perfect guy to recommend it to... All I needed was one more great film from Peckinpah to bolster him into my elite group of favorites directors and I got it... After seeing this film I finally realize what Robert Rodriguez is aiming for, and i think i've gained some respect for him in the process, sure he falls miserably short, but at least i realized it is possible to make a great movie that reminded me of RR's efforts... This is a modern day zapatta western of sorts, and i love the moral conflicts of a bounty hunter stories, and this is probably the best I've seen... The slow motion deaths of peckinpah's aren't overdone here, as they are in some of his films and the final hour is just as exciting as the first hour was intriguing... this film works so well with itself and it's characters it's hard to believe how simple the plot is. Warren Oates is amazing, absolutely believable in every action he takes, and you really start to root for him to walk away with the money, and then when you realize his motives it just takes off... a great film from a great Director, please, don't see The Wild Bunch as if it were Sam's greatest, it will only depreciate your respect for his work, as it did for me for a while. This movie goes right up there with the three Peckinpah films I know to be better than The Wild Bunch... along with Cable Hogue and High Country... true masterpieces.
Peckinpah's Worst
- Haven't seen a bad one yet
My Recommendation
- Ride The High Country(1962) Simply thousands of times better than The Wild Bunch but doesn't get near as much praise... for some reason people forget this was made before the wild bunch and for some reason think the wild bunch pushed the envelope... well take it from me... that so called "envelope" had already been pushed up and down the western genre by Italian filmmakers and Peckinpah himself for over 5 years prior to the Wild Bunch... and this is one of the best westerns i've ever seen.
Peckinpah's Best Known For...
- Slow-Motion Stylized Deaths
- Realistic Gripping Deaths
- Revitalizing The Western
- Being A Tough Guy Off Camera
Cloned From:
Just a little friendly editing: It's "The Killer Elite (1975)".
T'ho
:?)
haha... i knew that... just slipped in their backwords... funny how that happens
Peckinpah is most certainly a director I should care more about than I do for the moment.
I have only seen Convoy and The Wild Bunch. (unwatched on VHS: Ride the High Country and Cross of Iron)
convoy and the wild bunch are probably the two I'd choose to leave behind out of the ones I've seen... wild bunch is a masterpiece but i still think it's incredibly overrated, high country and cross of iron are both incredible and much better than the two you have seen, imo anyway... i should update this.
Peckinpah movies I have on DVD (so far):
The Ostermann Weekend [theme: revenge]
Cross of Iron [theme: courage]
The Getaway [theme: justice]
The Wild Bunch [theme: redemption]
new dvd box set coming out in january can't wait... unfortunately it will probably hold off my acquiring osterman weekend for quite some time.
I already have... straw dogs, the getaway, cross of iron, pat garrett and billy the kid(bootleg), ride the high country(taped off of tcm), bring me the head of alfredo garcia
that box set, junior bonner, osterman, and major dundee and I'll be set for life.
OK, soon there will be The Ballad of Cable Hogue, The Getaway and Straw Dogs on TV. Especially the last one interests me very much as I have heard different opinions about it. What do you think (as a Peckinpah expert)? :)
P.S.: Today I watched the documentary Easy Riders, Raging Bulls which talks quite a lot about Peckinpah and about his work between 1969 and 1983. That could be something for you.
the first two are probably better, but straw dogs is definitely the interesting one of the bunch and is much more thoughtful. It's still one hell of a movie, just not quite up to snuff with peckinpah westerns and heists... I shouldn't say up to snuff, it's just different.
Yes, thanks for the information.